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Khoon Ka Khoon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sohrab Modi
Written by	Mehdi Hassan Ahsan
Produced by	Stage Film Company
Starring	Sohrab Modi Naseem Banu Shamshadbai Ghulam Hussain
Music by	Kanhaiya Pawar
Production companies	Minerva Movietone, Stage Film Company, Bombay
Release date	1935 (1935)
Running time	122 min
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Khoon Ka Khoon (transl. Blood for Blood), also called Hamlet, is the first Hindi/Urdu 1935 sound film adaptation of the Shakespearen play Hamlet. Directed by Sohrab Modi under his Stage Film Company banner, it is cited as one of the earliest talkie versions of this play. Credited as "the man who brought Shakespeare to the Indian screen", it was Modi's debut feature film as a director. The story and script were penned by Mehdi Hassan Ahsan from his Urdu adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Starring Modi, Khoon Ka Khoon was also the debut in films of Naseem Banu who played Ophelia. The other star cast included Shamshadbai, Ghulam Hussain, Obali Mai, Fazal Karim and Eruch Tarapore. The film has been cited by National Film Archive of India founder P K. Nair, as one of "21 most wanted missing Indian cinema treasures".

Plot

The film stays close to the play, with Hamlet's father's ghost wanting Hamlet to punish the people responsible for his death. Hamlet, unwilling to believe his mother's involvement, is in a quandary and pretends to be insane. He has a play staged denouncing his mother and uncle. Gertrude drinks the poison intended for Hamlet, while Hamlet kills his step-father and succumbs to the wounds received.

Cast

• Sohrab Modi as Hamlet
• Naseem Banu as Ophelia
• Shamshadbai as Gertrude
• Ghulam Hussain
• Obali Mai
• Fazal Karim
• Eruch Tarapore
• Ghulam Mohiyuddin
• Shamshad
• Rampiary
• Gauhar
• B. Pawar

Production

As reported by Peter Morris, Khoon Ka Khoon was a "recording of a stage production", Modi filmed it using two cameras as the play was being staged. The play was a mix of Elizabethan costumes for the main leads, with a mixture of Western stage and Indian costumes for other characters in the play. Modi decided to film the play shot by shot as in the staging of the play. Mehdi Ahsan, a known writer of the Parsi theatre had earlier adapted the play for the silent film Khoon-e-Nahak (1928), before staging it for Modi. He apparently stated that he had to alter the Shakesperean plays to suit the Indian audience's "way of thinking".

Director Modi asked Shamshadbai, Naseem Banu's mother, to play to play the role of Gertrude (Hamlet's mother), in order to take the pressure off the young Naseem during shooting.

Box office and reception

Khoon Ka Khoon, which was the first sound version of a Shakespeare play was not a success at the box office. However, Modi's film was appreciated mainly for the Urdu dialogues, the "quality of the play" and his acting. Modi's acting was noted as a performance dominating the film.

Soundtrack

The music was provided by Kanhaiya Parwar with lyrics by Mehndi Hassan Ahmed.

Song list

References

1. "Khoon Ka Khoon The Great Indian Film Hunt". Mahal Movies. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
2. Rothwell, Kenneth. "Shakespeare in Performance: Film". internetshakespeare.uvic.ca. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
3. ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha; Paul Willemen (10 July 2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1994–. ISBN 978-1-135-94325-7. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
4. Rajadhyaksha, Willemen, Ashish, Paul (2002). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. p. 150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. Tilak Rishi (2012). "Sohrab Modi". Bless You Bollywood!: A Tribute to Hindi Cinema on Completing 100 Years. Trafford Publishing. pp. 12–. ISBN 978-1-4669-3963-9. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
6. "Khoon Ka Khoon". Alan Goble. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
7. "Khoon Ka Khoon-Hamlet". Film Heritage Foundation. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
8. "Khoon Ka Khoon Images". Flickr. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
9. Kenneth S. Rothwell (28 October 2004). "Other Shakespeares: translations and expropriations". A History of Shakespeare on Screen: A Century of Film and Television. Cambridge University Press. pp. 319–. ISBN 978-0-521-54311-8. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
10. "The Bard in Bollywood". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
11. ^ Manju Jain (2009). Narratives of Indian Cinema. Primus Books. pp. 230–. ISBN 978-81-908918-4-4. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
12. Poonam Trivedi; Dennis Bartholomeusz (2005). India's Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation, and Performance. University of Delaware Press. pp. 270–. ISBN 978-0-87413-881-8. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
13. "Sohrab Modi-The lion of Minerva". Film Ka Ilm. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
14. "Khoon Ka Khoon". BUFVC Shakespeare. Retrieved 13 December 2014.

External links

• Khoon Ka Khoon at IMDb

• 1935 films
• 1930s Hindi-language films
• Films based on Hamlet
• Films directed by Sohrab Modi
• Indian black-and-white films
• Indian drama films
• 1935 drama films
• Hindi-language drama films
• Indian films based on plays