Good and Evil (1949)
October 24, 1949Release Date
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Neki Aur Badi (Hindi for " Goodness Grows") is a 1949 Indian Hindi-language patriotic drama film directed by Kidar Sharma. The film stars Sharma with Madhubala and Geeta Bali. It was the only film in which Sharma played the male lead role.
Produced by Oriental Pictures with distribution rights owned by Varma Films, the two companies collaborated in 1949 with two films (Thes and Neki aur Badi) after the success of their previous box-office hit, Suhaag Raat, which was the seventh highest-grossing film of 1948. To create a template for success, the filmmakers not only used the same director, Kidar Sharma, of Suhaag Raat in Neki aur Badi but also used another important member of Suhaag Raat’s ensemble in Neki aur Badi. Filmindia in its review of Suhaag Raat, referred to the film as "Geeta Bali's Sohag Raat", giving Geeta Bali much credit for its box-office success; Geeta Bali was cast in an important supporting role in Neki aur Badi by its filmmakers.
Another particularly standout feature of Neki aur Badi that elevated the film was its lead actress Madhubala, who in the early 1950s had been called “the biggest star in the world” by David Cort of Theatre Arts Magazine.
As a lost film, no known copies of Neki Aur Badi remain; nevertheless, the audio tracks of most of its songs have survived.