Entertaining Hindi films

K S Sivakumaran

Unlike these days early Indian films in different languages were in black and white and did not have subtitles in English. Even without knowing the Hindustani language but interested in seeing what is now known as Bollywood films, I used to enjoy the Hindi films primarily for their splendid songs and dances as a teenager.

A scene from Sawan Ki Ghata

Those days the Crown, Zainstan and Ritz theatres used to screen exclusively Hindi films. In 1967 I watched two films: Anupama and Sawan Ki Ghata

Sharmila Tagore, a Bengali actress who has figured in the famous director Satyajit Ray’s Opur Sansar also shone in Mumbai’s Hindi films. Great grand niece of Rabondranath Tagore Sharmila turned a Muslim and married one time Indian cricket captain Nawab of Pataidu.

Unnatural hatred

Sharmila Tagore played the heroine of the film Anupama which was a sort of psychological film: Unnatural hatred of a father towards his daughter. The reason for this was that his wife whom he idolized died giving birth to Anupama. The father’s hatred was unreasonable. So Anupama earns the sympathy of the audience because she was deprived of ant parental love or affection. She grew up as an inhibited, frustrated, immature and ugly duckling.

Happily for her, she felt in love with a young author played by Dharmendra. The film ends in her breaking the shackles of terror that bound her to her father. She goes away in search of true happiness with her anti-hero lover.

The story of Anupama is simple but its cinematic treatment was beautiful. The tempo of the film was not allowed to dwindle into sheer sentimental mockery.

The dialogue was minimal. There were many contrasting images in the movement of the film though the space was not certainly slow.

Poignant depiction

The heroine spoke only a few words in the whole film. And her poise and charm were very appealing. Sharmila’s portrayal of the unfortunate Anupama was poignantly depicted by the versatile actress in every expression and movement.

Indeed the acting all around was good. Tarun Bose as her father was particularly impressive. Dharmendra as the heroine’s lover gave a slick performance. Veteran David provided the humour that was enjoyable. Shashikala in a minor role was also faultless.

But the credit of making this story a refined commercial film goes to another director from Bangla –Rishikesh Mukerjee. The film could be seen as an exquisite presentation in the execution of every department in the making of the film. There was a touch of grace in his artistry. I found the early part of the film was really poetic cinema. I refer to the certain sequences which show the deep love that Anupama’s parents had for each other. Those scenes were suitably edited to show why the father hated his daughter to such an extent.

One gathers very easily that in the father’s opinion his beloved wife would have been spared if not for the birth of the daughter. This was the central thread in the film. One other appealing feature in the film was the enticingly pleasing and refreshingly creative music that refrained itself from the normal tin-pan alley music of the west.

The film had received many awards in India is a factor not to be dismissed.

Sharmila Tagore in Anupama

The other film Sawan Ki Ghata meaning “Clouds of the Rainy Season” had the usual quota of entertainment in abundance. The film was lavishly produced in Eastman colour.

There was the baby faced Manoj Kumar doing an Elvis Presley with singing, swaying, courting and even fighting in the film. Surprisingly there was Sharmila Tagore in altogether different role with hair-do, costumes, jeans and jewellery playing the role of an oomph-girl.

The eternal villain role was played by Pran. The other girl in the film was Mumtaz. Thus we see that this was a triangle of love kind of film. It was escapist entertainment for those who sought that through the medium of the cinema.

A tea estate in Ooty (shortened name for Uthagamandalam) located in Thamilnadu was the backdrop of the film. It added a salubrious flavour to a dish of favourite and familiar ingredients. Cinematography by Gopalkrishna deserved special praise for capturing rare profiles of SharmilaTagore and Manoj Kumar and also for his shooting the outdoor scenes.

O P Nayyar, the popular music director of yester films gave music tuned to heavy western orchestration. Galaxy of beauties danced and sang and cooed at regular intervals. It was a box office film that entertained the entertainment less masses of the 1960s.

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