Kismet (1943 film)

Kismet (transl. Fate) is a 1943 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Gyan Mukherjee and co-written with Agha Jani Kashmiri. The film stars Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti, and Shah Nawaz. It is notable for introducing several bold themes to Indian cinema for the first time, including the depiction of an anti-hero, a double role, and an unwed pregnant woman.

Produced by Bombay Talkies during the Second World War, the film was released amid a succession conflict within the studio between Devika Rani and Sashadhar Mukherjee, following the death of founder Himanshu Rai. Kismet became the first major hit in the history of Bombay cinema and is widely regarded as the first all-India blockbuster in Indian film history. Its patriotic songs, which resonated with the ongoing Indian independence movement, played a significant role in its unprecedented box office success.

The film was later remade in Tamil as Prema Pasam (1956), and in Telugu as Bhale Ramudu (1956).