Dil Ki Rani (1947)
Here is an early movie of Raj Kapoor. In this year (1947) he starred in three movies with Madhubala. Two of his movies, including this one, during this year had music by S.D. Burman. I am not sure how many times this happened (Raj and Burmanda combination), but Burmanda providing music for two Raj Kapoor starrers in the same year is quite a remarkable coincidence!
1947 was a memorable year in the history of India. We got our independence after hundreds of years of British rule. This was also the year Burmanda recognizing the talent of hitherto untested Geeta Roy, who was just 17 years old, had her sing in Filmistan’s “Do Bhai”. That movie made musical history when Geetaji made millions cry with her deeply touching song “Mera Sunder Sapna Beet Gaya”. She sang seven out of nine songs in that movie. Burmanda had Geetaji sing five out of nine songs for “Dil Ki Rani”. Four of these are solos and the other one is a duet with Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor also sang a solo in this movie. One can see the influence of great K.L. Saigal in his singing style. It also sounds sometimes close to that of Mukesh’s voice, his future playback singer for most of his songs.
Jaan Pehchaan (1950)
Here is another Nargis-Raj Kapoor starrer for which the music was composed by Khemchand Prakash. Born into a family with rich music tradition Khemchand Prakash became a pioneer in the field of classical music. He had a thorough knowledge and grasp of ghazals, thumris, and Mawar folk songs. Quest for fame and fortune led him to then Calcutta where he was able to find a job as an assistant music director to Timir Baran. Among films he assisted was “Devdas (1935)” with Saigal and Khurshid. Soon he became an independent music director with “Ghazi Salahuddin (1939)”. Naushad ji was his assistant music director for several movies during this time. In an interview Naushad ji stated that Prakash ji was his Guru.
Prakash ji gave Lata ji her first big hit with “Aayega” song of “Mahal (1949)”. He also introduced Kishore da as a playback singer in “Ziddi (1948)”. The very first song Kishore da sang in this movie was for Dev Anand who was the hero of “Ziddi”.
Prakash ji died very young when he was only 42. Soon after the thundering success of “Mahal” he was inundated with offers. But even before he could complete his assignments, he passed away. At the time of his death, he was working on four movies. “Jaan Pehchaan” was one of them. Its music was completed by Manna Dey. B. Shreshtha completed the music for “Muqaddar”. Basant Prakash finished giving music for “Jai Shankar”. Finally for the movie “Shri Ganesh Janma” the music composition was completed, once again, by Manna Dey.
In a professional career that spanned only 11 years, Khemchand Prakash ji composed music for 34 films. Today he is remembered for immortal Saigal’s “Tansen (1943)” and the trendsetting “Mahal”.
Hamari Beti (1950)
This movie produced, acted, and directed by Shobhana Samarth introduced both of her daughters Nutan and Baby Tanuja to the screen for the first time. Even though the movie didn’t click, Nutan’s first perfromance as an actress clicked. In th next couple of decades she reamined a force in acting especially in those films that demanded a great deal of restraint, understanding, and sensitivity.
Snehal Bhatkar composed nine songs for the movie. Nutan, who initially wanted to be a singer, also sang a song in this movie. Later, Samarth also made “Chhabili” with Nutan and Bhatkar combination in which Nutan had some hit tracks.
Bahaar (1951)
“Bahaar” originally was made in Tamil and starred a 15-year old Vyjayanti Mala for the first time. The movie was a super hit. AVM remade it in Telugu as “Jeevitam”. The movie in Telugu was also a great hit. It was inevitable that they make it in Hindi as well. And they did it. Hindi movie also did well. Vyjayanti Mala became an overnight sensation and became a much sought after actress in all three langauages. The movie was directed in all three languages by M.V. Raman (later became famous for Kishore’s “Aasha”).
Pyaasa (1957)
This probably is one of the most profoundly affecting movie ever made in India. Appropriately titled “Pyaasa”, it tells the story of a young poet’s thirst for love, recognition, and spiritual fulfillment. Based on a story written in 1947 called “Kashmakash”, writer Abrar Alvi comes up with a gem of a screenplay. Guru Dutt who acted, produced, and directed the movie changed the story on the very first day when the shooting began. Originally the story was about a painter. Guru changed the hero from the painter to a poet. A perfectionist, this was how apparently Guru Dutt worked. He never hesitated to make changes at the last minute.
The movie originally was to star Nargis, Madhubala, and Dilip Kumar. Nargis backed out because she was unhappy with Guru Dutt because Sunil Dutt, her husband, was dropped from a movie Guru was producing and directing. The movie progressed well and canned even few reels but suddenly Guru decided to scrap the project quietly and didn’t even bother to inform Sunil Dutt about it. Madhubala backed out because she felt her experience with Guru Dutt from “Mr. & Mrs. ‘55” showed that he could be overpoweringly demanding and not easily satisfied. When both the heroines backed out, Mala Sinha was selected to play Nargis’ role and Waheeda was given the role that would have gone to Madhubala. For the first day of shooting when Dilip Kumar didn’t show up, Guru Dutt learned that Dilip didn’t want play the role because he thought it was going to be another “Devdas”. Guru then decided to cast himself in the role of the poet.
Guru Dutt also changed the ending from what Abrar Alvi wrote. In the original story, the movie would have ended with Vijay (Guru) meeting Meena (Mala Sinha) for the last time. But when the distributors saw this, they felt that it was too gloomy. Guru shot the last scene with he and Waheeda in each others arms started going towards the distant sunset in search of a better life.
Johnny Walker was originally cast to play Guru Dutt’s roommate (in the role of Shyam), kind of a negative role for Johnny. After several days of shooting, Guru changed his mind and cast Johnny as Sattar and took one of his assistant friends, Shyam Kumar, to play the role of Shyam.
The movie was dedicated to Gyan Mukherjee whom Guru Dutt admired immensely. Mehmood played the role of young Ashok Kumar in “Kismat” that was directed by Mukherjee. That is where Guru Dutt met Mehmood. Guru offered Mehmood to play his older brother’s role in “Pyaasa”. Mehmood also appeared in Guru’s previous film C.I.D. These were before Mehmood found his groove as a comedian.
For the important role of the publisher, Guru went back to his old friend Rehman. A fine actor, Rehman was not getting any decent offers. “Pyaasa” revived his career.
For Guru’s previous four films (“Baaz”, “Aar Paar”, “Mr. & Mrs. ‘55”, and “C.I.D.”) O.P. Nayyar composed music. This time because of the backdrop of Calcutta, Guru Dutt decided to go with S.D. Burman as the music director. He worked with Burman before in “Baazi” and “Jaal” and as a team they were terrific together.
S.D. was brilliant in capturing the magic of Bengal with gently lilting tunes and great background score that helped create the subtle atmosphere demanded by so many scenes. The background score was the same for each principal character in the movie. For example, in Meena’s (Mala Sinha) case, whenever she appeared on the screen, a harmonica was used to play a beautifully haunting tune. Incidentally the harmonica player was R.D. Burman. Sattar’s song “Sar Jo Tera Chakraaye” in “Pyaasa” was also composed by the young Burman, R.D. Recognizing the promise and talent, Guru offered R.D. his first job as a music director for his next project. After the completion of “Pyaasa”, Guru did start this project with R.D. as the music director, but after shooting few reels the movie was scrapped. R.D. used those recorded but unused songs for Mehmood’s fisrt own production “Chhote Nawab”. By default it also became the first movie for which R.D. was the music director.
Sahir Ludhianvi was selected to write lyrics. Much of the credit for the success the movie enjoyed goes to the immensely rich lyrics written by Sahir. Articulating political commentary with humanitarian compassion and blending it with the experience of tragedy was the undercurrent of many of the songs written for this movie. Many people believe that Sahir’s own unhappy romances set a pattern of expression for these songs. Sahir never forgot what “Pyaasa” and Guru Dutt did for his writing career. Many a times he acknowledged Guru to be the principal reason for opening up the emphasis on content rather than on form in creating songs for the movies.
One of the things that made movie so great was the voices of Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar, and Mohd. Rafi. Every song they sang still lingers in your thoughts. But the song that symbolizes this movie is that atmospheric stunner, “Aaj Sajan Mohe Ang Laga Lo”. This probably is one of the greatest romantic moments ever filmed for a movie. Its sensuality is heightened by Geetaji’s mesmerizing voice that seem to oscillate by taking the listener between the earth and the heavens. A lovely interpretation of earthly divine love.
Mala Sinha was a relatively newcomer to Hindi films but already acted in many Bengali movies. However, for Waheeda, this was the first movie which demanded her to exhibit her histrionics and emotional skills. Guru was very patient with her. Encouraging and assisting. Instilling confidence. The end result is that a real star was born with this movie. Restrained and understated performances became her trademarks for most of her career.
The photography of “Pyaasa” adds another dimension to the movie’s unprecedented achievements. Guru Dutt and the cameraman V.K. Murty use black and white light effects and shadows so effectively that they leave their alluring imprints in heart forever. Imagery of Christ is used as a symbolic narrative, an allegory, of Vijay’s sufferings. When Rehman is reading the story in the newspaper about the death of Vijay, Meena is holding an issue of the Life magazine whose cover is adorned by Jesus Christ on the cross. Like Jesus himself, Vijay resurrects. When he appears for his own commemoration meeting, he stands at the doorway hands stretched much like Jesus on the cross.
In 2005, Time magazine voted “Pyaasa” as one of the 100 greatest movies in the world. A London-based magazine voted in 2007 Guru Dutt as one of the top 67 directors in the world. Quite a tribute to one of the great cinematic geniuses of Indian cinema.
In 1977, exactly 20 years after “Pyaasa” was released, it was remade in Telugu as “Malle Puvvu”.
Guru dutt was a genius, so was Sahir and SD Burman. This is probably the best hindi film made. The best Geeta duet and solo is in this film and my favorite Hemant Kumat song is in the film and my favorite comedian Johny is in this film but all this would be of less signifiance if Rafisaab wold have not sang the majority of songs of this film.
12 O’Clock (1958)
Here is another delightful romp from the great maestro O.P. Nayyar. Movie wasn’t that great but not because of its music. It was just outstanding and even today, after 50 plus years, sounds great to listen to. Geetaji had five songs in it; three solos and two duets. As usual her voice is just mesmerizing. These songs cast a spell on you. One of my very very favorite songs of Geetaji is “Kaisa Jaadoo Balam Tu Ne Daara”. With this song in her sublimely beautiful voice, Geetaji grips your soul and controls your senses. You just totally surrender to the way she melodiously modulates her voice in gliding through this song with gay abandon. You’re helplessly consumed with its passion and beauty.
Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)
When it was released in 1959 “Kaagaz Ke Phool” was rejected by both critics and audience alike. With the success Guru Dutt enjoyed with his earlier classic “Pyaasa”, there were so many high expectations about this movie. It even had a grand premiere in New Delhi that was attended by then Vice-President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan. But many now think of this movie otherwise. It has reached a cult status and enjoys full houses whenever it is rereleased. There are several reasons for this. Let us explore some of them here …
The movie was released commercially in France in early 80’s. It received unexpected and unprecedented praise from the French movie critics. French audience flocked to see the movie. France, the home of new wave cinema and the domicile of many experimental movie makers, when their discerning film critics took notice of this movie, everyone else started paying attention to what this was all about. In 2002, in Sight & Sound magazine’s critics and director’s poll “Kaagaz Ke Phool” was selected as 160th best film ever made in the world. This is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute. The critics poll is taken every 10 years with the next one due in 2012. Of course, each time the poll is conducted, the list changes.
This movie made history because it was the first movie shot in cinemascope. V.K. Murty, who photographed most of Guru Dutt’s movies, was sent abroad to study advanced techniques in photography and learn how to use cinemascope (simply stated, two lenses in stead of one for broader coverage) lenses. But it was not the technology that was used, it was how the lights and shades were used to picturize most scenes in the movie that became talk of the town. Murty got a Filmfare award for his work. The most famous example in the movie is the lighting used for the song “Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam”. This scene itself, the photography, the music, the song in Geeta ji’s rich voice, the richness of lyrics, all are subjects of study by serious-minded filmmakers. One of the criticism of the movie was that the photography took the front seat to the rest of the movie … However, Guru was a master in using cinematography as one of the major narrative threads. There was an ample evidence of this in his earlier classic “Pyaasa”. The molding of lights and shadows the way Guru uses evokes as much emotion as dialogues or lack of them, as music or silence.
Even though Guru considered Khayyam to be the music director, he went along with SD. Burman and Guru worked in many films together. Their films always had great music. RD assisted his father in this movie. Apart from the classic “Waqt Ne Kiya”, the movie also had several other great songs. Rafi Saab’s song “Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaar” is there throughout the movie. A beautiful piece that depicts not only the story of the movie accurately, but parallels that of Guru’s real life. Geetaji also has another winner in “Ek Do Teen”. “San San San Woh Chali Hawa” is also a noteworthy song.
Originally, Guru Dutt wanted Sahir to write lyrics for the movie. But Sahir and SD never worked together again after their pinnacle achievement “Pyaasa”. Guru approached Kaifi Azmi to write the lyrics. Azmi was underground because of his work with Communist Party in late 40’s as the party was banned for some time. He was still looking for the recognition that eluded him and jumped at the opportunity offered by Guru Dutt. Even though he wrote some great songs for the movie and they became highly popular, because of its commercial failure Azmi could find only occasional work. But later, Chetan Anand’s “Haqeeqt (1964)” changed all that.
The song “Waqt Ne Kiya” had interesting beginnings. Burman created a tune that Guru liked very much. He was looking to create a situation to use the music and approached Kaifi Azmi to write a song. He penned “Waqt NeKiya” in response to the request. Guru later created the sequence to use in the movie. As it happens, this is the song and the scene to remember for the ages.
By all accounts Guru Dutt’s mental state was not stable during the filming of “Kaagaz Ke Phool”. His home life was anything but peaceful. That effected a great deal his working style. He changed the script of the movie while it was in full progress many times. The movie almost was prophetic in the sense that it showed that death was a sort of release from all the suffering. The main character in the movie suffers that fate. A solitary end of a broken and abandoned man. This drama played out in Guru’s real life as well.
Heartbroken with the failure of the movie, Guru vowed never to direct again … What a pity …
Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960)
Guru Dutt bought the rights to the story of “Chaudhvin Ka Chand” from Aisa Theaters long before he actually made the movie. The story, originally entitled “Ek Jhalak”, with the complete script was written by Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. He was the husband of the famous singer and actress Noor Jehan. He wrote and directed “Khandan (1942)” with Noor Jehan and Pran in the lead that was a huge success. After partition when Noor Jehan and Rizvi decided to migrate to Pakistan, he sold the rights of “Ek Jhalak” to Asia Theaters.
Guru Dutt paid a fortune to buy the rights of “Ek Jhalak” but postponed making it because he felt the script was too long. Guru approached Abrar Alvi to see what he can do with the story. In the original story, the friend sees a woman in a marketplace when she briefly uncovers her veil (thus “Ek Jhalak”). Unknowing that she is actually married to his best friend, he confides this to him about the beautiful woman he saw. Friend immediately realizes that he was talking about his own wife and vows to find her for him. He asks his wife to divorce him. When she refuses, he kills himself. His wife over stricken with grief kills herself. Abrar didn’t like how the story ends. Instead he revised the story where the friend realizes the mistake he made by unknowingly falling in love with his best friend’s wife and commits suicide. The movie’s title was changed to “Chaudhvin Ka Chand” which was the name of a short story Alvi published before. But as usually the case with Guru, he postponed making the movie for some time.
After “Kaagaz Ke Phool” failed miserably, Guru became close to insolvent. To keep his entire unit going, he decided to make “Chaudhvin Ka Chand”. Guru went against advise of many friends and hired M. Sadiq to direct the movie. Sadiq was not doing well professionally as well as financially. But Guru thought because the subject dealt with Muslim way of life, Sadiq would be the best person to handle it.
Guru Dutt originally wanted Naushad to give music to the film “Chaudhvin Ka Chand”. Nearly broke, he just couldn’t afford the fees Naushad was charging. His publicist suggested Ravi’s name. Ravi was available for a modest amount of remuneration for his services and was hired.
Ravi has to come up with several tunes for the title song as Guru was neither happy nor easily satisfied. But Ravi’s efforts were vindicated as the title song became one of the all time hits. It was also one of the best romantic songs Rafi has sung. He won the best singer Filmfare award for the song. The rich lyrics for the song won Shakeel Badayuni Filmfare award for best lyricist. Ravi richly deserved the award for best music, but he lost to Shankar & Jaikishan for their fine music of “Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai”. This same year Naushad ji was nominated for “Mughal-E-Azam”. That is how tough the competition was.
Making of color movies was just coming into vogue and Guru Dutt originally wanted to make the movie in color. He sent his regular photographer V.K. Murty to Europe for training. But because of the huge investment required for the color movie, Guru decided to shoot the movie in black and white, and in a hurry. Nariman Irani was hired as the cameraman as Murty was still away in training in Europe. The movie was beautifully shot on location in Lucknow.
It is on record that even though Sadiq directed the movie, Guru’s unmistakable imprint is all over the movie. This is no more evident than in the songs picturized, especially the classic title song. That song was shot in color. It was shot beautifully as the camera almost caressingly moves over Waheeda’s innocently charming face and catches every passing mood reflected by her shy radiance.
The movie when it was released became a runaway success. It remained the biggest hit of Guru’s career. It was shownin the Moscow International Film Festival of 1962. This was the first of Guru’s movies to be shown abroad. Guru travelled to the festival to Moscow. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t sit that well with the foreign movie critics.
With the money the movie brought in Guru could afford to buy part of Modern Studios in Andheri and renamed it as Guru Dutt Studios. The jubilee of “Chaudhvin Ka Chand” was celebrated on his studio grounds. This is where he started preparing for his next venture, “Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam” …
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)
A great writer, director, and a very close friend of Guru Dutt, Abrar Alvi passed away on Novermber 18th. May his soul rest in peace. The following write up about this movie is in his honor and memory …
This outstanding achievement in Hindi film history started when Guru Dutt bought the rights from Bimal Mitra on whose novel the movie was based on. The movie was made in Bengali earlier in 1956 and was a success. It was directed by Kartik Chatopadhyay and starred Uttam Kumar as Bhootnath (Guru played it in Hindi) and Sumitra Devi as Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari in an unforgettable performance lived the role in Hindi).
Bimla Mitra was hired to work with Abrar Alvi, a lifelong friend and associate of Guru, who eventually also directed the movie. Mitra translated with the help of Alvi it into Hindi and Urdu. At Guru’s advise, Alvi taped the entire Urdu script in his own voice to get a sense of dramatic appeal the story offers.
Raj Khosla, who worked as an assistant to Guru and got his first break as a director with Guru’s “C.I.D. (1956)”, says that if “Pyaasa” was based on thoughts and deep rooted feelings of Guru’s youth, “Ghulam” showed the maturity of an artist that resulted in an immaculate film.
Guru Dutt originally considered Shashi Kapoor to play the role of Bhootnath. Then he changed his mind and considered Biswajeet for the role. As often is the case with Guru, he changed his mind again and settled himself to play the role. Guru gave a dignified performance by bringing a great deal of pathos and sincere sensitivity to the character. Rehman, his long time friend from Prabhat Studios days and who has worked with him earlier in two of his very successful movies, was brought in to play the role of Chhote Babu. Rehman was just natural and unforgettable in the role. For Manjhle Babu, Guru cast Sapru, again an old friend from Prabhat days. Interestingly, the character speaks only once in the entire movie, and it was done deliberately. It was felt that his silence actually creates a menacing and sinister presence the role calls for. Indeed it was.
Guru originally wanted Nargis to play the role of Chhoti Bahu. Nargis excused herself saying that she is retired. But most film people are of the opinion that Nargis rejected Guru’s offer because, Guru dropped the movie “Raaz” he was making with Sunil Dutt, and didn’t even inform him. He also considered a London-based lady named Chhaya, who was a friend’s wife. Because she had no prior acting experience, he dropped that idea. Finally he turned to Meena Kumari. This was almost like a stroke of genius. Meenaji brought a unique perspective, silent dignity, solemn suffering, sincere subtlety, and unique depth to the character that will be remembered for ages to come. Meenaji was only 32 at the time, and was going through some rough period in her life herself. In Vinod Mehta’s biography, “Meena Kumari”, the author quotes a paragraph from her diary that illustrates how she was obsessed with the character she was portraying. She wrote, “This woman is troubling me a great deal. All day long – and a good part of the night – it is nothing else but Chhoti Bahu’s helplessness, Chhoti Bahu’s sorrows, Chhoti Bahu’s smiles, Chhoti Bahu’s hopes, Chhoti Bahu’s tribulations, Chhoti Bahu’s endurance, Chhoti Bahu’s, Chhoti Bahu’s, Chhoti Bahu’s … Oh! I am sick of it.” For her performance of a lifetime, Meenaji won the Best Actress Filmfare ward. She was also nominated the very same year in the same category for her portrayals in “Aarti” and “Main Chhup Rahoongi”.
Guru initially wanted S.D. Burman to score the music for the film. But Burmanda was indisposed and wasn’t available. Guru also offered Sahir Ludhianvi to write the lyrics. But Sahir declined the offer. Then he turned to Hemant Kumar to compose the music and Shakeel, who worked with him in “Chaudhvin Ka Chand”, to write the lyrics. The score probably was one of the best score ever provided by Hemantda. The delicate, fine, and the haunting quality of the songs all have that Hemantda’s imprint on them. (The song “Na Jaao Saiyyaan” was itself based on Hemantda’s original Bengali song, “Oliro Katha Sune”.) One of the highlights of the score was that not just the songs were simply superb, but also the highly atmospheric background music. The aura of tragedy, the scars of loneliness, the frustrations risen out of neglect and rejection, these moods are all given expression in the background score with that deeply affecting melancholic touch. An eerie feeling, just like the one Hemantda gave music to his own film that very same year, “Bees Saal Baad”. For all his magnificent efforts Hemantda was not even nominated for any awards for “Ghulam”!
Originally it was Geetaji who was supposed to sing all the songs in the movie. But with Guru having marital problems, he even tried to commit suicide during the filming of this movie, he decided not to have her sing any one of the songs. This was finally resolved with Geetaji singing three songs, all for Meenaji. Interestingly these three are some of the magnificent songs ever sung by Geetaji. Her personal life at this stage was not much different from the songs she was singing for, that of Chhoti Bahu. Our fellow member, Aditya Pant had a nice article written about how the lives of Meenaji and Geetaji mirror each other. This can be seen at the following address:
http://www.geetadutt.com/blog/?p=559
Guru Dutt had the habit of sending his associates to theaters to observe audience reactions when his movies were released. When his associates informed him about the public uproar about two scenes in the movie, he decided to replace them. One of the scenes is where Chhoti Bahu rests her head in Bhootnath’s lap out of an affectionate affinity. The other scene was in which Chhoti Bahu tells her husband to allow her to take the last sip of liquor for the last time because she has decided to give it up completely. Based on audiences’m reaction, Guru decided to reshoot those scenes immediately. He asked Meenaji to be back for a reshoot from Lonavla where she was shooting for another movie. Rehman was also called back. He had all the film reels in Bombay replaced with new prints. The last scene was replaced with a paralyzed Chhote Babu repenting his decadent ways. In the original release, the movie ends with a song by Hemantda himself, “Saahil Ki Taraf” while Chhote Bahu was riding the carriage. The song was completely deleted from the movie. However, Hemantda reused the same tune for Hrishida’s classic “Anupama (1966)” for the song “Yaa Dil Ki Suno Duniyaawaalo”.
Guru originally considered both Nitin Bose or Satyen Bose to direct the film. He changed his mind and decided to give his friend Alvi a break as a director. It was Abrar Alvi’s first and only film as a director. Even though many people think it was Guru who ghost directed the movie, but Alvi in his own book “Ten Years with Guru Dutt – Abrar Alvi’s Journey”, written by Sathya Saran, says that it was his effort all the way. In a recent interview, Waheeda Rehman, who had a principal role in the film, claims that “It wasn’t really directed by Guru Dutt. Of course, he did help Mr. Alvi throughout but this was because the two were close friends, and felt like giving Mr. Alvi the chance to direct a film.” She continues that “I’m sure he helped quite a bit, but then any director, when giving a film to a colleague, does take interest and lend a hand of support.” Finally she concludes that “Guru Dutt did not direct the film”.
Abrar Alvi, who passed away recently, did admit of help from Guru in the picturization of the songs. If anyone who is familiar with Guru’s work, can easily see his stamp all over in the movie as well as the songs. But let us not take any credit away from Alvi Saab. He made a magnificent movie that generations will remember. Guru never got any award as a film director, but Alvi was recognized with the Best Film Director award for that year by the Filmfare magazine.
The movie was shot partly in a haveli forty miles from Kolkata in a place called Dhankuria. It was an old haveli with approximately 50 rooms in it. The mansion with huge pillars and a huge garden was a perfect setting for the movie. At Guru’s request, Alvi spent several months studying habits of zamindars by staying with some of them in and near Kolkata. Bhanumati, who was an illustrator and designer for the “Eve’s Weekly” magazine, was hired to design costumes.
The movie also won a Filmfare award as the Best Picture of the year. V.K. Murty’s brilliant photography won him also the Best Photography Filmfare award. The movie also won President Silver Award. It entered the Berlin Film Festival in 1963. India had another entry for that festival, the same year, Satyajit Ray’s “Jalsaghar”. Guru, Abrar, and Waheeda attended the festival. Meena Kumari did not attend because her husband, Kamal Amrohi, declined to go. Guru had much admiration for Ray. Interestingly both movies showed the zamindari life in a specific period of time in Bengal. Ray’s film reflected dignified and cultured zamindari life whereas Guru’s film showed sinful and decadent way of the same set of people. Guru’s movie didn’t make any waves at Berlin. Later it was also entered Oscars in Best Foreign Film category. But Oscar award selectors also didn’t think much of the movie. It doesn’t matter. It still is one of the best movies made in this country. India Times magazine rates it as the best top 25.
Here are the last few words about Meenaji’s unforgettable performance. A critic in Upperstall.com wrote this about Meenaji’s memorable performance. “ … Her portrayal of Chhoti Bahu is perhaps the greatest performance ever seen on the Indian Screen. The sequence where Chhoti Bahu dresses for her husband singing Piya Aiso Jiya Mein is a poignant exploration of a woman’s expectations and sexual desire. And later on when she has become a desperate alcoholic, you cannot help but cry with her in the sequence where she pleads with her husband to stay with her and then angrily turns on him to tell him how she has prostituted her basic values and morals to please him. However the common factors between the actress’s life and Chhoti Bahu are too dramatic to be merely coincidental – The estranged marital relationship, the taking of alcohol, turning towards younger male company, the craving to be understood and loved – all elements evident in Meena Kumari’s own life …”
Note:
This write-up has been penned by our friend Swarapriya in several posts on our forum site here. Many thanks to Swarapriya.
