Musafir (1957) :
Brief Review -
Hollywood has the Oscar-winning "Grand Hotel" (1932), Bollywood has Musafir. Hrishi da's classic debut in Hindi cinema! I don't know how many of you have seen the Oscar-winning Hollywood movie Grand Hotel (1932). So let me tell you the essence of that in the shortest possible manner. Grand Hotel is a place; we see multiple characters coming to stay there-some happy, some unhappy, some with troubles, of course. In the end, we see some of them leaving happily, and some are left with the undeniable bitter facts of life. The doorman says, "People come, people go. Grand Hotel, always the same." Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Musafir brings that essence to a house. So there is a house on rent, and the film tells three stories of its tenants. They come to the house with a lot of troubles in their lives and leave with solutions. Well, that's the story for the first two segments, but the third one is a little different. The first story is about two lovers who are soon-to-be married and how their lives change after coming to the house, since the man's father was against his choice. The second one is about a family suffering from the trauma of the death of the eldest son. The younger one has to get a job, and the window is not happy with her soon-to-be child. This one almost had a tragic ending but then displayed cinematic brilliance with a fantastic twist. The third one finally brings "Pagla Babu," who has been off screen in the first two stories. Here we get to know why he was like that, and there is a tragic past that is connected to the family that is shifted in the house. This one has a sad ending, in my opinion, even though the message is positive. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film relates to every heart since it's a real-life depiction of almost all middle-class people's issues. I don't know why this gem has remained underrated for years, but from now on, it will be in my top 10 of Hrishi da.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
