Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Howrah Bridge (1958)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Howrah Bridge (1958, India)

In Shakti Samanta's musical and film-noirish suspense-thriller:

  • the mystery surrounding the death of eldest son Madan (Brahm Bhardwaj), whose corpse was found on Calcutta's Howrah Bridge; just before his death, he was living in Rangoon, Burma with his brother Prem Kumar (Ashok Kumar) and his father, and stole priceless items from the family (including a jewel-encrusted dragon mask heirloom) and fled to India, to pay off his gambling debts
  • the sleuthing investigation of Prem (he assumed the false name of Rakesh) into his brother's death, first meeting en route in a seedy hotel with Uncle Joe (Dhumal) and Joe's beautiful niece Edna (Madhubala), a sexy dancer who assisted Prem in Calcutta in his search for his brother's killers; he was also helped by an old employee, his tanga driver Shyamu (Om Prakash)
  • characters also included a witness to the death: Shyamu's opium-smoking nephew Bhiku (Sunder), and the person to whom the dragon mask was sold - villainous smuggler Mr. John Chang (Madan Puri) who limped with a cane (and had a high-pitched, Chinese-accented voice), and Chang's chief murderous henchman Pyarelal (K. N. Singh)
Edna (Madhubala)
Mr. Chang
Chin Chin Chu
  • the dancing sequence of the seductive and flirtatious Chin Chin Chu (Helen Jairaj Richardson Khan in a star-making role) from Shanghai (first seen in a Chinese costume) in Mr. Chang's hotel, especially her number: "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" (translated "My Name is Chin Chin Chu")

Headlines: "Police Find Dead Body on Howrah Bridge"

Stolen, Jewel Encrusted Dragon Mask

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