Dahej (1950)

Dahej is one of V. Shantaram's reformist social films from his Rajkamal Kalamandir years, made soon after Independence and aimed squarely at the dowry system. A loving father, played by Prithviraj Kapoor, marries his daughter into a family that values her only for what she brings with her, and the film follows the pressure, humiliation and slow cruelty that follow when the demands keep growing. Jayshree, Shantaram's wife and leading lady at the time, plays the young bride, with Karan Dewan as her husband. Like his earlier Duniya Na Mane, the film uses melodrama to argue a social point openly, and it was released when public debate on dowry was growing. Vasant Desai's songs belong to the long collaboration between the composer and Shantaram. It is a valuable record of Hindi social cinema of the early 1950s and of Prithviraj Kapoor's commanding screen presence.