J. K. Nanda

Jai Kishan Nanda
Born1904 (1904)
Died1983 (aged 78–79)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
Years active1930s–1960s

Jai Kishan Nanda[1] (1904–1983) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. Belonging to Chakwal district of the pre-Partition Punjab, he was one of the prominent Punjabi directors of early Indian cinema.[2] His rise as a director coincided with the growing demand for more sophisticated talkies in the early 1930s, and contemporary media regarded him alongside Ezra Mir and Mohan Bhavnani as one of the Indian directors influenced by Western style of filmmaking.[3]

Nanda directed films including Kurmai (1941), Ishaara (1943), Parwana (1947), Singaar (1949), and Dhake Ki Malmal (1956). He gave Suraiya her first leading role in Ishaara and later directed her opposite K. L. Saigal in Parwana, the actor-singer's final film released after his death. Nanda also wrote the screenplays for two Sohrab Modi films: Jailor (1938) and the National Film Award-winning Mirza Ghalib (1954).

Career

Nanda's early work as a director included Pavitra Ganga (1932), Inteqam (1933), and Bahen Ka Prem (1935).[4] A 1936 article in The Bombay Chronicle described his films as "very successful" and noted that he had trained at Germany's UFA Studios after a decade in filmmaking.[5]

Nanda wrote the screenplay of Sohrab Modi's Jailor (1938).[6] In 1941, he directed the Punjabi comedy Kurmai, produced by A. R. Kardar and starring Wasti and Radha Rani. Filmindia's editor Baburao Patel praised the film as the finest Punjabi film produced to date, and wrote that the film established Nanda among India's "front rank" of directors; according to Patel, a distinguishing feature of Nanda's direction was that "all along as the drama unfolds itself, the direction is not felt at all."[1]

Nanda introduced actress Suraiya in his 1943 film Ishaara, which was one of the biggest earners of the year.[7][8] He then cast Suraiya alongside K. L. Saigal in the musical Parwana; Nanda was apprehensive of completing the film due to Saigal's declining health, but was reasssured by the actor-singer. Parwana was eventually released after Saigal's death in 1947.[9][10]

In 1949, Nanda directed Singaar, a marital drama centered on birth control, featuring Suraiya, Jairaj and Madhubala.[11] Reviewing the film, critic S. A. Aziz described Nanda's treatment of East Lynne's story as an "absurd hotch-potch", arguing that its altered ending undermined the original drama's integrity.[12] The film was nevertheless reported to be popular with audiences.[13]

During the 1950s, Nanda wrote the screenplay for the musical hit Mirza Ghalib (1954),[14] which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.[15] He then directed the romantic comedy Dhake Ki Malmal (1956), based on the production of muslin in Dhaka. It starred Madhubala and Kishore Kumar as members of rival clans who fall in love with each other.[16] In the mid-1960s, Nanda was making Chalaak, a film starring Madhubala and Raj Kapoor, but it remained unfinished due to Madhubala's health problems and her eventual death in 1969.[17]

Personal life

According to the memoirs of Kamlesh Puri (son of Madan Puri), Nanda lived in Bombay's Punjabi Gully, also known as the city's "Hollywood Lane", where his home was frequented by actors such as Madhubala and Nargis, as well as filmmakers such as D. N. Madhok and A. R. Kardar.[18]

Nanda had five daughters. In June 1949, his eldest daughter, Snehalata, married Madan Mohan in Bombay at a wedding that Filmindia described as "perhaps the most popular and best attended" in the film industry in the preceding decade.[19]

Filmography

As an actor

Prior to his directorial career, Nanda acted in three silent films as an actor.

Year Film Role Ref.
1928 Razalati Rajkumari Also known as Pauper Princess [20]
1929 Bagdad No Baharvatio Also known as Bandit of Bagdad [21]
1930 Vasantsena Also known as The Toy Cart [22]

As a director

All films in Hindi, unless specified:

Year Title Notes Ref.
1932 Pavitra Ganga Also known as Sacred Ganges [23]
1933 Inteqam Also known as Curses of Cupid and Mohabbat Ki Maar [24]
1935 Bahen Ka Prem Also known as Benoor Aankhen [25]
1941 Kurmai Punjabi film [26]
1943 Ishaara [24]
1946 Jhumke [23]
1947 Parwana [27]
1949 Singaar [28]
1952 Chamki [29]
1954 Barati [30]
1956 Dhake Ki Malmal [31]
1960s Chalaak Unfinished; abandoned due to Madhubala's illness [17]

As a screenwriter

Year Title Notes Ref.
1938 Jailor Directed by Sohrab Modi [6]
1954 Mirza Ghalib [14]

References

  1. 1 2 Patel, Baburao (September 1941). ""Kurmai" Becomes Punjab's Best – Director Nanda Vindicates His Art". Filmindia: 64.
  2. ↑ Ahmed, Ishtiaq (16 June 2023). Pre-Partition Punjab's Contribution to Indian Cinema. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000905908.
  3. ↑ ""Grooming" of Indian Film Stars". The Bombay Chronicle. 27 May 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  4. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, pp. 630, 602, 581.
  5. ↑ "Film Enterprise In The Punjab". The Bombay Chronicle (Sunday / Weekly Edition). 19 July 1936. p. 32. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  6. 1 2 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 276.
  7. ↑ Patel, Baburao (October 1942). "Pictures In Making". Filmindia: 68.
  8. ↑ "Top Earners 1943". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  9. ↑ Nevile, Pran (11 May 2011). K. L. Saigal: The Definitive Biography. Penguin UK. p. 174. ISBN 978-93-5214-160-9.
  10. ↑ "Nanda's 'Parwana' Eagerly Awaited". The Times of India. 19 October 1946. p. 11. ProQuest 501476668. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "DIRECTOR NANDA CRASHES INTO THE "SINGAAR" CHINA SHOP: Our Review". The Times of India. 14 January 1950. p. 10. ProQuest 502509285. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Aziz, S. A. (22 January 1950). "Grave Mistake". Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore). p. 19. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  13. ↑ Patel, Baburao (December 1949). "Pictures In Making". Filmindia: 71.
  14. 1 2 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 337.
  15. ↑ "National Awards Winners 1954". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Bhattacharjee & Dhar 2022, pp. 180–181.
  17. 1 2 Bhattacharjee & Dhar 2022, p. 318.
  18. ↑ Puri, Kamlesh (10 February 2016). "From the Kapoors to the Puris, the famous residents of Mumbai's 'Hollywood Lane'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  19. ↑ Patel, Baburao (August 1949). "A Popular Wedding". Filmindia: 55.
  20. ↑ Chabria & Usai 1994, p. 137.
  21. ↑ Chabria & Usai 1994, p. 140.
  22. ↑ Chabria & Usai 1994, p. 174.
  23. 1 2 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 630.
  24. 1 2 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 602.
  25. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 581.
  26. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 611.
  27. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 629.
  28. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 646.
  29. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 586.
  30. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 582.
  31. ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1999, p. 591.

Sources

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