Dilli Ka Thug (1958)

Kishore's father, a Delhi newspaper editor, is murdered by the fake-drugs racket he was trying to expose. Kishore leaves college to support his mother and sister, society abandons the family, and he turns trickster, vowing to win back everything they lost. He meets Asha, his childhood fiancee, now a doctor and swimming champion, who does not recognise him, and he woos her in a series of disguises. After he witnesses a friend's murder by the same scarred killer who killed his father, he teams up with Inspector Dilip Singh, and the trail leads to Bombay, where the killer Anantram, thought dead in a plane crash, is living behind a mask. Kishore Kumar plays Kishore and Nutan is Asha, with Madan Puri, Iftekhar and Tun Tun in the cast. S. D. Narang wrote, produced and directed it; Ravi composed the songs, with lyrics by Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri and S. H. Bihari. Madhubala was the first choice for the heroine but left because of ill health, and Nutan replaced her; her appearance in a modest swimsuit as the swimming champion reportedly caused a stir on release. Critics often point to the film as proof that Nutan, usually seen in serious roles, could cut loose in comedy.