File:Bahen, 1941.webm

English: Bahen (Sister), 1941

Director: Mehboob Khan Music Director: Anil Biswas Lyrics: Safdar Aah Singers: Anil Biswas, Harish, Husn Banu, Nalini Jaywant, Sheikh Mukhtar, Dev Kumar Cast: Sheikh Mukhtar, Nalini Jaywant, Meena Kumari, Husn Banu, Swaroop Rani, Kanhaiyalal, Harish

Translation included. From the August 1941 issue of FilmIndia:

As a director, Mehboob has improved beyond recognition. His technical work has gained more polish and efficiency while his emotional framing of the drama has secured more subtle hues than ever before. "Sister" is an unusual picture, unusual from the general run of the pictures, unusual in its theme, in its presentation and in its psychological content. It is a refreshingly new experiment in audience entertainment being a new departure from the age-old triangles of romance. And to that extent, "Sister" presents a novelty to the Indian screen.

The main resistance of the story is centred in a brother's passionate, all absorbing love for his sister, more so because, his little infant sister becomes the sole obsession of his life and the solitary relative pass through years of struggle and agony, till one day the sister grows into a woman and falls in love with a young man. And here is reached a great emotional climax which unfolds a thrilling drama, grim in its basic elements and mighty in its sweep. Sheikh Mukhtar, the brother, is called upon to make a decision and in making it is asked to tear his little sister from his heart, for ever and for good.

Mehboob's direction is superb, but one would feel like debating about thepsychological interpretation of the role played by Sheikh Mukhtar. The best performance is given by Kanhyalal in the role of a pickpocket. He lives the part. Sheikh Mukhtar is too stagy and melodramatic while Nalini Jaywant has acted well for the first time. Well, "Sister" must be seen. In its theme there is a provocation, in its presentation there is beauty, though in its entertainment we miss a bit of exhilaration.

Here is what the editor, Baburao Patel, had to say when asked about Nalini Jaywant's future as an actress:

Nalini is still a small kid and she has so far appeared in only two pictures: "Radhika" and "Sister". In the first picture she was wrongly cast and in the second one she did well half way. I don't think much of her acting ability and I think she will never attain a glamorous stardom, howsoever much her producers may boost her. The girl is too flabby for glamour of the screen. Her singing is childish and her diction of the Hindusthani is too faulty and provincial to help her to attain stardom. However, she looks sweeter in life than on the screen and under the chaperoning of Chimanlal Desai and Virendra Desai, we may see her on the screen for some time more, but I doubt whether she can hold her place on sheer merit.