अँधेरा

Andhera ('Darkness') was a 1943 social drama produced by the prolific Ranjit Movietone of Bombay and directed by Aspi Irani. The film paired the celebrated kathak dancer-actress Sitara Devi with Arun Kumar Ahuja, and featured the blind singing star K.C. Dey, whose voice anchored several of the film's numbers. As with much of Ranjit's wartime output, the picture wove its melodrama around a strong music programme composed by Gyan Dutt.

Gyan Dutt composed all of Andhera's songs, with lyrics by Pandit Indra. The programme spreads its singing duties across the cast: K.C. Dey carries the reflective, philosophical numbers ('Bande Apna Mol Chukana', 'Mange Ja Har Baar', 'Kar Le Roop Shringar', 'Mat Raho Bechare Ban Ke'), while Sitara Devi and Arun Kumar share the romantic duets ('Bhanwra Re Hum Pardesi Log', 'Ek Pardesi Aaya'), and Kesari and Rajkumari handle lighter material.

Ranjit Movietone, founded by Sardar Chandulal Shah, was one of Bombay's high-volume studios, releasing a steady stream of socials and costume pictures through the 1930s and 40s. Music director Gyan Dutt and lyricist Pandit Indra were among Ranjit's regular wartime collaborators, and the studio frequently leaned on its house music programme to carry box-office expectations.

Andhera belongs to the Ranjit Movietone catalogue of the early 1940s, the studio run by Sardar Chandulal Shah that was among the most productive in Indian cinema. The film is notable today chiefly for its soundtrack — eleven songs by music director Gyan Dutt with lyrics by Pandit Indra — and for showcasing K.C. Dey alongside Sitara Devi and Arun Kumar.

Like many Ranjit films of the period, no print of Andhera is widely available today and the picture survives chiefly through its recorded songs and through cinema documentation. Its place in Hindi-film history rests on the Gyan Dutt–Pandit Indra song programme and on the casting of Sitara Devi, Arun Kumar and K.C. Dey.