Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960)

Dutt apparently commissioned Sadiq to make this Muslim social to help the maker of Rattan (1944) out of his impecunious condition. The love triangle pivots around the Islamic practice of purdah, which forbids women to show their face to men outside their immediate family. A nawab (Rehman) catches a brief glimpse of Jamila’s(W. Rehman) face and falls in love with her. At his sister’s party, he manages to get hold of a torn fragment from Jamila’s veil and gives it to a maidservant to trace the identity of its owner. Jamila happens to exchange her veil with that of her friend Bano and so the nawab identifies the wrong woman. This mistake becomes a tragic irony when the nawab, having refused to marry a woman chosen by his ailing mother, persuades his close friend Aslam (Dutt) to marry the maternal choice instead: that woman turns out to be Jamila. When some time later Aslam realises that his friend the nawab is in love with his wife Jamila, he pretends to tire of her, hoping that she will demand a divorce and so will be free to marry the nawab. The nawab soon learns of Aslam’s attempted sacrifice and in the tradition of male friendships on the screen, the nawab chooses to die for his friend and commits suicide. In later release prints, two song sequences, one being the famous Rafi solo Chaudhvin ka chand ho, ya aftaab ho, were rendered in colour although designed for b&w.