{"id":9185,"date":"2024-10-26T08:17:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T02:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=9185"},"modified":"2024-10-26T08:17:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T02:47:20","slug":"harmonium-a-symbol-of-interconnected-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/harmonium-a-symbol-of-interconnected-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmonium \u2014 A Symbol of Interconnected Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tapan

Tapan Sinha with Arundhati Devi (L) and Anil Chatterjee (R) during music rehearsals for Harmonium<\/em>. Arati Mukherjee is playing the harmonium (Source – Anindya Sinha)<\/p><\/div>\n

Harmonium<\/em> \u2013 the title clarifies that the story will be about this musical instrument and music, of course. But Tapan Sinha takes it further \u2013 he builds a riveting narrative around the central character \u2013 an exquisite, rare, custom-built harmonium. All other characters revolve around the instrument and the music it creates.<\/p>\n

The harmonium is no ordinary one. As the camera zooms into the harmonium, we notice the brand \u2013 Dwarkin*. This instantly places the film in context, clarifying its historical period and significance. A Dwarkin harmonium was a sign of aristocracy and throughout the film, we get to look closely at the beautiful instrument from different angles, with its trademark metal brand plate.<\/p>\n

The Royalty<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Antique

Antique relics, furniture, chandelier and harmonium are being auctioned off<\/p><\/div>\n

The film opens with an auction in a zamindari household \u2013 antique relics, furniture and d\u00e9cor items are being auctioned off. Among the items, which include a chandelier and a king-sized bed, is a harmonium that the auctioneer claims is a rare piece. It is picked up for Rs 200 by Harendra Kumar Chatterjee (Kali Banerjee), a government employee, who buys it for his daughter. In the distance, a lady watches silently, her sadness and resignation evident as her possessions are auctioned off. She is Bimala (Arundhati Devi) \u2013 the daughter of the erstwhile zamindar, Bhupendra Kishore (Asit Baran).<\/p>\n

Bimala remembers how her father had brought home the harmonium, carried in a huge wooden box by their servant Birju (Kumar Roy), and had proudly said, \u201cI had placed an order with Dwarkin; they sent it after so many days.\u201d This indicates that each piece is custom-made. As Bhupendra Kishore walks down the long, marble-floored corridor, and little Bimala runs up the steps of the palace adorned with beautiful statues and gigantic chandeliers, we witness the last signs of the decadent feudal society of Bengal.<\/p>\n

\"Bimala

Bimala watches the instrument become her father’s inseparable companion<\/p><\/div>\n

Bimala learns the harmonium even as she watches the instrument become an inseparable companion of her father. A widower, Bhupendra Kishore\u2019s life is devoted to drinks (the array of empty VAT 69 bottles emphasizes his addiction to alcohol) and music. He loves to play the harmonium and sing, while a nautch girl performs kathak, all under the bright lights of the chandelier.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Bhupendra Kishore is well aware that his corrupt manager is swindling his wealth. Still, he doesn\u2019t care, just as he has quietly accepted the impending end of the zamindari system.<\/p>\n

On a boat trip to Rupnarayanpur to meet his subjects who aren\u2019t paying taxes, Bhupendra Kishore and Bimala see a nartaki<\/em> couple, Kali Master and his wife Radhika, walking down the distant river shore, singing a song \u2014 Mon bole aami moner kotha jani na<\/em>.\u00a0 Bhupendra Kishore gives them sangat<\/em> on the harmonium. It\u2019s an interesting jugalbandi <\/em>of singers on the shore and the harmonium on the boat, creating musical harmony. He finally calls them over to the boat. The song, the village skyline, the gentle sailing boat, the notes of the harmonium and the expansive river create beautiful imagery that stays in Bimala’s memory.<\/p>\n

\"Mon

Bimala watches the unusual jugalbandi as the singers sing on the shore and her father plays the harmonium on the boat<\/p><\/div>\n

Bhupendra Kishore dies, leaving behind a debt-ridden, hollow estate and an orphaned seven or eight-year-old daughter. When we next see Bimala, she is a widow walking out of her erstwhile home \u2014 the long corridors lined with doric pillars and the expansive thakurdalan <\/em>standing mute testimony to the glorious days gone by.<\/p>\n

The slimy manager (now the owner of the house where he was once employed) tagging behind her, dares to make an indecent proposal. Bimala is humiliated but her sense of dignity and restraint in the face of the insulting comments shows her stoicism \u2013 something her aristocratic roots have ingrained in her. She puts the manager firmly in his place by saying that buying the property of a zamindar does not make one an aristocrat. Aristocracy is in the blood, and the colour of that blood is blue. Her loyal servant Birju, now aged but still devoted, gives her shelter in his small, simple house tucked away behind a middle-class locality, which Bhupendra Kishore had bestowed upon him.<\/p>\n

\"Arundhati

“Aristocracy is in the blood, and the colour of that blood is blue.”<\/p><\/div>\n

The Middle Class<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, the harmonium reaches Chatterjee\u2019s house \u2013 a microcosm of the Bengali middle class of the turbulent seventies in Calcutta. Chatterjee is a government employee with questionable honesty \u2013 his son wonders how his father, with a meagre income, can afford luxuries like the refrigerator. His wife, a homemaker, spends more time yelling accusations at the servant than anything else, but one learns that she could once play the harmonium and sing.<\/p>\n

\"Sonali

Basanti is an aspirational, college-going girl who prefers an electric guitar to an antique harmonium<\/p><\/div>\n

Chatterjee believes the harmonium will help his daughter Basanti (Sonali Gupta) learn music which is necessary to improve her marriage prospects. But Basanti has other ideas. She is an aspirational, college-going girl who prefers an electric guitar to an antique harmonium. She is in love with her neighbour\u2019s son Ashok (Bhisma Guhathakurta). Ashok is an unemployed young man who loves music but cannot practice at home as his father does not approve.<\/p>\n

Ashok\u2019s home portrays another section of the middle class \u2013 a household ruled by an orthodox, rigid, authoritarian male (Santosh Dutta) who makes all decisions in the house. He fixes his daughter Gayatri\u2019s marriage in distant Rajasthan as the horoscopes match. He doesn\u2019t deem it necessary to meet the groom, let alone ask his daughter’s opinion. Basanti is livid and would like Gayatri to protest against the injustice, go on a hunger strike, etc., but Gayatri meekly accepts her destiny to get married to a burly, muscular, physical instructor from Rajasthan whom she has never seen. Sinha holds up two diametrically opposite faces of Bengal\u2019s middle class \u2013 one the wannabe liberal, the other a prejudice-driven conservative.<\/p>\n

\"Santu

Sanjib calls himself a rebel against the \u2018system\u2019 and against \u2018mastaanocracy\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n

The wedding ceremony is another slice of a ritual-driven society where to marry off the daughter, the father is forced to borrow money at high interest, empty his savings in the provident fund and go into debt. Even when entertaining the guests with a lavish feast, Gayatri’s father does not, for a moment, stop cribbing about how daughters leave their fathers penniless. Meanwhile, Chatterjee\u2019s bearded, kurta-pajama-clad son Sanjib (Santu Mukherjee) who calls himself a rebel against the \u2018system\u2019 and against \u2018mastaanocracy<\/em>\u2019 (a term he coins when the police look him up as someone who is involved in a racket of \u2018mastaans<\/em>\u2019, a slang for ruffians or political goons), gets his gang of so-called rebels to mess up the wedding feast by demanding that the poor be fed first. This is more of a ruse to create a nuisance than to actually feed the hungry. Sinha\u2019s portrayal of the rebellious Sanjib and the bomb-throwing, abusive young men who create havoc at the wedding in the name of an egalitarian society is a comment on the rudderless youth of that time.<\/p>\n

The bonhomie between the two families is replaced by enmity as the two desperate lovebirds elope with dreams in their eyes, a song on their lips, and a cloth bag on their shoulders. But of course, it is an impractical step and the runaway couple is brought home by the comic but well-meaning police officer (Bhanu Bandyopadhyay), who deposits the duo back with an affectionate pat on the head for Basanti and a tight slap for Ashok. Meanwhile, a livid Chatterjee has vented his anger on the harmonium, blaming it for being the cause of elopement.<\/p>\n

In Sanjib, Ashok, Basanti and Gayatri, we thus get a snapshot of youth in the seventies \u2013 unemployed, rhetorical rebels apparently without a cause; aspirational, romantic, impulsive youth with a taste for the arts; as well as the resigned, obedient ones who do what their parents want them to do.<\/p>\n

\"Bhishma

(L to R) Ashok, Sanjib, Basanti and Gayatri \u2014 a snapshot of youth in the seventies<\/p><\/div>\n

Running parallel to the harmonium\u2019s sojourn in Chatterjee\u2019s home is the story of the growing affection between Bimala and Shyamali, a little girl whose father (Anil Chatterjee, referred to\u00a0henceforth as Anil) has employed Birju to look after her. When Birju falls ill and Bimala takes over his chores, Anil, a widower and a senior IAS officer in the Land and Revenue Department, is grateful to Bimala for the love she showers on the motherless child. Although Bimala wants to leave her past behind, Anil is well aware of Bimala\u2019s rich family legacy and his appreciation of her father Bhupendra Kishore touches a chord. The mutual respect and admiration Bimala and Anil develop for each other is a pleasant and positive sidelight in the narrative and Sinha leaves the relationship open-ended.<\/p>\n

In one conversation, Anil describes the unique beauty of a 200-year-old Shiva temple in Kidderpore, built by Zamindar Joynarayan Ghoshal. Its 18-feet-tall Shivalinga is believed to be the tallest of its kind in Asia. Here, the famous Kali devotee Ram Prasad sang his timeless songs and Michael Madhusudhan studied in its library. In short, the temple was a space that patronised literature and the creative arts.<\/p>\n

Here, Sinha presents the audience with two sides of Bengal\u2019s feudal landlords \u2013 their opulent, excessive lifestyles (which Bimala is critical of) and<\/em> their magnificent contribution towards art and architecture.<\/p>\n

\"Anil

Anil describes the unique beauty of a 200-year-old Shiva temple to Bimala<\/p><\/div>\n

The Fringes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The harmonium now reaches its third destination \u2013 Sonagachi, the infamous redlight area of Calcutta when Ratan (Samit Bhanja), a vagabond friendly with the prostitutes of Subaash\u2019s (Chhaya Devi) brothel, buys the instrument for Shyama (Arati Bhattacharya), one of the nautch girls. Shyama is the daughter of the nartaki<\/em> couple we meet in the first part of the film (when Bimala was a little girl). Instantly, Sinha establishes a connection between the three stories, with the harmonium as the common factor.<\/p>\n

\"Chhaya

The ageing Subaash\u2019s childlike excitement at the arrival of the harmonium makes her break into a thumri<\/p><\/div>\n

This part of the film is replete with songs, as the harmonium brings a welcome dose of cheer to the dark and depressing environment of the brothel. Although Ratan brings the instrument primarily for Shyama for whom he has a soft corner, it is the ageing Subaash\u2019s childlike excitement that conveys what a beautiful musical instrument means to one who thrives on music.<\/p>\n

\"Kamal

Bipin Saheb visits the brothel every evening only for Subaash<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe good old traditions are coming back,\u201d remarks a journalist who frequents the brothel when he hears the notes of the harmonium. Indeed, Sinha\u2019s picturisation of the mujra<\/em> brings back the bygone days of the nautch girls. So does the character of Bipin Saheb (Kamal Mitra), a well-to-do dignified gentleman who visits the brothel every evening only for Subaash. You may find some similarities between him and Nishipadma <\/em>\/ Amar Prem<\/em>\u2019s Anand Babu, who visits the red-light area only for Pushpa.<\/p>\n

The arrival of the harmonium brings music back into the brothel. Ratan sings Moynamotir pather dhaare dekha hoyechhilo<\/em>, which instantly takes Shyama back to her childhood memories of her parents, Radhika and Kali Master, singing the song. Just like the harmonium, these songs are the connecting dots between the stories.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere livens up in the brothel with Ratan and Shyama singing Kal khushir toofan uriye<\/em>, with Sinha using varied close-ups of Ratan\u2019s fingers racing on the harmonium. Sung by Pintu Bhattacharya and Arati Mukherjee, this song bears a touch of Raga Pilu, evoking a sense of yearning and contemplation. The lyrics perfectly capture this mood, with an introspective tone that questions the reason for sadness. Gentle and soothing imagery reinforces the sense of calm in the lyrics, interspersed with the sargam<\/em>. Yet, the song’s setting \u2013 a vibrant mujra<\/em> surrounded by intoxicated revellers adds a layer of irony and contrasts with Shyama\u2019s emotional state. This tension highlights the complexity of emotions, where longing and melancholy can coexist with joy and celebration.<\/p>\n

Kaal khushir toofan uriye<\/strong><\/em> (Harmonium<\/em>, 1976) Tapan Sinha \/ Tapan Sinha \/ Arati Mukherji and Pintu Bhattacharya<\/span><\/p>\n