MADHUMATI

Where ever there is a discussion on some good movies from the past, ‘Madhumati’ enters the way she actually enters in the last scene of the movie. Just as you listen to the songs, you feel like watching the movie once again. Having seen the movie, you feel like viewing the songs yet again. Suddenly you feel like viewing some scenes again. You also feel like talking about it! In a word, that which has created history has this attribute about it. Madhumati has seeped into the discerning and the average cine goer alike with the song, ‘Aaja re mein to…’.

Well. Bimal Roy made this movie in 1958. The story was written by Ritvik Ghatak and the dialogues were penned by Rajender Singh Bedi. Music was scored by Salil Chowdhary while the movie was edited by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Dilip Kumar, Vaijayantimala Bali, Pran and Johny Walker played the major roles.

It does occur occasionally that it would be difficult to imagine how the movie would have been had it not been a musical. Salil Chowdhary in fact takes us all into an entirely different world. Not just the music, the background score and in fact even silence makes us sit up and listen!

The subject touches the hearts. The innocence of the village belle, atrocities of the Rajas and Zamindars, nascent love, a young man’s longing etc. There is poetry here. The first song has a primary verse: ‘ Meri duniya, mere sapne…’, the sky reaching out to the earth is linked to the young man’s artistic method of romancing with his thoughts! Similarly, the last song dissects his past thoughts: ‘Roothe hain jaane kyon mehmaan vo mere dil ke!’-The guests of my heart are offended for reasons not known…

The characters in the movie enter interestingly. Dilip Kumar throws a coin up into the sky  which is lapped up by Johny Walker sitting on a tree. He climbs down gradually to make his entry. Pran almost runs over a kid while riding a horse and as the kid is saved by Dilip Kumar, he turns back and the villain is in…Johny Walker’s contribution is substantial in a way.

Notable features of the movie are its technique of dissolving and the inter scene connectivity. 

Vaijayantimala Bali might have actually changed her name into Madhumati. Had those dances been just not there, it is difficult to imagine how the character might have been portrayed. Salil’s folk music and her folk dance vibe pretty easily.The entire movie actually runs down like a waterfall in the midst of those valleys and mountains. The music runs parallel. The song ‘ Julmi sang aankh ladi…’ appears to have sprung out of the child in Salil’s heart. The dance in the song ‘ Bichuvaa’ raises many eyebrows. There is an excellent combination of folk and classical variety. She keeps her feet unmoved at a stage and lends appropriate movements to the body as though electricity passed over her! Well. If young artistes are trying to learn how to combine acting with dancing and are looking at the proportion, here is a lofty demonstration.

In a word, Vaijayantimala Bali is grace.

There has been a lot of discussion on the last scene involving Pran’s dialogue-‘Kitni Bhayanak Raat hai..’. Since the sound and lightening were appearing before his dialogue, it is said that the shot was cut several times until when everything coincided. The director seems to be saying, ‘I am not showing you anything but I am only watching something happening on screen along with you.’

Lata Mangeshkar’s voice is certainly stuck just there somewhere in those woods. The tunes coincide with the lyrics as well. For instance, the song ‘ Dil tadap tadap ke…’.Perhaps the music director captured the heart beat of a lover and made it rhyme to the instruments! Music combines and dances with the thought wave of the director, the essence of the story line, the exquisite camera work, with nature, the emotions et al…there is magic here.

This movie received several awards. One notable award is the award received by Sudhendu Rai for best art direction.The movie made several movie makers the world over think about movie making afresh! That has been an achievement of sorts. Several movies emulating the theme have been made and are being made as well. There is no doubt that the future shall see some more inspired ones yet again.

If an artist(e), a poet, a singer or a writer start talking about ‘ my world, my dreams’ etc., a ‘Babuji’ and a ‘Madhumati’ may just turn up from the winds…even nature would react to those sounds of anklets!

                                                                                ~Vedantam Sripatisarma

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