Footpath 1953

Footpath is a 1953 Indian Bollywood social film released on 1953. The film is directed by Zia Sarhady, produced by Chandulal J. Shah under banner named Ranjit Studios.
Along with Awaaz (1956), this is Sarhadys best known film as director. Set during WW2, it features the honest but poor writer Noshu (D.Kumar) who falls amongst black marketeers hoarding medicines in a famine-stricken area. Now that money comes easily, Noshu abandons his brother, his lover Mala (Meena Kumari) and his erstwhile principles. In the end, he comes to his senses and abandons his dream of becoming a millionaire. This morality tale extends the genre practised by Sarhadys colleague Mehboob in eg Roti reputation for naturalism. *. The Black Market is not something new to our world, it has existed for thousands of years. But after the second World War it has assumed enormous proportions and has been responsible for degradation of sections of our people.A few do benefit through the black market, but only at the cost of hundreds of innocent lives. . Footpath is the story of those innocent lives, the story of the destruction of man by man. . Noshu is a writer by profession. But honest writing cannot earn him sufficient for his bread and butter and he is forced to depend on his school master brother. But he finds it impossible to accept this position. He is tormented daily by the thought of his dependance. And eventually, like the others around him, he decides to make money any way he can. . So he finds his way into the Black Market and becomes a part of its nefarious activites. Money comes in through exploting famine condition and shortage of medicines. When they exploit the famine, it is at the expense of starving millions. When medicine is scare, they take the lives of thousand of innocent people. . But this money brought no peace to Noshus guilty mind. There was still that much of integrity left in him, but once within the clutches of the black market he could not tear himself away. Possessed with the desire of making more money-especially as in our society, money meant respectability-he was caught in its grip. . It was this desire that induced him to risk his life, to leave his brother, abandon the woman he loved and the entire world of people that he once thought his own. But it was not easy to tread this new path. His inherent integrity and humanity caught him at every step. The suffering of those on the footpath with whom he had shared his early life, eventually had a profound effect on him. . Torn between the paths of the black marketeers on the one hand and the path of honest humanity on the other, he was forced to make a choice a decision, compelled to find a new path for himself. Check out this page for more updates on Footpath.