Monday, December 7, 2015

Amar ...story of a villain ?

Amar was released in 1954 and had almost 9-10 songs...all of them supremely melodious !

Naushad's music was not only perfect (classical compositions )but it was soul stirring as well....Shakil Badayuni's words acquired a deeper meaning through the music....

But I often wonder...why this film was not hailed as a musical...in spite of the beautiful songs.The answer probably lies in the story of the movie....the idea of Dilip kumar playing a negative role was not very well accepted by people and as a result, the film did not do well commercially. Beautiful,ethereal Madhubala and her sizzling on screen chemistry with Dilip , or Naushad's lovely music and Nimmi's histrionics could not save the film .

This is a moral and psychological drama....Amar, a suave,successful lawyer  is engaged to be married to Anju, a beautiful,educated and socially conscious girl.The couple is in very much love and then the unthinkable happens...one on stormy night, Amar gives in to temptation and rapes the village milkmaid ,Soniya.( Now, I have no answers to the obvious questions that pop in mind....can a basically good hearted person,much in love with a perfect girl can submit to a momentary lust and commit such an act ? and that too,when he thinks that the village girl is dirty,uncouth and much beneath himself ?...or ...it may be possible...remember Shiny Ahuja ?...)

Amar struggles with his conscience but can not bring upon himself ,the danger of owning his deed.Rest of the film depicts the war that is going in the minds of the main protagonists. Ultimately ,Amar decides that even if there was no witness to his crime, his heart knows the truth and hence decides to do the right thing...knowing fully well that he will be forever unhappy being married to an illiterate village belle,forever remembering his lost love and the anguish he caused to his beloved....

Such a bold topic couldn't be digested by the public. Also, probably ,people didn't like Dilip-Madhu not ending as a " lived happily ever after." Dilip Kumar excels as Amar,a goodly bad or badly good lawyer, with pathos in his eyes and frowns on his head , he portrays the battle going  in his mind very effectively.Both Nimmi and Madhubala look pretty and do justice to their respective roles. Jayant ( father of Amjad khan) plays superbly the villain, Sankat. A noticeable scene is underwater chase of Nimmi by Jayant...must have been quite a novelty then!

Now the songs....I love all the Lata numbers and it was very difficult to chose only a few.... But my personal favourites are " Khamosh hai khevan haar " and " na milta gham to" ...poignant lyrics and beautiful music !  "Janewale se mulaqat " is also pretty close...

न मिलता गम तो बरबादी के अफसाने कहा जाते
अगर दुनिया चमन होती तो वीराने कहा जाते

तुम्ही ने गम कि दौलत दी बडा एहसान फर्माया
जमाने भर के आगे हाथ फैलाने कहा जाते....



And a happy song ...picturised on the lovely madhubala.....




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