Kanoon
| Kanoon | |
|---|---|
Film poster | |
| Directed by | B. R. Chopra |
| Written by | Akhtar-Ul-Iman C. J. Pavri |
| Produced by | B. R. Chopra |
| Starring | Rajendra Kumar Ashok Kumar Nanda Mehmood |
| Cinematography | M. N. Malhotra |
| Edited by | Pran Mehra Ramlal Krishnan Sachdeva |
| Music by | Salil Chowdhury |
Release date |
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Running time | 139 min. |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Kanoon (transl. Law) is a 1960 Indian Hindi-language courtroom drama film directed by B. R. Chopra. The film presents a case against capital punishment, arguing that witnesses may be genuinely deceived, and their consequent inadvertently tendered false testimony may lead someone wrongly to be convicted and hanged. Kanoon stars Rajendra Kumar, Nanda, Ashok Kumar, Mehmood, Shashikala, Jeevan and Om Prakash.
The film was a courtroom drama related with a murder case, where the judge's prospective son-in-law (Rajendra Kumar) is the defence lawyer in a case of murder, for which he suspects his would-be father-in-law. The film was the second songless Hindi talkie. The first one was Naujawan, made in 1937. The movie features an innovative Indo-Western ballet performance with instrumental music by music director Salil Chowdhury.
Kanoon has thematic similarities with the 1957 American film Witness for the Prosecution, itself based on an Agatha Christie play by Agatha Christie. More controversially, it has been noted that it wasn't submitted to the Oscars as India's official nomination considering that "the judges were afraid [Kanoon] would have been taken for an imitation of Witness for the Prosecution."