Boy Friend
- Director
- Naresh Saigal
- Studio
- | distributor =
- Release Date
- 1 January 1961
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹0.52 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹0.52 Cr
Review
This creaky relic of early 1970s Hindi cinema feels less like a film and more like a rummage through a attic full of predictable plot devices and zero originality. The story—orphaned rich boy becomes thief, reunites with long-lost family while helping recover a stolen necklace and simultaneously solving a theatrical production's casting crisis—is such a tangled mess of contrivances that you wonder if the director was paid by the subplot. The performances are wooden across the board, with nobody bringing genuine warmth or conviction to their roles. The direction is pedestrian at best, utterly devoid of any style or panache that might salvage this narrative train wreck.
What's particularly baffling is how the film squanders every opportunity for emotional resonance. The separation of brothers, the abandoned daughters, the redemption arc of a reformed thief—these are ingredients that could've made something touching, but instead they're strung together like beads on a string with zero connective tissue. The "Boy Friend" play subplot feels tacked on purely as an excuse for some stage numbers, which are painfully staged and derail any momentum the thin plot manages to build. Even for its era, this feels lazy and half-baked, lacking the energy and charm that made lesser Hindi films of the period at least entertaining.
Rating: 4/10
Storyline
Eight-year-old Madan is separated from his wealthy parents, Thakur Harcharan Singh (Shivraj) and his wife Rajni. Their other son, Madan's younger brother, Sunil grows up to become a police inspector and is searching for his lost brother Madan. Madan, who now is known by the name Shyam, has managed to survive by becoming a petty thief and has ended up in jail. On his release, he boards a train to Mumbai, where he meets Shantilal, a man he had known earlier in jail. The man, who is old and ill, asks Shyam to find his two daughters, Sangita and Sushma, whom he had abandoned due to poverty and debt years before. When Shyam arrives in Mumbai, he begins searching for two daughters. He soon finds a young woman named Sushma (Nishi Kohli). When she drives off, he follows her in a taxi to a theater owned by Harcharan Singh, who arrives with his wife. Sushma's elder sister Sangita is practicing dance for her stage debut in a play called "Boy Friend". The problem is that the play does not have a male lead. While they are at the theater, Mrs. Singh's necklace is stolen by someone in the crowd. Inspector Sunil has just arrived with his men, and they start chasing the thief. Shyam sees the thief hide the necklace in a case in the sisters' car. That evening, Shyam sneaks into the sisters' house and retrieves the stolen necklace from the case. He also meets Sangita. When he relays their father's message to them, the sisters invite him to stay with them. Shyam leaves early the next morning to return the stolen necklace to Sunil. But the Singhs' servant Sampat steals the necklace from him and sells it to a dealer. Shyam, deciding to leave the life of crime and seek a job, sees the ad for a hero opposite Sangita in "Boy Friend" and goes to audition in front of Harcharan Singh. He is hired and the show opens in Shimla with great success. When he takes Sangita skiing, she breaks her leg - surgery is expensive, and she cannot appear on stage any longer. Harcharan sends his manager to dema
