standalone Details

An NCPA-NFAI Presentation

Hindi Film with English Subtitles

(161 mins/1958)

Based on Kashmir’s famous and often-filmed play Yahudi Ki Ladki, the melodrama in fancy dress is set in ancient Rome. The infant son of Ezra the Jew is fed to the lions by Brutus. Ezra’s devoted slave Elias then kidnaps Brutus’s daughter Lydia, whom Ezra renames Hannah and raises as his own child. The Roman prince Marcus falls in love with Hannah by pretending to be a commoner, but he refuses to convert to Judaism in order to marry her. When, by royal decree, Marcus is to marry Octavia, Hannah and Ezra publicly complain of Marcus’s infidelity. Realising that the penalty for infidelity is death, Hannah withdraws her complaint, which in turn entails a death sentence for herself and her father. They are saved only by Ezra’s last-minute revelation of Hannah’s true ancestry.

Written by Nabendu Ghosh

Directed by Bimal Roy

Cast: Sohrab Modi, Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Nigar Sultana & others

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA members will get preferential seating till 6.20 pm.