Baghban (1938 film)

Baghban
Film poster
Directed by	Abdul Rashid Kardar
Produced by	General Films Ltd.
Written by	Begum Ansari
Starring	Nandrekar Bimla Kumari Nazir Sitara Devi K. N. Singh
Music by	Mushtaq Hussain
Cinematography	P. G. Kukde
Production company	General Films Ltd.
Release date	16 July 1938
Country	British India
Language	Hindi

Baghban (Gardener) is a 1938 Hindi/Urdu family drama film directed by A. R. Kardar. The story was by Begum Ansari with script and screenplay by Kardar. Film's music was composed by Mushtaq Hussain with lyrics by Mirza Shauq. The cast included Nandrekar, Bimla Kumari, Nazir, Sitara Devi, K. N. Singh, Wasti and Ashraf Khan.

Baghban was the first film directed by Kardar following his return to Bombay after directing films for East India Company in Calcutta. It became a big box-office success for him. According to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, Kardar's interest with the topic of "sexually deviant behaviour" and violence in the garb of "reformism", a theme which he would later also use in Pagal (1940) and Pooja (1940) is present in Baghban.

The film involved a love story with a mystery. The naive Saroop falls in love with the Jail warden's daughter who is to marry someone else. He then finds out that she's his child-bride.

Saroop (Nandrekar) is a young innocent man who gets lost in romantic thoughts when he hears a Sadhu singing a love-song (prayer) to God. The holy man asks him to attend the Janamasthami fair. Through circumstances beyond his control he gets arrested for loitering and is put in jail. He is made to work in the garden area of the warden's house, where he meets Durga (Bimla Kumari), the warden's daughter. A prison riot occurs and Saroop is injured. He is brought into the house by Durga and her friend Shanta (Sitara Devi). The attending doctor is Shanta's father, Doctor Hansraj. Saroop is freed from jail, and over several meetings Durga and Saroop fall in love. However, Durga's marriage gets fixed with Ranjit (K. N. Singh) and Saroop is helpless. Ranjit has spurned his old flame Kammo (Yasmin), who is angry at the rebuff. Durga had been married off as a child, but it is believed that her boy-groom is dead. Ranjit has spread stories of her being a child-widow, in order to be the only one willing enough to marry her. On the day of the marriage, Kammo shoots Ranjit, and the Sadhu informs Dr. Hansraj that Saroop is his long-lost son who was married to Durga. Finally, Durga and Saroop get together again.