These days when I read those forwarded mails subjected as “50 reasons not to marry a Bengali girl”, I do a chuckle and feel pity for the lack of imagination of post 60’s bollywood that has mainly been the reason of curving the niche of Bengali men as anything but henpecked. But the thing is, that’s not been the case over the years. When I started watching all those Hindi movies that showcased Bengali lifestyle in celluloid, I not only experienced some avant grade directorial brilliance but also discovered some striking research work of “Babu culture and its machismo”, that had gone in to produce those films. One of those films should be “Shahib Biwi aur Gulaam” directed by Abrar Ali, produced by the legend Guru Dutt [Many feels the movie is actually Ghost directed by Guru Dutt only].
Like most of the Guru Dutt movies SBAG too is a chiaroscuro meditation on time, memory, and social and personal injustice, all falling on the same string of classical tradition of Pyaasa and Kagaz ke phool. But there’s an exception here. For a change SBAG pivots around a female character played by Meena Kumari as Chhoti Bahu. Chhoti Bahu’s character is somewhat ambiguous. The shade of the character is sketched so neatly that you could take both sides of the coin. She is perceived differently in the film too. While the voluptuous sister in law of her thinks she is foolish woman who has not learned to enjoy her new status and wealth; her husband [Chhote Babu] thinks, as she is born and brought in a poor Bengali family, all she needs to do is to care for him and regard him as god. While Bhoothnath, the character played by Guru Dutt sees her as an ethereal being who is beyond any imagination or comparison.
Well, SBAG holds a large array of feminine nature across its span. While the Badi Bahu is half mad and deranged so much in her moral sense that she washes her hand 63 times to be auspicious, Majli Bahu has succumbed to the hands of brothel-prone masculinity of this chowdhury family, that teaches her to be happy in breaking and recreating jewelries.
Chhoti Bahu rejects to be typecast. She is ready to cross any mile to get her husband back in home. She is ready to try her hands in “Mohini sindoor”, a vermillion that claims to keep the “suhaag” in tact; and when that attempt falls apart she is even ready to sing and drink wine with her husband like a courtesan does. Going farther down the line of jeopardy, we see a character played by Waheeda Rehman as Jabba, who is young, likes Bhoothnath from the word go and flirts openly with him continuously. Her words and action both show extreme freedom throughout the movie. She will not take the fact that her father has fixed her marriage with a guy whom she does not love, so she squelches the marriage after her father’s death. A striking maturity of Jabba is exposed by this denial as she was shown as an adoring daughter, but she knows her mind well.
Cut back to the narrative of male dominance we see the commentary on Bengal's decaying feudalism. Its presiding males, two Chowdhury brothers who occupy themselves with such traditional aristocratic pursuits as pigeon-keeping, elaborate “marriages” of pet cats, and drunken nights in high-class brothels, regularly abuse their tenants, servants, and wives. On the other hand, Mr.Suvinay, the owner of “Mohini Sindur” factory is the face of Bengal’s rising “Brahmo-samaj” [which was influenced by Protestant ideology and which sought to “purify” Hinduism of “superstition,” “idolatry,” and customs such as sati or widow immolation]. Suvinay’s house is designed with its upright piano, lace curtains, and mythical figurines in European porcelain, shows the conceivable encapsulation of bourgeois Brahmo syncretism. Then there’s a character of a lunatic Timekeeper in Zamindar’s house who thinks all these aristocracy of the Haveli will end one day. Probably a poetic justice of the fact, that he knows it all and world thinks he is insane.
The whole plot is unfold by Bhoothnath and Servant Bansi, who chronicle the history of the family and witness the ravages of time and changes that took place in haveli
Like all other Guru Dutt movies too, the cinematography and work of light and darkness is to be seen in SBAG too. Even some subplots of the story are so deep that it leaves you spellbound. Though Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman were in full throttle of affair in their personal life, the movie repeatedly and significantly defers their union to unfold other more important parts of the movie. The song “Meri baat rahi mere man men — “My unspoken words lie sealed in my heart” on the lips of Jabba tells thousand words of her helplessness as impeccable pictirization repeatedly plays a game of daylight and darkness on Jabba’s face. Even the brothel song Saqiyaa, aaj mujhe nind nahin aaegi — “Friend, tonight I shall not sleep” is brilliantly choreographed and consoled with verbatim expressions. You just got to see how its picturized; as the patron moves from the ceiling the shadows of the co dancers move, yet they all are in perpetual darkness; a striking portrayal of concealed and revealed feminity.
I will not ponder too much on “Na Jaon saiyan” as the world knows all about the masterpiece number, but surely about “Piya aise Jiya me”. You Just got to see Meena Kumari’s acting prowess in the number. Just by her facial expressions and tricks of eyes she portrays the female desire so amazingly.
Then there is a scene where the Majli Babu is shown sitting in the room alone and a triangular shade of light falls on him and rest of the room is darkened. It is again a sharp [triangular] visual that denotes the fast decaying aristocracy; which is soon on the verge of finish.
In a short span of time, the movie shows so many facets of life, that it deserves multiple viewing to grab all. I would regard SBAG as a Hindi substitute of Mr.Ray’s epic work in “Jalsaghar” and recommend all to see this classic if they haven’t seen it yet. Its a movie that Rocked me BIG TIME !!
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