Yash Chopra’s second directorial venture
‘Dharmputra’, made in the year 1961, was a poignant tale about Hindu-Muslim
unity. Based on a novel of the same name by Acharya Chatursen, ‘Dharmputra’ was
the first Hindi film to depict the partition of India, along with Hindu
fundamentalism.
Although the screenplay is cramped with
unnecessary songs, the film does make for a compelling watch. In spite of being
shot in 1960s where technology was a bit of a handicap, the film does make for
a fine viewing. Yash Chopra, who will be remembered as the ‘King of Romance’,
shows his other side as a filmmaker with his second film. Shashi Kapoor
announced his arrival with an impactful performance in this film.
The film opens in the year 1925, during the
British rule in India, when the country was at the height of its independence
movement. Two families, residing in Delhi, that of Nawab Badruddin (Ashok
Kumar) and Gulshan Rai are so close to each other that they virtually share the
same house.
Nawab’s daughter, Husn Bano (Mala Sinha),
has an affair with a young man named Javed and gets pregnant. When the Nawab
attempts to arrange her marriage with Javed, the man disappears.
Gulshan Rai’s son, Dr. Amrit Rai (Manmohan
Krishna), and Amrit’s wife Savitri (Nirupa Roy) assist Husn with the birth of a
baby boy, Dilip, and even adopt him to give him their family name. During
childhood, he is the cynosure of all eyes at both the households. Husn finally
gets married to another man and moves out of the joint household. While she gets
pregnant again, the baby gets killed in the womb owing to an accident. Nawab,
meanwhile, loses his life while holding a protest against the British.
Years later, Husn Bano and her husband
return to the Rai household only to find that Dilip has become a Hindu fascist
and a Muslim-hater. Not knowing his own roots, will Dilip ever get to know that
he was born to a Muslim mother? Will Dilip and his mother Husn Bano ever
reunite? How will Dilip react to the news considering that he has grown to hate
Muslims so much over the years? The film ‘Dharmputra’ tackles a sensitive issue
very well.
The story, albeit about Hindu-Muslim
relations, is also about the coming-of-age of Dilip. The film also revolves
around Husn Bano, the biological mother of Dilip, who loves him so much that
she does not have a problem with his extreme ideology. All in all, it’s a very
well made film which conveys the right message about secularism.
The performances from the cast are
excellent. Shashi Kapoor, Mala Sinha, Ashok Kumar, Manmohan Krishna and Nirupa
Roy are absolutely brilliant playing their respective characters.
Shashi Kapoor
announces his grand arrival. This film brought out the revolutionary within the
actor. He is terrific in the role and one wishes that he had done more hard-hitting
roles during his time apart from doing the romantic films, which came to be
known as his forte.
The music of the film is hummable, not
extraordinary. One reason could be that there are too many songs filled in the
screenplay. One problem with the story was that, owing to the unnecessary
songs, the basic premise takes too long to get settled. Shashi Kapoor arrives
too late in the film.
Even the cameo by Rajendra Kumar, albeit wonderful, seems
unwanted if you put the entire film in context. The dialogues by Akhtar-Ul-Iman
are, needless to say, fantastic. The film puts forward a great message. At the
time of its release, it must have had a very strong emotional connect with the
audience. In any case, it still does.
Yash Chopra wasn’t just the King of Romance.
He was simply THE KING! Good at directing any genre.
Shivom
Oza
Music credits are wrong. MD was N Dutta not LP. The critic seems ignorant of Urdu language and its poetry. Sahir Ludhiyanvi , the King of Hindustani film lyrics was at his best. Contrary to critic's verdict these beatuful lyrics were woven intelligently and enritched the narration at that time. Maen jab bhi akeli hoti hoon, Bhool sakta hai bhala kaun ye pyari ankhen, Mere dilbar mujh par khafa na ho, Ye masjid hai wo but khana, Ye kis ka lahoo hai kaun mara, Jai janani jai Bharat maan, Naina kyun bhar aaye. Sahir was closest friend of Yash. Film had only 7 songs and were gem of film music. Unfortunately film was a total flop at box office. It,s power ful plot is more relevent today. I can only hope that some one such as Wishal Bhardwaj could take up the task.
ReplyDeleteNusrat Zaheer (nusratzaheer@gmail.com)