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On This Day

25 Apr, 1918

Cinemaazi remembers Shahu Modak on his birth anniversary

25 Apr, 1943

Cinemaazi remembers Devika on her birth anniversary

25 Apr, 1951

Cinemaazi remembers Shyam on his death anniversary

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films

Footpath (1953)

Zia Sarhadi

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Release Date1953
GenreComedy, Crime, Drama
FormatB-W
LanguageHindi
Run Time148 min
Length3914.24 meters
Number of Reels15
Gauge35 mm
Censor RatingU
Censor Certificate Number9269

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The Black Markeis 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 schoolmaster brother. But he finds it impossible to accept this position. He is tormented daily by the thought of his dependence. 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 activities. Money comes in through exploiting famine condition and shortage of medicines. When they exploit the famine, it is at the expense of starving millions. When medicine is scarce, they take the lives of thousands of innocent people.

But this money brought no peace no Noshu's 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 of himself.

[from the official press booklet]