Vachan (1938 film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Vachan

| image = Vachan 1938 films.jpg

| caption =

| director = Franz Osten

| producer = Bombay Talkies

| writer = Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

| narrator =

| starring = {{ubl|Devika Rani|Ashok Kumar|Mumtaz Ali|Meera}}

| music = Saraswati Devi

| cinematography = {{ubl|Joseph Wirsching|Pareenja}}

| editing =

| distributor = Ramniklal Mohanlal and Co., Bombay

| studio = Bombay Talkies

| released = {{Film date|1938}}

| runtime = 144 minutes

| country = British India

| language = Hindi

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Vachan (Hindi: वचन, The Promise) is a 1938 costume drama Hindi film directed by Franz Osten.{{cite web|title=Vachan (1938)|url=http://www.gomolo.com/vachan-movie/741|website=gomolo.com|access-date=20 April 2015}} The regular Bombay Talkies writer, Niranjan Pal, walked out of the Bombay Talkies production team after an altercation with Himanshu Rai in 1936. Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, a famous writer known also for creating Byomkesh Bakshi, replaced Pal in the story department, writing for films like Nirmala and Vachan in 1938 and Durga in 1939.{{cite web|last1=Roychoudhury|first1=Amborish|title=Birth of an Industry|url=http://thebigindianpicture.com/2013/10/birth-of-an-industry/|website=thebigindianpicture.com|publisher=The Big Indian Picture|access-date=20 April 2015}} The screenplay was by Agha Jani Kashmiri, with dialogues and lyrics by J. S. Kashyap. The music was composed by Saraswati Devi aided by J. S. Kashyap.{{cite journal|last1=Patel|first1=Baburao|title=Review-Vachan|journal=Filmindia|date=October 1938|volume=4|issue=6|pages=53|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmindia193804unse#page/n251/mode/2up/search/Vachan|access-date=20 April 2015}} The film starred Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar, a popular pair from Bombay Talkies who worked in seven films together. Devika Rani remained the bigger star with Kumar's name being "over-shadowed" in the credit rolls, as well as the publicity of the film.{{cite book|author=Bhaichand Patel|title=Bollywood's Top 20: Superstars of Indian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQL4dkVAnPIC&pg=PA32|access-date=20 April 2015|year=2012|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-670-08572-9|pages=32–}}

Rajendranath, a popular comedian of Indian cinema, began his acting career in Vachan.{{cite web|title=Yesteryears' comic actor Rajendra Nath dead|url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/yesteryears-comic-actor-rajendra-nath-dead/58908-8.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150420080615/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/yesteryears-comic-actor-rajendra-nath-dead/58908-8.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 April 2015|website=ibnlive.in.com|publisher=IBN Live|access-date=20 April 2015|ref=Press Trust of India}} The rest of the cast included Meera, Mumtaz Ali, Agha Jani, M. Nazir, Kashmiri, Maya Devi and Kamta Prasad.{{cite web|title=Vachan|url=http://www.citwf.com/film368107.htm|website=citwf.com|publisher=Alan Goble|access-date=20 April 2015}}

Devika Rani played the role of a princess in this costume drama film.

Cast

Ashok Kumar
Devika Rani
Meera
Mumtaz Ali
Pithavala
Kamta Prasad
Maya Devi
Saroj Borker
Aga Jani
Kashmiri
M. Nazir

Reception

File:Vachan (Devika, Meera).jpg, 1938]]

The film was released on 19 August 1938 at Roxy Talkies, Bombay. According to Baburao Patel of Filmindia magazine, the screenplay was too simple, like a "nursery" story, and "ended before the interval". The photography by Wirsching and Pareenja was stated to be consistently good, even "excellent" at places. The actress Meera was singled out for her acting, claiming it to be a "better performance" than Devika's. Osten's technical direction was cited as clever, but Patel stated that Osten was unable to capture the "Indian" spirit of the play. The film was referred to as a success in the Studio Close-Ups section of the same issue of Filmindia.

Soundtrack

Music composed by Saraswati Devi with lyrics by J. S. Kashyap. The singers were Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani, Vimla, Meera and Lalita.{{cite web|title=Vachan(1938)|url=http://muvyz.com/moviepage/td492196/songs/#tabs|website=muvyz.com|publisher=Muvyz, Ltd.|access-date=20 April 2015}}