Anupama: Social Realism in Hrishikesh Mukherjee s Film

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1 Anupama: Social Realism in Hrishikesh Mukherjee s Film Jyoti Rajlaxmi Rana Ph.D. Scholar at MLSU Under guidance of Dr. Jayshree Singh Jaipur India Indian cinema has been credited with commendable film aesthetics as regards India s social, culture, economic, political and historical evolution and development. It has treasured the legacy of imprinting its panache in all forms of life s intricacies. It has manifested its aesthetics and art in representing the gross realities, emotional sufferings, and vicissitudes of human life. It has exhibited the kaleidoscopic portrayal of innumerable perspectives of Indian life. Hrishikesh Mukherjee is one of the inevitable directors of all times. He is popularly known as Hrishida,who crafted very simple and sensible films. His films are marked for their own style. Simple incidents of life are woven beautifully in his scripts. Hrishikesh Mukherjee did not emphasize upon the typical type of cinema rather his films focus the public in general. An article A Tribute to Legendary Filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee (available online: concludes that Hrishikesh Mukherjee had effortlessly made movies after movies that was neither art nor commercial movies and had a blend of both of them.alas now there is no one talented enough to care for his legacy. 1 He is the pioneer of social films that reflect the changing middle class ethos. His films stand in between the exotic and native Indian culture as well as among the stark representation of socio-democratic revolution. They do not show rebels, reformers or the self-destructive persons rather they focus upon the human attitude and sentiments towards their relations, towards the society and situations. Some of his most notable films include: Anand (1971), Anuradha(1960), Asli-Naqli(1962), Anupama (1966), Aashirwad(1968), Satyakam(1969), Guddi (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Mili (1975), Chupke Chupke (1975), Khoobsurat (1980) and Bemisal (1982)

2 In the movie Anupama the heroine symbolizes a silent, introvert female yet she specifies her role assertively. The film Anupama (1966) got nominated for the filmfare award in 1967 for the best screenplay, the best film, the best director and the best story. Anupama, is a film that strengthens faith in good wholesome cinema that looks simple but has hidden in its layers a multitude of emotions. Anupama is a stylish film about human interaction and the human condition. It is about the formative power on the human psyche of words and the emotional strength of words unspoken. It is about a fractured father/daughter relationship and a damaged girl struggling to find a voice amidst the wreckage of a catastrophic childhood. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's directorial genius is seen the way main plot of the film is woven in a form of an interesting love story. A good portion of the first half of the film is composed or edited in a way as if seen through the eyes of the father and daughter characters. The 'look' of Anupama is stunning with much of the film shot in moody, dim, and atmospheric low key lighting. Anupama, centres around the character of Uma (Sharmila Tagore).she is a shy and silent girl.she hardly speaks in the movie. Her character is survile and humble as she is the sole daughter of a rich father (Tarun Bose) who lost this beloved wife when she gave birth to this daughter. He blamed her for the death of his wife, and has got stuck in this absurd hatred which has permanently traumatised Uma. But around this centre revolves other characters, especially Ashok (Dharmendra), the young teacher-poet who will open her up to herself as an individual and to love. Of course he will be attracted to her, to her mystery and her beauty, and the quintessential scene of revelation is one that takes place on a wooded hillside, to the tune of Kuch dil ne kaha. There is one beautiful line in this song i.e. Palkon ki thandi sej par sapno ki pariyaan soti hain - On the cool bed of the eyelashes, the dream-fairies slumber. In the clarity of early morning, Ashok walks out of the house towards the wooded hillside. A few yards down, Uma is singing and he stops to watch and listen. But what he's witnessing is really the birth of music, in its pristine powerful magic. Because to audience surprise the director s genius has made the girl who couldn t talk, the source of this wonderful song. Yamini Ayyagary in her article Remembering Hrishikesh Mukherjee, says Each song as with his movies, spoke to you in a special manner and touched a chord somewhere deep within. 2 While the first song is full of light and is picturized among the beautiful hills, the backdrop of Ya dil ki suno... is in a closed premise and dim lights

3 Uma s Song of love, entering Ashok s soul, is transmuted into poetry ya dil ki suno, and silences Annie the chatterbox who from now on will listen instead, and change her general demeanour into that of a sensitive young woman. The dullness of dim lights in this song is very suggestive of the frustration and feelings of revolution at Ashok s heart. Ya dil ki suno duniya walon,ya mujhko abhi chup rehne do.main gam ko khushi kaise maanu jo kehte hain unko kehne do.. This scene is important because it functions as a parallel scene to the hillside one described above. It takes place at a family meeting for Annie s birthday. Ashok arrives late, and as compensation is asked to recite a poem, which he reluctantly accepts to do, saying that he will probably spoil the party's cheerful mood. Annie lowers the lights, and he starts his grave and rather embarrassed song. But as he sings, Annie is transformed by the emotionality of poetic suggestiveness that penetrates her, and makes her pass from the superficial bubbly girl she used to be to the sensible grown-up lady she becomes later. The film dipicts the change of Uma; first a prisoner in her father s house, shut up in shock and fear and guilt, speechless because there is no communication with her father. But later with the help of Ashok she would realise that her enemy is as much within her as outside her, and that she has to set herself free. The theme of communication plays an important role in the movie. The emphasis on the telephone is especially put there to dramatize the difficulties of passing from silence to speech, from imprisonment to freedom. There is one more interesting scene: the phone scene between Uma and Gauri where Uma answers Gauri by nodding her head. So habitual is she of this mode of communication (head nodding) that she keeps forgetting that she is on phone. It s really a very human thinking on writer's part! Anupama means none such and like its name Hrishida has created a unique story of Uma, a neglected daughter of a richman who lost his love at her birth. Uma is so graceful that with hardly ten dialogues in the film she makes her presence noticeable. Ashok writes his novel based on her real life and conveys her that she is so different from others. He makes her realize that she is his Anupama and she has to open herself to the happiness of life. Anupama is a strong tale with a happy ending, not just for the union of the protagonists. The smile is spread seeing the transformation of Mohan. Although he does not express his love for Uma yet at the catastrophic railway station scene he is shown shedding tears of love, 395

4 aplology and happiness. Realising how wrong he was, he redeems himself by setting Uma free. The film does not have any wickedness. Even though Mohan's mind is clouded by pretention and false pride at a point of time, he is cut to size by Ashok. Mohan insults Ashok because he is a struggler and thinks Arun is not good-enough for Uma because he has not maximised on his foreign education. But, he is the poorer man after all. Devoid of love and happiness, Mohan is lonely and desolate. Then there is David, as the amicable Uncle Moses, who refuses to grow old. Spreading cheer wherever he goes, he is the cynosure of attention in all circuits with his jokes and stories. The screenplay is inevitable when Uma breaks the shackles of her guilt and emerges a stronger and emancipated individual. It brings smile when Mohan redeems himself by liberating his wronged daughter. And the viewer s heart brims with joy witnessing the goodness in other characters. In his blog article 10 things you should know about Hrishikesh Mukherjee Abhisays has written He believed in making films full of heart-warming irony,literary sensibilities and straightforward in form,theme and treatment. 3 The most heartening fact about Hrishikesh Mukherji is that he has developed the relationship between each and every characters very tenderly, taking appropriate time. Neither overdoing the drama nor jumping through the caricatures. Thus Anupama is indeed a classic nonesuch film that exhibits the directorial genius of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. His sense of social realism is portrayed beautifully in this film. The characters of the film were very close to the reality. The situations and scenes were put so genuine and realistic that the audience could live the film. The small things kept in mind at the backdrop give the whole story a more natural and obvious move. Hrishikesh Mukherjee is known for his great films which use middle class urban society as his base of story. His films shunned any form of violence and crime and were untouched with glamour, which are the basic ingredients of most Indian Films.He proved that a director could make a series of good films without masala formulas. His films were based on comedies arising from the real life situations,touching human relations,had a simple plot and carved out a middle path. Hrishida s contribution to the Indian cinema is thus inevitable since he is the only director till now who can be attributed to really understand the middle class and highlight their problems, values through his movies

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