{"id":6310,"date":"2021-10-06T00:02:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T18:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=6310"},"modified":"2023-06-11T19:25:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T13:55:32","slug":"phani-majumdar-a-journey-through-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/phani-majumdar-a-journey-through-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Phani Majumdar: A Journey Through Life\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Radha<\/a>

Radha Krishna statue copied from the Rangam Chitra logo<\/p><\/div>\n

In our house in Malad, the Mumbai suburb that was home to Bombay Talkies from 1930s to 1950s, I grew up admiring a white murti<\/em> of Radha Krishna. No, it wasn\u2019t carved of marble, it was a statue cast in Plaster of Paris, from an image that was the logo of Rangam Chitra, the banner under which Akash Deep<\/em> was made in 1965. This murti<\/em> was one of three sculptures copied from the logo. One was used on the sets; the second retained by the director, Phani Majumdar, and the third gifted to the film\u2019s screenplay writer my father Nabendu\u00a0Ghosh because he came from a family nurtured in Vaishnav philosophy.<\/p>\n

That this murti<\/em> still holds pride of place in the Puja Room of our house in Malad speaks for the bonding between Baba and Phani Jethu \u2013 as I used to call him. Akash Deep<\/em>, which had Ashok Kumar, Nanda, Dharmendra, Mehmood and Nimmi in the key roles, juxtaposed financial poverty against dearth of happiness and lack of love, through a young man reared in squalor. Seeing how poverty degrades the human soul, he\u00a0turns toward a tall Mill chimney and his ambitions soar like a Chinese lantern. But more than a votive beacon for dead ancestors, it comes to signify his search for unseen horizons. His strong will and determination empowers him to\u00a0work, plan and attain his objectives. He marries the owner’s daughter and comes to own the Mill. But his brother doesn’t share his ambition and goes on living in his father’s decrepit tea-stall; his sister falls in love with the labour leader; and even his wife is estranged by his driving ambition.<\/p>\n

\"Phani<\/a>

Phani Majumdar<\/p><\/div>\n

Phani Majumdar repeatedly returned to this theme of disillusionment with high life when it had no soul. It was at the core of Street Singer\/ Saathi<\/em> (1938), the New Theatres bilingual that had set the director on the path of glory while immortalising the singing stars K L Saigal and Kanan Devi with that single number \u2013 Babul mora naihar chhooto jaay<\/em>. The storyline revolved around two street urchins who dream of singing and making it big in the glamorous world of theatre in Calcutta. The script follows them as they grow up, the girl finds employment but the boy does not, the disenchantment of their enchantment, misunderstanding, and final goodbye to ambition and return to rural roots.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Street<\/a>

KL Saigal and Kanan Devi in Street Singer<\/em> (L) and Kanan Devi and Sailen Chowdhury in Saathi<\/em> (the Bengali version of Street Singer<\/em>) (1938)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Akash Deep<\/em> was the last of the five films Nabendu Ghosh wrote for his \u2018Phani Da\u2019. Their long association had started within months of Baba\u2019s arrival in Bombay on February 6, 1951 as a member of Bimal Roy\u2019s team. The first film they crafted together was Baadbaan<\/em> (1954) produced by the workers of by-then disintegrating institution, Bombay Talkies. If I am not mistaken, Bombay Talkies Workers Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd was the first ever example in India of a cooperative set up to finance a film. And by many accounts, the theme of a young man raised abroad returning to his roots in Koliwada, bent upon improving the lot of his own people, had a freshness far ahead of its time: just remind yourself that this film about the life of fishermen and women of India\u2019s Western coast spotlighted the hardships and woes of a marginalized lot before neo-realism had flown its flag with Do Bigha Zamin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The crew of Baadbaan<\/em> (1954)
(Pic: Old is Gold Facebook Group)<\/p><\/div>\n

And more than a decade would go by before Chemmeen<\/em> adapted from Thakazi Sivasankara Pillai’s fabled novel, to build upon the pre- and extra-marital sex between the daughter of an ambitious fisherman and the son of an affluent trader. The first notable celluloid creation from southern India, this Malayalam film was based on a popular legend among coastal Kerala’s fishing communities regarding chastity: If a married fisherwoman is faithless when her husband is out in the ocean, Sea goddess\u00a0Kadalamma would consume him.\u00a0When released in 1965 it received strongly positive reviews as a technically and artistically brilliant film. Screened at various international fests, it won awards at Cannes and Chicago. It was the first South Indian film to win the President\u2019s Gold Medal for Best Film and was eventually\u00a0dubbed and released in Hindi as\u00a0Chemmeen Lahren<\/em>\u00a0and in English as\u00a0The Anger of the Sea<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Titas

A still from Titas Ekti Nadir Naam<\/em> (1973)<\/p><\/div>\n

Even more years went by before Ritwik Ghatak adapted the classic novel, Titas Ekti Nadir Naam<\/em> (1973), reflecting Adwaita Mallabarman\u2019s lived experiences in a riverside Mallo (fishing) community. That was perhaps also the strength of Ghatak\u2019s hyperlink film which the British Film Institute has termed the Best Bangladeshi Film ever made. For, it portrayed the river-linked life of multiple characters on the banks of Titas, the trans-boundary river that originates in Tripura and merges into Meghna in Bangladesh \u2013 from where Phani Majumdar originally hailed.<\/p>\n

Recently my friend and kid bhai Sanjay Mishra brought me these two posters of Baadbaan<\/em> which was first announced as Samandar<\/em> and later christened Baadbaan<\/em>, meaning the sail of a boat. An apt title for an emotion filled drama that revolved around an orphaned child adopted by rich parents as his fishermen parents perished in a storm in the seas. However, the title wasn\u2019t the only thing that changed from the first announcement to the release. For one, star actor Dilip Kumar was replaced by Ashok Kumar, who was at the helm of Bombay Talkies since Devika Rani had remarried Svetoslav Roerich and bid goodbye to the institution founded by her late husband Himanshu Rai along with writer Niranjan Pal, German director Franz Osten, cinematographer Joseph Wirsching. And, Nalini Jaywant was replaced by Meena Kumari, then on the ascent with Baiju Bawra<\/em> and Parineeta<\/em>, again, scripted by Baba. Under Phani Majumdar\u2019s direction Meena Kumari would touch histrionic heights in Aarti<\/em> (1962), a film that gave Hindi screen an educated female lead capable of making her own life choices. For, the protagonist – a young doctor set on serving people – is engaged to be married to a senior doctor but when she falls in love with an unemployed poet, she breaks off the engagement with her boss who then plots her ruin.<\/p>\n

\"Ashok<\/a>

Ashok Kumar Meena Kumari in Aarti<\/em> where both play doctors<\/p><\/div>\n

Phani Jethu\u2019s knack for casting can be gauged by the fact that the endearing second lead was played by Usha Kiron. This budding actress from the Marathi screen was adjudged the Best Supporting Actress at the second Filmfare award where three of the winning films were scripted by Baba: Vijay Bhatt\u2019s Chaitanya Mahaprabhu<\/em>; Bimal Roy\u2019s Parineeta,<\/em> and Baadbaan<\/em>. Four decades later Usha Kiron served Mumbai as its sheriff (1996-97).<\/p>\n

\"Dhobi

Kishore Kumar and Usha Kiron in Dhobi Doctor<\/em> lobby card (Pic courtesy: Osian’s)<\/p><\/div>\n

Phani Majumdar had cast her again as a professor\u2019s bubbly daughter in Dhobi Doctor<\/em> (1954) \u2013 the second film Nabendu Ghosh scripted for him. Again, it was the story of a marginalized section of the land: a washerman\u2019s son. Ramu, whose ailing sister dies as they could not afford the visit of a doctor, vows to become a doctor \u2013 but the journey towards the distinction is paved by skepticism, taunts and tribulations that fail to thwart his determination.<\/p>\n

In fact, this concern for the well-being of the overlooked lot in the backwaters can be seen as a signature of the pioneer director. Think Kapal Kundala<\/em> (1939), a girl raised in a remote forest by a tantric sage, who is the only human she has known until she meets Nabakumar, a city slicker, and enters matrimony that spells unhappiness.<\/p>\n

The shiniest example is Doctor<\/em> about a young doctor returning from his studies to serve his villagers. The story behind its making is as engrossing as the success story that entails it, I learnt from Pinakee Chakraborty, author of Chalachchitrer Itihashe New Theatres\/New Theatres in the Annals of Cinema. <\/em>\u201cThe year was 1939. Cholera had acquired epic proportions in India. Countless people were waiting for the last day of their lives. At that point Jawaharlal Nehru had come to Kolkata for some work. He met Sir Nripendra Nath Sircar, who was the first Advocate General of undivided Bengal. B N Sircar was then busy producing films, one after another, under the banner of New Theatres, and his fame had spread far and wide. Nehru was aware of this talent. At that meeting he told the father, \u2018Your son is making very good films.\u00a0 Please ask him to make a film on cholera which is taking a toll of so many lives. A film can spread the message in every home that it is very much possible to defeat cholera. Cinema is a medium that easily communicates with people and the message it spreads gains easy acceptance.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message duly reached B N Sircar. He instantaneously decided to make a film that could help his compatriots recover from cholera. He sent for Phani Majumdar, then riding the crest of success after Street Singer<\/em>, and entrusted him the responsibility of directing the film from a Sailajananda Mukhopadhyay novel. When it released in November 1940, it helped save many lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phani Majumdar had worked with P C Barua in Mukti<\/em> (1938) which had Baba\u2019s film guru Bimal Roy on the camera. In fact he had joined New Theatres as Barua\u2019s stenographer and after scripting Prafulla Ray\u2019s Abhigyan<\/em> (1937) he assisted Barua in scripting Mukti. \u00a0<\/em>He was then entrusted with the direction of Street Singer<\/em> and its super success was followed by Saathi<\/em>, its Bengali version; Kapal Kundala<\/em>\u00a0(1939) from Bankim Chandra\u2019s novel (which had earlier been directed in Bengali by Premankur Atorthi), and Doctor<\/em>\u00a0(1940) Bengali version.\u00a0<\/em>Remade in Malay as Doktor<\/em> (1958), years later it formed the spine of Anand Ashram<\/em> (1977) \u2013 the Uttam Kumar-Sharmila Tagore starrer that was directed by Shakti Samanta who had assisted Phani Da in both Baadbaan <\/em>and Dhobi Doctor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"KL<\/a>

KL Saigal and others in Saathi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

All these directors had catapulted into national limelight New Theatres, founded in Calcutta three years before Bombay Talkies and by then the symbol of artistic good taste, technical excellence, and social awareness. But the decade that resulted in the carving of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 saw many big names trek from Tollygunje to Bombay.<\/p>\n

Phani Majumdar\u2019s reputation was built in the short span of three years between 1938 and 1940 but in 1941 itself he left NT to join Laxmi Productions in Bombay. In a way he led the exodus that saw Gyan Mukherjee, Amiya Chakravarty, Satyen Bose, Nitin Bose, Bimal Roy, Hemen Gupta, even K L Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, and Jaddan Bai make their homes in Bombay. There, they added glory not only to their names with mega successes like Kismet<\/em> (1943), Daag <\/em>(1952), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi<\/em> (958), Gunga Jumna<\/em> (1961), Anand Math <\/em>(1952), Do Bigha Zamin<\/em> (1953). They chiseled the careers of Indian icons ranging from Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand to Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.<\/p>\n

\"film<\/a>

film Kapalkundala – Durgadas Banerjee and Nibhanani Devi in Kapalkundala<\/em> (1939)<\/p><\/div>\n

In Bombay Phani Majumdar first made Tamanna<\/em> (1942) and then Mohabbat<\/em> (1943). With names like P Jairaj, Jagdish Seth and K C Dey in the cast, Tamanna<\/em> introduced Leela Desai to the Hindi screen. The renowned beauty who was also adept at dancing had acted in NT classics such as Debaki Bose\u2019s Vidyapati<\/em> (1937); in President<\/em> (1937), Nartaki<\/em> (1940) and Jiban Maran<\/em> (1940) \u2013 all three directed by Nitin Bose; and in Kapal Kundala <\/em>(1939). As a wealthy girl Uma in Tamanna<\/em> she loves Ramesh but since he wants to devote himself to the service of the people, she marries a rich man so she can financially support his ideals.<\/p>\n

\"A

A poster of Samandar<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Mohabbat<\/em>, clearly another love story, paired Shanta Apte with Pahari Sanyal. The highest paid leading lady of Marathi screen then, the dynamic personality who had made a place in the annals of Indian cinema with Shantaram\u2019s Manoos\/ Aadmi <\/em>(1939) paralleled the status of Kanan Devi. Singing stars Apte and Sanyal were in the good company of another songster \u2013 K C Dey, the uncle of Manna Dey. Despite these highs, these two films could not match the impact of the NT films. So Phani Da freelanced as a director, for Ranjit Movietone and Bombay Talkies: Insaaf, Hum Bhi Insaan Hain <\/em>(1948), Andolan<\/em> (1951) \u2013 if the titles are any indicator, these were all on social issues. He dedicated Andolan<\/em>, \u201cthe story of our struggles,\u201d to \u201cthe future of our country.\u201d Featuring Kishore Kumar in the central role, the film was made \u2013 it is said – to promote the Indian National Congress.<\/p>\n

In 1954, Phani Majumdar did something few of his peers did: After Baadbaan<\/em> the pioneer went off to Singapore where reportedly he made eight features in six years for the Hong Kong based movie magnate Shaw Brothers\u2019 Malay Film Production Company. Only Doktor<\/em> (1958), with music by Pankaj Mullick, was a throwback to his Calcutta years. Not the others. Though influenced by the traditions of Indian cinema he was raised in, the Malay films were rooted in the peninsula. Hang Tuah<\/em> (1956) starred the biggest Malay star P Ramlee as a popular Renaissance era admiral who fought under Malacca sultanate and his rivalry with a close friend. Hang Tuah<\/em> was nominated for the Golden Bear, then in its seventh year at Berlin. Again, Kaseh Sayang<\/em> (1957) was a war film based in Malay history about the Japanese invasion.<\/p>\n

\"Hang<\/a>

Hang Tuah<\/em> poster<\/p><\/div>\n

In Singapore \u2013 as in Calcutta \u2013 Phani Da made bilinguals: Long House\/Rumah Panjang<\/em> (1957) was an English-Malay bilingual about Borneo headhunters, shot on location. Sri Menanti\/ Moon Over Malaya<\/em> (1958) in Malay and Mandarin, adapted from the novel Fatimah<\/em>, was an intercultural romance inhibited by racial prejudice and segregation, religious conservatism and repressive social mores. Simultaneously released in the two languages, it was an unprecedented success in Singapore as it cast both Malay and Hong Kong Chinese actors. Circus<\/em> (1959), a Chinese-Malay bilingual, was his last before returning to India as Shaw Brothers were then in decline, faced with competition from black and white television as much as colour films from Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Malay and Mandarin were not the only off-the-track languages he made films in. While still in Kolkata, Phani Majumdar had made Chambe Di Kali <\/em>(1940) in Punjabi, perhaps because New Theatres had a studio in Lahore. I was pleasantly surprised to find the film online. The 1940 film had Mumtaz Shanti and Habib Kabuli in lead. The later version had Ravindra Kapoor and Indira Billi and was directed by B S Glaad. After his return to Bombay, even before he returned to Hindi hits with Aarti<\/em>, he directed Bhaiya<\/em> (1961). This Magadhi film in the Saratchandra mould centered on Parmanand, an honest young man who supports his family and makes many sacrifices including foregoing his love, to raise his two step siblings \u2013 who turn out to be thankless souls.<\/p>\n

So, even as he was releasing Arati<\/em> and\u00a0Oonche Log<\/em> and Akash Deep<\/em>, he made Kanyadaan<\/em> \u2013 the first film in Maithili. This was rooted in Sahitya Akademi award winner Harimohan Jha\u2019s novel which continues to be read as much for its satire as for its strong criticism of social and religious ills in this pocket of Bharat Mata reportedly from where came Satyabala Devi \u2013 the mother of Monica, Ramola and Leela Desai. The eldest of the three sisters \u2013 all of whom were actresses \u2013 was married to Phani Jethu but more of that later.<\/p>\n

Dil ka diya jala ke gaya<\/strong> <\/em>(Akash Deep<\/em>, 1965) Chitragupt \/ Majrooh Sultanpuri \/ Lata Mangeshkar<\/span><\/p>\n