Nain Diwane Ek Nahi Mane

Nain Diwane Ek Nahi Mane- Suraiyya-Film Afsar 1950-Lyricist Narendra Sharma-Music S.D.Burman

The first film Chetan Anand made was Neeche Nagar and the second was Afsar, then followed by Aandhiyan, Taxi Driver and Funtoosh. Chetan Anand remade Afsar again after 22 years as Sahib Bahadur, under his banner Himalaya Production and again Dev Anand played the lead with Priya Rajvansh. Dev Anand became producer in the year 1949 and started Afsar and the big and the major banner Navketan was born. When the Anand Brothers were thinking what they should name their film company,. at that time Chetan Anand's son Ketan, was born so they decided to name their company as Nav (means new company) and added Chetan's son's name Ketan. So that's how the name Navketan was formed. Dev Anand became producer to boost Chetan Anand carrer as filmaker. Dev Anand launched Navketan in his 20s and continued to produce films for 62 years now his son Suniel Anand has continued to make films under Navketan which is now about 67 years old, and  which is one of oldest existing film company in the world. Dev Anand had wanted Suraiya to be the heroine of Afsar, so when Dev went to sign her, Suraiya's grandmother, who was managing Suraiya's work, quoted more than double market price, the price unheard at that time, the grandmother did not want Suraiya and Dev to work together that's why she mentioned an high price, she thought that Dev would refuse, but Dev dod not bother, he paid the price demanded and signed Suraiya and her grandmother could not refuse.

The film is about a journalist Kapur (Dev Anand),who comes to a village run by corrupt politicians led by the village tehsildar (Kanhaiyalal). They mistake him for a government inspector and treat him like a VIP. The expose of rural politics is interconnected with a love story between Kapur and the tehsildar’s sister Bimala (Suraiya).Afsar, Navketan’s first film, was a comedy, a satire on corruption, probably the first in its genre. It was based on the Russian author Nikolai Gogol’s play The Inspector General, a satirical comedy, which was a hit with the audience. The film substantially determined the style, and the key unit, characteristic of Navketan’s 50s productions.

According to Dev Anand, in his book Romancing with Life, “Though the bane of corruption has always been there in society, it wasn’t so evident in India during the nascent years of our independence, but became a cancerous reality soon thereafter. The film was very well made, and established the new banner (Navketan). It enhanced the name of Chetan Anand (Dev Anand’s brother and director), reaffirmed my status as an actor, and brought into our fold a musical genius who was later to weave his magic spell in film after film, and become a strong pillar for Navketan—the one and only S.D. Burman. The audience enjoyed the film, and was in splits at some of its hilarious situations; but it failed to ring in the cash registers at the box-office.” Suraiya was signed for it, and was crowned the first leading lady of the production company the two brothers floated together, called Navketan, meaning ‘new banner’. The flag started to fly as the pundit put a red tikka on our foreheads at the muhurat. The name of the film was Afsar.”

"In an intimate scene, I had to kiss Suraiya on the eyes, a soft innocent kiss in praise of the eloquence of her eyes. Her granny, watching the goings-on with an eagle’s eye, got to know about this, and kicked up a ruckus. She would not allow it to happen. The lights had to be switched off for a long, long time, waiting for her temper to cool down. She was adamant, and did not move an inch from her position, sitting on the spot where the scene had to be enacted, glaring at the working unit that surrounded me and Suraiya, making sure the kissing moment did not happen. Ultimately, we had to devise a shrewd plan to cunningly whisk her away from the studio for a brief while, thanks to a member of the unit who was very friendly with her, and during that brief interlude, we hurriedly took the shot, to everybody’s delight and amusement.

To me, the whole exercise proved a point, that Suraiya had no say in her own life; its sole arbiter was her granny. But the more I was forbidden to meet her, the more my craving grew to have a union with her. The forbidden apple now seemed to be more desirable and most delicious, being out of my reach. It turned me mad. I felt lost, totally disinterested in anything, like a Romeo without his Juliet or a Majnu without his Laila. The only occasions when I could meet her were when we both were on the sets, and that too during our shots with arc-lamps on our faces, her granny and uncle sitting at hand scrutinizing every moment, along with some other people who now started joining them on the sets daily, as if to guard their `princess’ from the greatest ‘villain’ who had the evil intention of kidnapping her.” (Romancing with Life – Dev Anand)

Afsar 1950
Starcast: Dev Anand, Suraiyya,Zohra Sehgal,Mohan Sehgal,Kanhaiyalal,Krishna Dhawan,Manmohan Krishna.
Lyricist: Narendra Sharma.
Music: S.D.Burman
Directed by Chetan Anand,
Produced by Dev Anand.
A Navketan Productions