Last week brought the news of the passing away of one of Hindi cinemas’ finest directors Basu Chatterjee. He is credited with the rise of what is popularly known as “middle cinema” even as the mainstream films of the seventies focused on the song, dance, rise of the hero story. Hrishikesh Mukherjee who is often called out along with Basu da was actually part of the Bimal Roy school of film-making along with Asit Sen and Gulzar. Between all these stalwarts, they pioneered cinema celebrating the common man and, in a way, spurred the emergence of some of the greatest actors in the form of Om Puri, Naseerudin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Deepti Nawal and several others.
ASHOK’s FIVE reasons to watch #Rajanigandha streaming on #Netflix, my tribute to Basu Chatterjee. Winner of the Best Picture Filmfare award in 1974 including the critics award and starring Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha and Dinesh Thakur, Rajanigandha is the story of a woman torn between choices and how she makes up her mind told entirely from her perspective. Too simple did I hear you say? Yes, but consider this is nearly five decades ago and to make a film from a woman’s perspective and that too without an iota of moral judgement – now that’s quite something!
1. The hallmark of Rajanigandha is the deep-dive into a woman’s mind told in an effortless style with no real climax, resounding dialogues or major reveal. While the subject is fairly serious, there is no attempt at being neither grim nor vainglorious. The acting is tentative at best and abjectly poor at worst, so you need to brace yourself for that; the focus is clearly on the story-telling. The film is based on the 1966 book “Yahi Sach Hai” by Manu Bhandari.
2. Basu Chatterjee uses a brilliant metaphor of Delhi versus Mumbai to contextualise the dilemma in front of Deepa (Vidya Sinha). She is based out of Delhi and is waiting to get married to Sanjay (Amol Palekar), who is struggling to get a promotion and get ahead in his job. He is dependable, but boring. He is never on time and does not appreciate what she is wearing. He is almost obsessed with his challenges and ends up ignoring her at times. A brilliant symbolism of his persona is the Rajanigandha flowers that he presents her at every meeting – the scientific name for these flowers is Polianthes Tuberosa and their smell linger long after Sanjay leaves.
On the other side, there is Naveen, her ex from college who lives in Mumbai and lives in a glamorous world of endless partying and make-believe. He is professional, on time always and notices what she is wearing. He is, however, the one who has broken her heart in college.
3. Music by Salil Choudhury is the other stand-out feature. There are only two songs in the film sung by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar. “Rajanigandha phool tumhare….” Sets up the context and “Kai baar yun bhi dekha hai…” sets up the complex dilemma. Yogesh’s lyrics are so direct and so evocative – sample this “Kis Ko meet banaoon, Kiska preet bhulaoon”; surely it doesn’t get better than this.
4. Vidya Sinha puts in a fantastic performance as the simple, intelligent woman who is in a quandary. The camera is clearly in love with her cherubic face all through.
5. Rajanigandha is a light, breezy watch and a mirror to the socio-political environment of the times and represents the common man. This also laid the foundation of the parallel cinema movement in India.
Rajanigandha is a simple film that takes you by surprise for the unbiased stance that it takes and for the bold perspective of telling it from the woman’s perspective. I found the fact that Deepa eventually settles for Sanjay pretty meaningful – when you think about it again, it would have been Sanjay who wouldn’t have been able to manage without her and in that sense would have valued her higher. Then again, is it reflective of a careful and watchful mindset where prudence and dependability mattered more than risk taking or dreaming big? Write in and let me know what you think. I am going with a 4 on 5 for Basu Chatterjee’s Rajanigandha.
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