Kavi Kalidas (1959)

Kavi Kalidas retells the popular legend of the poet Kalidasa. Scholars humiliated by a proud, learned princess take revenge by marrying her to a simpleton, a shepherd so foolish he is said to cut the branch he sits on. Mocked and rejected, he turns in despair to the goddess Kali, whose grace transforms him into a poet of genius, and the film follows his rise at the court and the long road back to the wife who once scorned him. Vijay Bhatt, the director of Baiju Bawra, cast Bharat Bhushan, who specialised in poets and saints in the 1950s, with Nirupa Roy, the leading lady of mythological films of the era. S. N. Tripathi's devotional and classical songs are a major part of its appeal. A gentle, old-world film for viewers who enjoy Hindi mythologicals and costume dramas of the 1950s.