{"id":5754,"date":"2020-06-28T08:32:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T03:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=5754"},"modified":"2020-06-28T08:32:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T03:02:28","slug":"simple-straightforward-incisive-the-cinema-of-basu-chatterji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/simple-straightforward-incisive-the-cinema-of-basu-chatterji\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cinema of Basu Chatterji: Simple, Straightforward, Incisive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Basu

Basu Chatterji<\/p><\/div>\n

Basu Chatterji, probably because he was so unassuming and grounded right through his career, did not get the recognition he deserved for having introduced a completely new genre of cinema that did not exist before. It is always labelled \u201cmiddle of the road\u201d cinema which, however, is a rather homogenised description of his kind of cinema. Because, it reached far beyond this labelling. \u201cMiddle-of-the-Road\u201d was elaborated upon as \u201cwholesome family entertainment\u201d that provided powerful story-based entertainment for the entire family without sex and violence. But these descriptions are an over-simplification of a creative artist that just skims the surface of his cinema and does not go any deeper.<\/p>\n

Basu Chatterji\u2019s cinema neither begins nor ends with a film like Rajanigandha<\/em> though this is a film that carries the sweet, romantic fragrance of the long-stemmed, tube rose used across the map of many Indian families \u2013 at weddings, funerals, receptions and other festivals till this day.<\/p>\n

Having established a long track as cartoonist with Blitz<\/em>, for 18 long years, with a colleague who later became a living icon in Maharasthra politics \u2013 Balasaheb Thackeray, Basu-da, as he was popularly known, stepped into the intriguing world of cinema as director. As he had spent his growing years in Rajasthan, his Hindi was very strong so he often relied on Hindi literature to base his films on. \u00a0His having been a cartoonist invested him with a caustic sense of humour that he used with great intelligence and artistry in his films.<\/p>\n

\"Sara<\/a>

Rare poster of Sara Akash, one of the 3 films that ushered in the Indian New Wave cinema in 1969-70<\/p><\/div>\n

Sara Akash<\/em> (1969) was inspired by the first part of Rajendra Yadav\u2019s debut Hindi novel of the same name published first in 1951. The film was shot on location in Agra, and in Rajendra Yadav’s old family house in Raja Ki Mandi area, Agra.\u00a0 It portrays the story of a very young couple failing to come to terms with each other as husband and wife. The husband (Rakesh Pandey) was forced into an arranged marriage he did not want while his bride (Madhu Chakravarty) is not good at household chores at all. Chatterji beautifully establishes within the first ten minutes of the film, the couple\u2019s discomfort with each other and also, inserts a small sub-plot of a young wife burning herself to death which the bride watches from the window on the night of their wedding. The director also introduces the main characters and the young man\u2019s relationship with his family.<\/p>\n

The film is enriched by the brilliant cinematography of K. K. Mahajan who took full advantage of the real locations in Agra specially the house which formed the centre stage of the drama, using light effects and close-ups to capture the finer nuances of the hero\u2019s facial expressions and the bride\u2019s frustration at her in-law\u2019s rejection of her because she is not good at household chores. Rakesh Pandey excels as the angry young man so it is strange that he reached nowhere in the film industry despite such a wonderful performance.\u00a0 Sara Akash<\/em> is perhaps the first major attempt by a Hindi filmmaker to portray incompatibility in a newly married couple so openly yet subtly enough to leave a deep impact into posterity. K. K. Mahajan bagged the National Award for Best Cinematography the following year while Basu Chatterji was bestowed the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay. It is is the only film that features filmmaker Mani Kaul as actor where he plays the elder brother of the hero. The film puts forth the message that a relationship evolves with time even when the husband and wife are not ideally made for each other. The other message is that a daughter-in-law is often harassed when she lacks her husband\u2019s support. The music by Salil Choudhury, however, did not carry the brilliance it did in Rajanigandha.<\/em> This film established what turned out to be Basu Chatterji\u2019s auteur signature \u2013 Simple story, straightforward narrative, ordinary characters placed in extra-ordinary circumstances they struggle to live through and overcome.<\/p>\n

\"Vidya<\/a>

Basu Chatterji’s most celebrated film -Rajnigandha<\/p><\/div>\n

Rajangandha: Noted Hindi litterateur Mannu Bhandari\u2019s Yeh Sach Hai<\/em> formed the inspiration for Rajanigandha <\/em>(1974) which turned out to be a super-duper box office hit through the apparently simple love triangle. The film shows Deepa, a young woman who lives life on her own terms and is not bothered about other people\u2019s opinions. Basu Chatterji introduced two absolute newcomers, Amol Palekar, a known name in Marathi theatre, as one of the two men, Vidya Sinha, as the heroine doing her Ph.D. and Dinesh Thakur, noted founder-director-actor of Ank, a noted Hindi theatre group as the estranged boyfriend of Deepa.<\/p>\n

Rajanigandha <\/em>established Basu Chatterji as a master of understatement who did not believe in loudness or melodrama, in sex and violence and mainly his brilliant feel for good music. Salil Choudhury\u2019s music for the songs in the film still resonate in request programmes on AIR and other musical events. Importantly, the songs were not placed in a vacuum but in complete context with the characters and the film. Since all three major characters came without starry halos around their heads, they performed as naturally as if they were playing themselves. Deepa, caught between her former lover (Dinesh Thakur), smart, savvy and suave unlike her Delhi beau (Amol Palekar) who is simple, na\u00efve, lacks in social niceties and the only way he can express his feelings is by arriving late for a date with a bouquet of tuberoses.<\/em> Mukesh won his one and only National Award for the Best Male Singer (Male) for a song of the film. What few critics have either ignored or \u00a0not noticed is the portrait of an independent woman who decides for herself whether she will leave for Bombay where she gets the job she had gone for, or whether she would settle down to a marriage to the simple and unpunctual Sanjay.<\/p>\n

The film catapulted both Palekar and Sinha into middle-level stars in their own right. But they form only two of the many actors who got their first break into films in Chatterji\u2019s films. This film bagged the awards for Best Picture, the Popular Film and the Critics Award at the Filmfare Awards in 1975. G.G. Mayekar also won the Best Editor Award from BFJA which gave the film the Best Film award.<\/p>\n