Rachel Dwyer, in her BFI book 100 Bollywood Films, calls this the most faithful attempt to transplant classic noir style to Bollywood. The plot is creaky (so what?) but the cinematography and editing are truly striking. Guru Dutt produced but didn't direct this film, and his spouse Geeta Dutt sang several of the songs--which are gorgeous.

The noir comparison ends up accentuating the stark differences between classic Hollywood and classic Hindi cinema. The prominence of choreographed songs and Johnny Walker's…