Bedari


Bedari, a Pakistani Urdu black and white film, was a classic melodious film of 1956.This film had an identical plot and the songs like Indian film Jagriti, with replacement of some words, and music were taken directly from Jagriti as well. Rattan Kumar, who had moved to Pakistan with his family, acted in Bedari also. When 'Bedari' was released in Pakistan in 1956, it too made fabulous business in the first few weeks of exhibition. However, it dawned upon the Pakistani cinemagoers that they were watching a plagiarized film. There was a mass uproar that caused public demonstrations against exhibition of the plagiarized film. The Censor Board of Pakistan immediately put a ban on this film.

Music

The music of the film was composed by Fateh Ali Khan. The songs were written by Fayyaz Hashmi, and sung by Munawwar Sultana and Saleem Raza. A song which was a straight lift of the 'De Di Humein Azaadi' tune. Startlingly, it was titled Aye Quaid-e-Azam Tera Ehsaan. The lines 'De di humein azaadi bina khadag bina dhal/ Sabarmati ke sant tu ne kar diya kamaal' had been changed to 'De di humein azaadi ki duniya huyi hairaan/ Aye Quaid-e-Azam tera ehsaan hai ehsaan'. In other words, a song celebrating the Indian Father of the Nation had been transposed to eulogize his Pakistani counterpart.
Highlight of this film was its popular film songs and music. Fateh Ali Khan was the foremost sitar-player at that time in Pakistan and composed the music of this film. Bedari was also a debut film of now renowned Pakistani actor Qazi Wajid who, as a teenage student, played a very funny role of a student with a stammer disorder.