Following the super success of entertainers Madhumati and Yahudi in 1958 and then the sensitive love story Sujata in 1959, Bimal Roy surprised all when his next film was a small little satirical film with no big stars. But Bimal Roy was vindicated when the film opened to great critical acclaim. The film was Parakh.

The film once again establishes what a fine and sensitive filmmaker Bimalda was. Parakh sees Bimal Roy venture into satire territory, something not really associated with the realistic filmmaker of Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Sujata and Bandini (1963). However, Parakh is a witty, perceptive film and looks at how greed and money affect the behaviour of people. The film finds Bimal Roy truly enjoying himself as he blows the lid off so called respectable people and shows to what levels people can stoop to for money. Unusually for a film, the music department is in charge of the writing of this film. The film is based on a story by Salil Choudhury with dialogues by Shailendra and dialogue direction by Paul Mahindra.

In terms of cast the film is more of an ensemble piece with well sketched out characters rather than lead roles and supporting roles. Sadhana, billed as Sadhana Shivdasani, for the only time in her filmi career gives perhaps her best ever performance in just the second film of her career. She plays a simple girl in the film a far cry from the glamour of Love in Simla, her first film released earlier the same year. Bimal Roy while taking Sadhana in the film said she reminded him of a young Nutan who incidentally was Sadhana's favourite actress. Ironically after Love in Simla, when Sadhana reported for the shooting of Parakh, Bimalda almost dropped her as he now found her too glamorous. Sadhana pushed back her fringe, sprayed gel on it to make it stay and convinced Bimalda she could look simple as well. Shorn of her glamour and trademark fringe, Sadhana lets the focus be on her performance & gives a sincere, simple and understated performance. It is one of life's biggest tragedies that Sadhana, the first real fashion icon among filmstars with her Sadhana cut and churidar kurtas, was known as the epitome of glamour of the swinging 60s whereas Parakh and some of her other early films like Hum Dono (1961), Asli Naqli (1962) and Man Mauji (1962) reveal an actress of considerable depth and substance but post Mere Mehboob (1963), only the glamour side of her was exploited by our filmmakers. Motilal is his usual ebullient self as post assistant Haradhan who is actually the great Sir JC Roy coming up with yet another impeccable and thoroughly natural performance winning the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor for the same. The rest of the supporting cast do full justice to their roles. However Basanta Choudhury (billed as Vasant Choudhury) as the idealist schoolmaster is just about adequate.

While the music department took over the writing of the film, they still did their respective work in the music department as well. Parakh sees at least two extraordinary numbers both rendered by Lata Mangeshkar. The first of these is the Mila Hai Kisika Jhumka. In this beautifully picturized scene, the village post- master's daughter, who is waiting by the riverside for the arrival of the village schoolmaster, picks up a hibiscus flower under a neem tree and imagines it to be someone's jhumkaa. But the icing on the cake really is that all time great - O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi, a song which even Lata Mangeshkar rates as among her best ever. The song is also poetically picturised by Bimalda with Seema inside the hut and the rain falling outside. It is said that Salil Choudhury got the inspitarion for the song while driving his car in the rain as he listen to the swish of the wipers and the patter of the raindrops on his windshield. Salilda makes splendid use of sounds and orchestrates the song beautifully with the sitar pieces enhancing Lata Mangeshkar's brilliant singing. The song was equally popular in its Bengali avtaar as well as Na Jeo Na. The other songs are more situational and go well with the mood of the film be it Kya Hawa Chali Rut Badli - extremely well written by Shailendra, Yeh Bansi Kyon Gaye, Teri Leela Sabse Pyari Lakshmi Maiya or Mere Man ke Diye.

Released in 1960, Parakh went on to win for Bimal Roy yet another Filmfare Award for Best Director making it a hat-trick following Madhumati and Sujata the previous two years. Parakh proves that a small well made film can be equally good if not better than the big budget film with big stars because it is the content that ultimately counts. It is a shame that a small gem like this is often never considered or brought into discussions on Bimal Roy's cinema because Parakh is a fine film in its own right and is in fact a film extremely relevant for today's mercenary times.