Insaniyat (1955)
Insaniyat (1955) insaniyat_zippy WC Fields once famously said: “Never act with children or animals.” Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand should have listened to him: they are completely overshadowed here by the charisma of a chimpanzee named Zippy. That’s not necessarily bad (or surprising) (I mean, it’s a chimp!), but I had hoped for a much better movie from these two screen legends in their only real outing together. Some of my disappointment was no doubt set up by these magazine covers which held out such promise of spectacular color: insaniyat_covers for a black and white film. Damn you and your beautiful but misleading posters, Filmindia! But even in color, this film would have been dull (just a little less so). Besides for Zippy and some occasional hilarity, the characters were boring and preachy—or cartoonishly villainous—and the story boring and predictable. Dilip was Tragic as always, but Dev somehow managed to not be his usual debonair self. Maybe Bina Rai didn’t ins...