Miss Mehtab

The first Gujarati feature film is a saint film about the life of Narasinh Mehta (1408-75), played by Master Manhar. Mehta is known for his evocative Prabhatiyan (morning hymns) and especially for his composition Vaishnava jana to ('The Vaishnav is he who knows the pain of others') made popular by Gandhi, who also adapted the poet's term Harijan (children of god) for the nation's Untouchables. The film adheres to the Gandhian interpretation of Narasinh Mehta's work, avoiding e.g. miracle scenes.

In this stunt-film, Hero Samar (Jairaj) singlehandedly takes on the might of the oppressive state led by the warlord chief (M. Zahoor). He falls in love with the chief's sister Ila (Mehtab) and fights his revolution from the tavern of Dulari (Shirin) with little more than a band of adventurers, a leatherface mask, his faithful dog Tiger, and his horse Bahadur.