C.I.D.

Directed by Raj Khosla

Starring:
Dev Anand
Shakila
Johnny Walker
K.N. Singh
Waheeda Rehman
Bir Sakuja

C.I.D. is a film noir from 1956, and it follows many of the genre’s conventions, as a detective is pulled into an elaborate plot. The film begins with a mysterious order made to bribe the editor of The Bombay Times, and (if that doesn’t work) kill him. Srivastav, the editor, turns down the bribe and is killed shortly afterward. Inspector Shekher, a C.I.D. officer, is assigned to the case. Shekher is a noir detective in the Philip Marlowe mold. He’s smart, resourceful and a little detached, without being quite hardboiled. When Shekher attempts to chase the killer, he commandeers Rekha’s car in the process, much to her annoyance. Not believing Shekher to be a detective, she removes the keys from the car, allowing the murderer to escape. The murderer is later apprehended, and identified by Master, the only witness to the murder. Master is a tailor and a pickpocket, though not necessarily in that order, and is the film’s comic relief. Upon discovering an unprinted newspaper article, Shekher realizes that Srivastav’s murder was a premeditated plot, ordered by someone to prevent Srivastav from revealing the criminal’s identity. Around this time, Shekher also learns that Rekha is the police chief’s daughter, and the two fall in love. Shekher receives a phone call from a woman claiming to have information about the murder. He is quickly driven to her, in a car with tinted windows, where she offers to bribe him for the murderer’s release. She is Kamini, the film’s femme fatale, and one of the conspirator’s behind Srivastav’s murder, along with the more powerful Dharamdas. When Shekher refuses, he is knocked unconscious and abandoned by the side of the road. When he finally wakes, Rekha and her father have found him. Although his memory of the night is fuzzy, Shekher is vaguely aware that Kamini, who is coincidentally a childhood friend of Rekha, is involved in Srivastav’s death. Although he has been silent while in prison, Dharamdas fears that the murderer will talk, and has him killed. Two other prisoners beat the murderer to death, but as there are no witnesses, the blame is placed on Shekher, and he is brought to trial. He is forced to find a way not only to prove his innocence, but also find out who the real villain is, and he sets off to do so, jumping bail. -Anthony Scibelli