indian cinema heritage foundation

Daku (1955)

  • Release Date1955
  • FormatB-W
  • LanguageHindi
  • Shooting LocationBasant Studios, Chembur
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The kingdom of Suryapur was celebrating its young prince’s fourth birthday. But the Dewan Ajit Singh wanted the throne for himself. He called Sami, a gypsy, whose attempts to kill him are thwarted by nature. So Samir takes the child into his caravan and the caravan moves on.

Eighteen years later the caravan returns to Suryapur again and strangely there is again a birthday celebration but of a different prince. Samir sends Badal, Nilli, Ustad, and Paro to the palace to entertain the people to earn some money. The foursome, on reaching the palace, is thrown into the midst of intrigues and by his actions, Badal incurs the enmity of Captain Kishori who is the man in power because the old usurper, Ajit has become a cripple. Ustad strikes up a friendship with the prince who is more interested in his pottery than his kingdom and with whose help he saves Badal many times from tight corners.

The Princess takes a liking to Badal and starts a small riot because Nilli the gypsy, is wildly jealous. The whole situation is made more complicated by the existence of a rebel party who has taken the cause of the old queen-mother and is determined to put her on the throne again, Drawn by feelings that he could not understand or explain at the sight of the queen-mother, Badal goes to the palace to help the queen-mother.

Nilli thinks that Badal has gone to see the princess. She interferes and is unwittingly the cause of Badal’s arrest. Captain Kishori orders Badal’s death as a traitor and the knowledge that Badal is nobody else but the longest rightful heir to the throne, makes him determined to destroy Badal.

Ustad convinces the prince that the day Badal dies the king will also die. Captain Kishori orders astrologers to find the real truth, and strangely all the astrologers agree that the stars predict death to the king if Badal is the real king. So  Captain Kishori orders that Badal be made king for a day and then killed. Badal is made ing for a day during which time he passes orders removing all injustice in the kingdom. When he is about to be executed, Ustad by clever tricks takes him out of the prison. Badal kills Captain Kishori and the rightful heir to the throne becomes the king.

[from the official press booklet]