'MADHUMATI' TURNS 50 ! - MY TRIBUTE
Apr 11 2008 | Views 680 |
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Tags: 'Madhumati' Bimal Roy dilip kumar vyjayantimala Salil Chowdhry
Tags: 'Madhumati' Bimal Roy dilip kumar vyjayantimala Salil Chowdhry
News Item:
Friday, April 11, 2008:
Friday, April 11, 2008:
It was a visual treat for all the movie lovers in Mumbai as they watched the 1958 classic Madhumati.
Bimal Roy's Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala starrer Madhumati was screened at the globus theatre on Thursday celebrating its golden jubilee.
"It's a proud moment, the film was very popular and now it's a heartening moment," said Vyjayantimala, actress.
And since Naya Daur was released in colour not long ago is this a trend the veteran actor hopes to see more of?
"Yes, I'm very happy but I do not want Madhumati to be in colour again, it's a classic which looks best in back and white," said Vyjayanthimala.
And since Naya Daur was released in colour not long ago is this a trend the veteran actor hopes to see more of?
"Yes, I'm very happy but I do not want Madhumati to be in colour again, it's a classic which looks best in back and white," said Vyjayanthimala.
Madhumati which released in 1958 with music by none other than the legendary Salil Choudhury and lyrics by Shailendra, was one of Bimal Roy's greatest commercial successes. The film deals with reincarnation and had a gothic noir feel to it.
'MADHUMATI' TURNS 50 ! - MY TRIBUTE
Today at the 50th anniversary of ‘Madhumati’s release, when a reporter asked Vyjantimala whether she would like to see the film re-made in colour, she said ‘No, it will lose its dramatic impact’. I fully agree with her. May the 'Mughal-e-Azam's and 'Naya Daur's be painted afresh, but Madhumati is best, if left alone!
'MADHUMATI' TURNS 50 ! - MY TRIBUTE
It was in a re-run matinee show that I first met her. Years have rolled by, but I still have those vague haunting memories.
Haan--- mujhe kuch kuch yaad aa raha hai.---
Haan--- mujhe kuch kuch yaad aa raha hai.---
I am there at the theatre - Chitra at Dadar, already a bit late. The 'House Full' signboard is mocking at me. Undeterred I queue up to the blackmarketeer. At last, I enter the hall ten minutes late. The show has started. Lights are off. The usher is out of reach. I grope for any vacant seat, like so many others on the aisle. As I inch forward, I look up at the screen. It is a stormy night. Thundershowers are crashing on an old monument. A flash of lightning fleetingly lights up the silhouette of its huge dome. There is a figure groping its way as well inside the mansion. It is pitch dark on and off the screen, until Dilip Kumar lights up a candle to reveal his bewildered face. A shabby white curtain blows in wind and envelopes him. He moves on and stumbles upon a tattered painting. A quaint look of recognition creeps up his eyes, as he stares at the face in the painting smeared with red paint, and he mumbles (as only Dilip can), ' Haan---ab mujhe kuch kuch yaad aa raha hai.---'. Suddenly the screen lights up to a beautiful sunny morning at he hills. Chirping birds. Flowing river. Tranquility in air. Cheerful chorus of tea-picking girls. A fresh and charming Dilip Kumar saunters up the hills savouring the scenic beauty. As he breaks into Mukesh's mellifluous 'Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen' , I finally find my seat. I settle down to savour an unique audio-visual treat unfolding. I also find my first love amongst the best of Hindi cinema in 'Madhumati'!
It is difficult to analyse cerebrally why 'Madhumati', made in 1958 by Bimal Roy, remains to still be a fond favourite with scores of discerning film-buffs. It had neither the grandeur of a 'Mughal-e-Azam' or a 'Mother India', nor any powerful social content of a 'Pyaasa' or 'Shri 420' or other classics of that period. It was a fairy-tale-like-fantasy, an interesting yarn of romance, retribution and re-incarnation, not the typical stuff for the high-brows. Yet 'Madhumati' endeared to the critics and the commons alike. 'Madhumati's forte was perhaps the enigma it exuded, like the title character in the film, intriguing the viewer with its fleeting images and moods.
So we drift dreamily into Dilip's past life as Anand, a young artiste who comes to the hills to work in a timber estate and falls in love with an innocent tribal belle (doe- eyed Vyjantimala at her graceful best). The pristine romance is terminated when Madhumati jumps to her death to escape the clutches of the wicked Ugranarayan (Pran, evil-personified). Anand languishes in his anguish (as only Dilip can) until he comes across Madhavi, a stage-artiste (Vyj again) and plots with her to bring evil Ugra to books. The idea is to disguise Madhavi as Madhumati and present before Ug and scare the confession-stuff out of him. So the lady arrives at the appointed hour, corners U and makes him blurt out his black deeds to the waiting police. Then in a sequence that never fails to give goose-pimples, it turns out that it was not Madhavi but Madhumati's ghost who had come come back from the ashes to deliver the final justice! Flash to the front again, Dilip with his uploaded memory rushes to the railway station and re-unites happily with his wife(V again) and child, who had just escaped a train disaster in the stormy night.
(Does the story sound familiar to today’s teen-agers? Well, they would have seen OSO recently! BTW Farah Khan didn’t have the courtesy to acknowledge ‘Madhumati’ for the idea!)
(Does the story sound familiar to today’s teen-agers? Well, they would have seen OSO recently! BTW Farah Khan didn’t have the courtesy to acknowledge ‘Madhumati’ for the idea!)
'Madhumati' could have easily turned farcical in the hands of a lesser director, but the wizardry of Bimal Roy elevates it to a work of art. 'Madhumati' was also a tour-de-force of some of the master-talents of that time. Based on a story by the legendary Ritwick Ghatak, and backed by dialogues by Rajinder Singh Bedi , editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, B&W cinematography by Dilip Gupta capturing the myriad moods and nuances of nature with finesse, simple and soulful lyrics by the great Shailendra , a haunting background score and music straight from the hills and heavens by none other than the inimitable maestro Salil Chaudhry (with gems of melodies by Lata, Mukesh,Rafi and Manna Dey,Mubarak Begum), embellished by rhythmic folk-dances and a heady mix of romance and suspense and a dash of comic interlude by Johhny Walker (amusing, though a little out of place) - The final concoction was sheer magic unleashed!
Today at the 50th anniversary of ‘Madhumati’s release, when a reporter asked Vyjantimala whether she would like to see the film re-made in colour, she said ‘No, it will lose its dramatic impact’. I fully agree with her. May the 'Mughal-e-Azam's and 'Naya Daur's be painted afresh, but Madhumati is best, if left alone!
So that was 'Madhumati'. Magical. Mystical. Mesmerising. Memorable. No wonder it swept as much as nine 'Filmfare' awards and broke all records. It also mothered clones with identical re-incarnation themes, like 'Milan', 'Mehbooba', 'Karz' and 'Om Shanti Om'.
Quite a lot of Hindi films, mostly made by Vijay Anand, Gulzar, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee etc and most of the Salim-Javed & Amitabh Bachhan- combined ‘solid’ entertainers have special corners in my heart. But when it comes to my most favourite, Bimal Roy’s immortal Ghost-Lady would always come first in the photo-finish!
© SUBRAMANIAM VISWANATHAN., all rights reserved.
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