Footpath (1953)

Noshu is an underpaid journalist living in poverty, and he is ashamed that he cannot marry Mala, the woman he loves. Bitter at a world where only the dishonest prosper, he joins his elder brother's business of hoarding and black-marketeering medicines and food. The money pours in, but so does guilt, as the shortages he helps create bring death and misery to the slum where he once lived. Footpath was written and directed by Zia Sarhady, a filmmaker with progressive social concerns, and it gave Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari one of their early pairings. The film is best remembered for Khayyam's music and Talat Mahmood's song "Shaam-e-gham ki qasam", one of the classics of Hindi film music.