As a part of the Ullas children film screenings, 1954 film ‘Boot Polish’ was screened at Madhya Pradesh State Tribal Museum here on Thursday.
It is a Hindi film directed by Prakash Arora and produced by Raj Kapoor. The film surrounds the dreams and desires of small kids. It features Baby Naaz, Ratan Kumar and David Abraham in the lead roles.
Belu (Baby Naaz) and Bhola (Ratan Kumar) are left in the care of their wicked aunt Kamla (Chand Burque) after their mother dies. She forces them to beg in the streets and takes their money.
A bootlegger named John uncle (David Abraham) teaches them self-respect and to work for a living instead of begging. They save to buy a shoe-polish kit and begin shining shoes. When Kamla discovers this, she kicks them out of the house.
Meanwhile, John uncle is arrested and the children are left to fend for themselves. When it rains and people stop having their shoes polished, the children are in danger of starving. Bhola wishes to never beg again and rejects a coin tossed to him on a rainy night. When Belu takes it out of hunger, Bhola slaps her and she drops it.
When police come, intent on taking the children, Belu escapes onto a train but Bhola is arrested. On board the train, Belu is adopted by a rich family and she is sad for her brother.
Bhola searches for Belu after getting out of custody but cannot find her. After running away from an orphanage, he is unable to find work and extremely hungry, and resorts to begging. He encounters Belu while begging at railway station where Belu and her adopted family are boarding a train for vacation. Humiliated, Bhola runs away but his sister pursues him. John Chacha has also come to the station to say goodbye and joins the chase but he falls and is injured. Bhola stops running and Belu and Bhola are reunited. The rich family adopts Bhola also and they live happily ever after.
The film won Best Film at the Filmfare Awards. The film was much enjoyed by the movie buffs.