Early Influences – Bollywood –II – Wahan Kaun Hai Tera

Wahan kaun hai tera Musafir. Who awaits you O traveller? I am not sure I can answer this question even today. But back then, I would merrily sing along and enjoy the melody. Another song that came to the fore during this time was from Movie Deewar. Kehdon tumhe, yaa chup rahoon, dil mein mere aaj kya hai. ( Should I tell you, or should I be silent about the condition of my heart; what it proposes). This song was the favourite of college goers. My eldest cousin, who was known to be a bit of flirt, and was the boldest among all children, would frequently belt out this number when a particular lady passed the courtyard in front of our ancestral house. (today they are happily married!)

Kehdoon tumhe. Deewar. 1975 had seen the release of another movie along with Jai Santoshi Ma- Deewar. I did not see this movie till much later – almost seven years later. However, the dialogues from this movie resonated across the landscape, as they were frequently blared, literally from tree tops which held the loud speakers in their branches. One dialogue that I remember from this movie is the famous scene of showdown between the two brothers – Vijay Verma (Amitabh) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor). Mere pass ghadi hai bangla hai paisa hai. Kya hai tumhare pass (the deep baritone of Amitabh intoned – I have a car, house, money. What do you have?). Mere pass ma hai. (the soft low tone of Shashi responds- Our mother lives with me.) I don’t think any single Indian child has grown up without being inundated with this dialogue from the famous movie which established Amitabh’s reputation for generations of cine-goers in Bollywood terrain.

I first became aware of this dialogue and the songs from the movie around the time when Kishore Kumar songs had been banned from being broadcast on AIR. I did not understand the controversy surrounding the songs completely but if I can lay a finger on my pulse and try to determine the beginnings of Anti-Congress feelings, then this was the point in time of my life when the seed of anti-congress attitude was sown. How could they do this to us? Ban the singer? I could no longer listen to songs like Kehdoon tumhe on the radio.

It was only much later that I began to see the economical history of the times in India which led to the creation of the movie. 1973-1974 was the time when oil prices shook the very foundation of the economy. It led to rioting for food across several towns in the country. The capitalist class used means less than savoury to create dissentions in labour unions who were leading the riots. The government of the day tended to favour the capitalist class even though it avowed to follow socialism. The war in 1971 had led to incursion of millions of refugees into India which compounded the problems for the society. To this scenario, of a failing trade union leader, the duo of Salim-Javed, added the incendiary mix of right and wrong, morally good versus morally bankrupt and rest, as they say, is history

Kehdoon tumhe, ya chup rahoon dil mein mere aaj kya hai? Should I tell you what is in my heart? AH, right. I forgot. I am writing a blog. So I suppose I have to say what my heart holds, for otherwise, without the churning of the emotions, I would not be able to create the right atmospherics for the blog.

Kahdoon tumhe. Yes, kehta hoon. I am going to tell you. The childhood sees the exposure to various influences, but one of the influences that have deeply shaped my being is the use of English language for almost all practical purposes. I think each of us children in the family was bilingual to begin with. To this was added English. If one needed to move up, if one needed to do well in life, one needed to come to terms with this language. To make it easier for the comprehension of language, one of the tools used by the older generation was to ensure that BBC news was religiously followed. Along with such incursion of the language, came the exposure to thoughts, some provocative, others mildly entertaining.

Among the provocative thoughts that I beheld close to my bosom was No Wommin No Cry. Bob Marley’s incendiary rebellion against a value system which made it impossible for a person of colour to be portrayed on MTV (till some time in 1982-3 when MJ first broke the colour barrier.) ! I first heard this song from my elder brother and soon my sister, the eldest amongst the three offspring of my parents, could be heard singing it without a break. No wommin no cry. One day as I sat with my mathematics text book, humming to myself the same tune – without fully knowing or understanding the meaning or context of it- my father said to me- “Do you know what this means?”

The result of the negative response to that question was a reward of sorts for me. I got the privilege of being shown another movie (by then the novelty of cinema theatre had already worn out) – Sujata. Sujata was the name of the protagonist in the movie by the same name. Nutan, Bimal Roy and S D Burman managed to create a classic. Jalte hai jiske liye (The person for whom I pine) is among the most unique songs of its era; as is the movie.

The movie itself is among the handful of Bollywood movies which focuses on the love of a Upper Caste (Brahmin) boy played by Sunil Dutt for an Untouchable/Dalit by the name of Sujata – played by Nutan. The song itself showed Sunil Dutt using a modern instrument, telephone, to convey his feelings for Sujata (Nutan at the other end of the line). The use of technology to bridge the gap between two different social classes, one oppressed and another privileged was driven home to me during a discussion on this movie at the dining table by my father. Keenly aware of his privileged status, my father probably was far ahead of his times in trying to inculcate in his children the unfairness of the situation. Jalte hain jiske liye. Talat mehmood. The other song from this movie that continues to haunt me to this day is – Sun mere bandhu re, sun mere mitwa, sun mere saathi re. (Listen my friend, my beloved, my companion, listen to me). S D Burman in his eponymous style made this song a gem of a creation. Years later, when my daughter insisted that she wanted to see Chachi 420(Aunty 420), because it was a movie being liked by other children, I had a chance to acknowledge that the circle had turned completely. For the first time, I saw Jai Prakash Paswan- a Dalit Male protagonist, in the movie helmed by Kamal Hassan romancing a Brahmin girl (Tabu- Ms Bhardwaj in the movie). The movie itself was loosely based on Mrs. Doubtfire. Bollywood has borrowed liberally from Hollywood. And over a period of time, I have come to realise how ideas, stories, themes and even frame by frame copies have been passed on to Hindi movie lovers by Bollywood producers.

No wommin no cry. Bob Marley performances used to be so incendiary that authorities would not allow his stage performances to take place during early evening hours because they were afraid that his incendiary songs could lead to rioting.

I learnt all this about Bob Marley much later, when I was living in Canada and was trying to come to terms with personal sense of dislocation.

To me, his no wommin no cry, began to carry a far deeper meaning. The value system which I had abandoned for life in an alien land was challenging me. Chood aaye hai hum woh galiyan ( we have left the streets, where we grew up, far behind)– a song from the movie Matchis. Gulzar’s Matchis. Tabu’s Matchis.

Chood aaye hum woh galiyan. The personal sense of loss at dislocation can barely ever be described. It has to be experienced. One must immerse oneself in acid to be able to sustain oneself. If the bones, the calcium in the bones does not dissolve, you emerge victorious.

If the acid of dislocation dissolves the calcium in the bones, then one crumbles. Yet the gauntlet is to be picked. The challenge accepted.

Chood Aaye Hum Woh Galiyan – I have left the streets where I grew up far behind.

TO BE CONTINUED – CHOOD AAYE HUM WOH GALIYAN