{"id":7300,"date":"2023-05-20T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-05-20T01:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=7300"},"modified":"2023-05-21T13:29:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T07:59:34","slug":"bhuvan-shome-a-satire-at-the-austerity-of-indian-bureaucracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/bhuvan-shome-a-satire-at-the-austerity-of-indian-bureaucracy\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bhuvan Shome’ \u2013 A Satire at the Austerity of Indian Bureaucracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mrinal

Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome<\/em> – an Indian Nouvelle Vague experience<\/p><\/div>\n

Mrinal Sen who was making films since the mid-\u201950s shot to prominence with\u00a0Baishe<\/em>\u00a0Shraban\u00a0<\/em>in 1960. He followed it up with a series of films that looked at the cracks and crevices of the urban, middle-class nuclear families as a result of the socio-political non attainments in the two decades since the Indian Independence. However, his claim to fame and glory in the National and International scene became permanent with his 1969 film\u00a0Bhuvan<\/em>\u00a0Shome<\/em>. Along with Basu Chatterjee\u2019s\u00a0Sara Akash<\/em>\u00a0and Mani Kaul\u2019s\u00a0Uski Roti\u00a0<\/em>made in the same year,\u00a0Bhuvan Shome\u00a0<\/em>is credited with invoking a New Wave in\u00a0<\/em>Indian cinema.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Mrinal Sen, unlike\u00a0<\/em>his contemporaries in Bengali cinema, was the\u00a0<\/em>first who ventured out to make films in other languages, albeit occasionally, and without\u00a0<\/em>shifting his base away from Calcutta. He already\u00a0<\/em>made\u00a0Matira Manisha\u00a0<\/em>in Odia in\u00a0<\/em>1966. It is known that making a Hindi film on a\u00a0<\/em>Bengali protagonist based on a story written by\u00a0<\/em>a Bengali author (Bonophool) was a conscious\u00a0<\/em>decision of Sen to ascertain box office returns\u00a0<\/em>from a pan Indian audience. At that time the popular mainstream cinema was also going through a transition of sorts. Both Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were trying to reassess their position as romantic stars \u2013 Kapoor changing to\u00a0Teesri Kasam\u00a0<\/em>(1966) and Kumar making ripples only in\u00a0Ganga Jumna\u00a0<\/em>(1961) and\u00a0Ram aur Shyam\u00a0<\/em>(1967). Dev Anand was still holding on to his lover-boy image, but he also expanded boundaries in\u00a0Guide\u00a0<\/em>(1965), and the phenomenon in Rajesh Khanna that started with\u00a0Aradhana\u00a0<\/em>(1969) was yet to happen.<\/p>\n

\"Bhuvan

Utpal Dutt and Suhasini Mulay in Bhuvan Shome<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It is in this milieu that\u00a0Bhuvan Shome\u00a0<\/em>burst into Indian cinema and justifiably gets credit for being the harbinger of India\u2019s own \u2018Nouvelle Vague\u2019. Satyajit Ray\u2019s\u00a0Pather Panchali\u00a0<\/em>ushered a new era in Indian cinema with thematic realism and congruence where the linear narrative is based on logical structuring and coherent establishment of space and time. Derived from the Hollywood style of editing, this pattern thrives on the continuity of action. Sen was an admirer of the French New Wave, and even in his\u00a0Akash Kusum\u00a0<\/em>(1965) he used freeze frames as a probable influence. In\u00a0Bhuvan Shome<\/em>, the experimentations are no longer sporadic. They have now taken a shape and instead of Ray\u2019s continuity of action, Sen creates his own connectivity of themes. In the very first sequence, like in traditional films, there is an establishment of the character of Shome who, we come to know, is a high-ranked Railway officer. But unlike the prevalent \u2018establishment sequences\u2019, typically that of Charu in Ray\u2019s\u00a0Charulata\u00a0<\/em>or the adult Apu in\u00a0Apur Sansar<\/em>, Sen here takes an ensemble approach to establish Shome. We hear the ticket collector Yadav telling us what type of a character Shome is. The scene is mixed with freeze frames of Shome\u2019s portraits in different angles followed by his soliloquies justifying his actions and further followed by voice-over of a faceless narrator. Through multiple points of view, several angles and using different techniques, the character of Shome is expressed.<\/p>\n

\"bhuvan

Bhuvan Shome<\/em>\u00a0is a multi-layered film<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a documentary-like montage of Calcutta, with clips of Satyajit Ray at work, Ravi Shankar with his music, still of Swami Vivekananda and then suddenly unrest in the streets with political sloganeering and flashing of banners reminding us of the time. In the voiceover, the narrator becomes busy proclaiming that Shome is a quintessential representative of \u2018Golden Bengal\u2019 even though he left it a couple of decades back. It is through these contrasts, of creative synergy followed by virulent protests and of cinematic forms and expressions, that the portrayal of the character is achieved.<\/p>\n

The voiceover is heard frequently in the film, it is to further drive home a point or two that is otherwise difficult to convey via visuals alone. The sequence ends with a comical animation that gives us an idea of the busy workload of Shome, amidst files, papers, ringing telephone and a swinging door that moves back and forth continuously indicating his hectic daily routine. Waggish as it may seem, we cannot find Shome himself in the animation flick, only the objects of his office chores are shown. He has probably vaporised without quite realising so.<\/p>\n

Bhuvan Shome<\/em>\u00a0is a multi-layered film. At the surface it is the story of a bored bureaucrat\u2019s yearning for adventure (hunting birds) on the vast landscape of Saurashtra. At a deeper understanding the film is a satirical take on the austerity of Indian bureaucracy which somehow misses the humane details of life. Yet again, it is a chronicle of loneliness and the desire to reach out for friendship \u2014 Shome is a widower with a strained relation with his son and no one at work to spend time with or for relaxation. The film also shows, in a canny way, the social divide between India\u2019s rural and urban lives; a theme Sen revisited in a few later films. While in\u00a0Akaler Sandhane<\/em>, for instance, the rural seems to be servile, in\u00a0Bhuvan Shome<\/em>, the urban is a jester. Not only does he need to undergo training, in both mind and body, by the rural folks including the young girl Gauri and the cart driver but he is disrobed as well and made to wear the traditional local dress to be acceptable to the birds he wishes to shoot!<\/p>\n

Shome, who is quite cruel with people around him in the city, finds most of the people in the village quite friendly and helpful even to strangers like him. Therefore, Shome trusts Gauri\u2019s advice with blind faith. He realises the importance of belief and goes back to the city a better man.\u00a0Bhuvan Shome<\/em>\u2019s experimentation with form works both at the aural and the visual levels. The cinematography has breath-taking black-white imagery in the deserts of Gujarat complemented with extreme closeups of the characters, in motion or at times frozen in time. There are repeating motifs of overhead shots of railway tracks, carts (both horse and bullock) and the characters in the sand dunes. The background score and the mixing of different sounds \u2013 instrumental and mechanical to attenuate the mood of the scenes is seamless. The editing is commensurate with the audio-video craftsmanship with visible debt from French edit patterns primarily in jump cuts and freeze frames. In one scene, to illustrate, Gauri holds up her hands and pretends to be on a swing. The camera zooms in and out on her emulating a swing action.<\/p>\n

Yadav, the ticket collector, has charges against him of accepting bribes on the job. Shome eventually finds out that Gauri is engaged to Yadav. She, unknowing of Shome\u2019s identity, vents her anger towards a particular \u201cShome Saab\u201d who has made her fianc\u00e9\u2019s life a hell. On his return from the tour, Shome now changed internally by the innocent freshness of Gauri which she is unaware of, absolves Yadav from his charges. In fact, he transfers Yadav to a bigger station closer to Gauri\u2019s home. Being subtly wry, how Mrinal Sen was, we hear in the voice-over that Yadav has written a letter to Gauri communicating the good news that a bigger junction means even better tips. This twist elevates\u00a0Bhuvan Shome<\/em>\u00a0from a casual drama of wish fulfilment and pretension of the urban middle-class, to a more thought-provoking mockery of human nature.<\/p>\n

In the end of the film, after his return, we find Shome in a light mood in his office, singing and dancing, and a sense of liberation engulfs us, only to hear the eerie ringing of the telephone once more. The telephone continues to ring, a sad truth that within the confines of these urban offices we will always be captive. In the final shot a camera turns and focuses on us, the audience. It is probably now our turn to be under the scanner and to face the music.<\/p>\n

\"bhuvan

Shome now changed internally by the innocent freshness of Gauri<\/p><\/div>\n

One upon a time Charlie Chaplin famously remarked about his international character of \u2018The Tramp\u2019 \u2014 \u201cYou know this fellow is many-sided, a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure. He would have you believe he is a scientist, a musician, a duke, a polo-player. However, he is not above picking up cigarette-butts or robbing a baby of its candy\u2026 He is chasing folly, and he knows it. He is trying to meet the world bravely, to put up a bluff, and he knows that, too. He knows it so well that he can laugh at himself and pity himself a little.\u201d Sen was an ardent admirer of Chaplin throughout his life. He wrote on Chaplin extensively and argued several times the importance of \u2018The Tramp\u2019 in contemporary socio-political life. Sen\u2019s Shome was not a tramp. He was neither a dreamer or a poet or even a scientist when the film started off. By the end, like Chaplin\u2019s own definition Shome was chasing folly and realising it as well. He could laugh at himself and probably pity as well.\u00a0 At least a little, perhaps.<\/p>\n

A slightly different version of the article is included in the author’s\u00a0<\/em>75 years 75 films: India’s Cinematic Journey\u00a0(Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/a>Mrinal Sen@100<\/a><\/h2>\n

for Critiques, Reviews, Interviews<\/h2>\n

\u2014 The Centenary Tribute Series<\/h2>\n

More Must Reads in Silhouette<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moviemaking in Calcutta<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mrinal Sen in Conversation with Italo Spinelli<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrinal Sen: The Man Who Fought Through Cinema<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Presence of Absence in Mrinal Sen\u2019s Films<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n