सवाल

A 1943 Bombay social drama directed by Niranjan, headlined by Mumtaz Shanti and Ulhas. As with most wartime mid-tier productions, the film's chief surviving interest lies less in its melodramatic plot than in its soundtrack — an early independent assignment for the bansuri maestro Pannalal Ghosh, sung by Amirbai Karnataki and the composer's own wife, Parul Ghosh.

Ten songs, lyrics by Wali Sahab, music by Pannalal Ghosh. The female voices dominate: Amirbai Karnataki carries the lighter, livelier numbers ('Aaj Jawaan Aaj', 'Paan Wali Khila De', 'Pee Sharabi Pee') while Parul Ghosh takes the more reflective melodies ('Beet Gaya Patjhad', 'Chala Chal Musafir', 'Mere Sapno Pe Chhayi Anokhi Tarang'). Ghosh's flautist's ear shows in the long, breath-led melodic lines.

Pannalal Ghosh had shifted his base to Bombay around 1940, taking his first music-direction assignment on Sneh Bandhan (1940). By 1943 he was working steadily, and Sawaal was one of several films that year. His wife Parul Ghosh — herself the sister of composer Anil Biswas — sang for him on several of these scores, a quiet family collaboration recorded across a handful of 1940s films.

Sawaal sits in the cluster of 1943 films (alongside Duhaai and Bhalaai) through which Pannalal Ghosh established himself as a film music director distinct from his identity as North India's foremost classical flautist. The score's value lies in hearing one of the great instrumentalists shape vocal melody, and in the prominence given to Parul Ghosh, a singer whose recorded legacy is small and precious.

The film itself faded, as most 1943 mid-budget social dramas did, but its songs survive on collectors' compilations of Pannalal Ghosh's film work and of Parul Ghosh's small recorded catalogue. For students of Hindi film music, Sawaal is a footnote that matters: evidence of a classical master's transitional decade in the studios before he returned fully to the concert flute.