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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = President
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| director = [[Nitin Bose]]
| producer = [[New Theatres]]
| writer =
| narrator =
| starring = {{ubl|[[K. L. Saigal]]|[[Leela Desai]]|Kamlesh Kumari|[[Prithviraj Kapoor]]}}
| music = {{ubl|[[R. C. Boral]]|[[Pankaj Mullick]]}}
| cinematography = Nitin Bose
| editing =
| distributor =
| studio = New Theatres
| released = 1937
| runtime = 152 min
| country = [[India]]
| language = [[Hindi]]
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'''''President''''' is a 1937 [[Hindi]] social romantic drama film from [[New Theatres]].<ref name=citwf>{{cite web|title=President 1937|url=http://www.citwf.com/film278459.htm|website=citwf.com|publisher=Alan Goble|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref> The Bengali version was called ''Didi''. The direction, screenplay and cinematography were by [[Nitin Bose]]. The film starred [[K. L. Saigal]], [[Leela Desai]], Kamlesh Kumari, Jagdish Sethi, [[Prithviraj Kapoor]] and Bikram Kapoor.<ref name=Wilemen>{{cite book|last1=Rajadhyaksha, Wilemen|first1=Ashish, Paul|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135943257|edition=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rF8ABAAAQBAJ&q=Encyclopedia+of+Indian+Cinema+Vidyapati&pg=PA1994-IA326|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref> The story according to the credit roll of the film is "A tale of love and greater love" developed on an idea by M. M. Begg. It was a love triangle with a social content that highlighted the conditions of the mill workers. It was also the first film to show a liberated educated woman managing her own factory.<ref name=Banerjee>{{cite book|last1=Banerjee|first1=Srivastava|title=One Hundred Indian Feature Films: An Annotated Filmography|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135840983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RPeAAAAQBAJ&q=President+film+K+L+Saigal&pg=PA152|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref>

==Plot==
Prabhavati's (Kamlesh Kumari) parents died when she was very young and the onus of looking after the Prabhavati Cotton Mills Ltd. has come to her. Her entire focus is on the factory and she is a strict and hardworking proprietor. Her only close companion is Dr. Sethi but even here there is a reserve. Prakash ([[K. L. Saigal]]) works at one of the machines in the mill. He finds that the machines they are working on are old and dangerous. He designs a safer and more efficient one and takes the design to the President of the company. She gets angry at his suggestion that the machines in her factory are dangerous and fires him. Prakash is out of a job and looking desperately for any form of income. He meets a young girl Sheela ([[Leela Desai]]) outside a girl's hostel with whom he gets friendly. The girl unknown to him is Prabhavati's younger sister.
The day Prakash is sacked from his work, the man who took his place at the machine has an accident. This gets Prabhavati thinking and she goes to Prakash's home to accept his design and re-instate him as head of the design unit. Over a period of time Prabhavati finds herself getting attracted to Prakash, without realising he's in love with her sister Sheela. During a conversation Sheela comes to know that Prabha loves Prakash. Sheela is devoted to her sister and feels deeply indebted to her for single-mindedly taking care of her and the factory. She leaves home and her attitude towards Prakash changes. Prakash unable to understand her behaviour takes out his frustration at work becoming despotic with the workers. The workers revolt and there is a showdown at the factory. Pratibha rushes to the factory; she manages to find what is troubling Prakash. Appalled at the situation she locks herself in her office and works herself into a state where she collapses.

==Cast==
*[[K. L. Saigal]]
*[[Leela Desai]]
*Kamlesh Kumari
*[[Prithviraj Kapoor]]
*[[Jagdish Sethi]]
*Bikram Kapoor
*Nawab
*Shabir Ali
*Indu Mukherjee

==K. L. Saigal and songs==
K. L. Saigal was regarded as the first super star of Indian Cinema with films like President (''Didi'' in Bengali), ''[[Devdas (1936 film)|Devdas]]'' and ''[[Street Singer (film)|Street Singer]]'' leaving an impact on Hindi film music.<ref name=Chaudhuri>{{cite web|last1=Chaudhuri|first1=Shantanu Ray|title=Cinema of Bengal: A Historical Narrative (Part I)|url=http://www.projectorhead.in/archives/six/cinema-of-bengal-a-historical-narrative-part-i/|website=projectorhead.in|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref> President is cited as one of Saigal's finest films<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news|title=Saigal Who'|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040404/asp/look/story_3083754.asp|accessdate=11 Aug 2014|publisher=The Telegraph Calcutta|date=4 April 2014}}</ref> in which he sang one of his most memorable songs "Ik Bangla Bane Nyara".<ref name=Dawar>{{cite book|last1=Dawar|first1=Ramesh|title=Bollywood: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow|date=2006|publisher=Star Publications|location=India|isbn=9781905863013|pages=70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TO6Fmi8FraUC&q=President+film+K+L+Saigal&pg=RA1-PA70|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref> The lyrics of the song written by [[Kidar Sharma]] became an allegorical representation of the common man's dream of owning their own house.<ref name=Chandra>{{cite web|last1=Chandra, Balasubramanium|first1=Pali, Vijay Kumar|title=100 Years Of Bollywood President 1937|url=http://www.indiavideo.org/cinema/president-7382.php|website=indiavideo.org|publisher=Invis Multimedia Pvt. Ltd|accessdate=11 Aug 2014}}</ref>

===Songs===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
! # !! Title !! Singer(s)
|-
| 1
| "Rahegi Na Badariya"
| K. L. Saigal
|-
| 2
| "Ek Raje Ka Udane Wala Ghoda"
| K. L. Saigal
|-
| 3
| "Ek Bangla Bane Nyara"
| K. L. Saigal
|-
| 4
| "Na Koi Prem Ka Rog"
| K. L. Saigal
|-
| 5
| "Chandramukhi Ki Shaadi"
| Chorus
|-
| 6
| "Prem Ka Hai Is Jag Mein"
| K. L. Saigal
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id =0028786 |title =President (Didi) }}

[[Category:1937 films]]
[[Category:Indian films]]
[[Category:1930s Hindi-language films]]
[[Category:Indian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Indian romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1937 romantic drama films]]

President (1937 film) - Revision history

imported>EdwardUK: infobox