Street Singer - 1938

A musical melodrama based on the urban background of Calcutta (now Kolkata) Street Singer is the debut film of the renowned director Phani Majumdar. Released in the year 1938 this classic movie narrates the story of the extraordinary relationship between two waifs aspiring to musical fame.

Bhulwa (KL Saigal) and Manju (Kanan Devi), two childhood friends are now leading the life of street singers. The narrative forwards with their keen interest in achieving fame in the music world, their disillusionment with the same and their return to the world of street singers.

The movie shares nostalgic thoughts about the pre-modern life and inclines toward a morality which is better than the one made prevalent by capitalism and consumerism. The songs of the film were given breath by R.C. Boral. The song Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye (set in raag Bhairavi) framed on a charged symbolic landscape of boats adrift in the mist is considered as the all time hit of KL Saigal. The film was produced by New Theatres.