1959, Hindi, YouTube, 7.3/10 IMBD
The cruelty of untouchability seen through a rare lens of an orphaned lower-class girl baby who is chanced to grow up in a Brahmin household. Based on a Bengali short story by Subodh Ghosh, its Bimal Roy’s directorial touch that brings the best in his artists, especially the female lead, Nutan.
The villagers bring a new born baby girl, whose parents have died, to the house of Upen and Charu who themselves have a new born baby girl. When Upen is uncertain, his wife Charu reluctantly asks the maid to take care of the baby for the time being. While Charu’s lullaby makes her daughter sleep inside the house, the same lullaby makes the untouchable baby Sujata, falls asleep outside the house. Humanity overrides untouchability. That’s the fine line the story is targeting to address and obliterate.
Plans to send ‘Sujata’ to an orphanage turns futile as Sujata’s love for the family over-powers them and she continues to live with them. Education is refused to her but naively yet righteously she fights for it. Upen’s soft corner for her is made evident through many instances, like the one when he insists, Sujata be taught as well by the tutor at home along with his daughter.
The effects of ‘societal burden’ on an educated individual like Upen who tries to shed discrimination by birth, is efficiently pictured by the character of his aunt, a pious lady who reinforces untouchability back in to the family’s subconscious every time Upen and Charu attempts to get over it.
Sujata (Nutan) grows to this smart young lady who is dutiful and affectionate. The family’s relative boy Adheer (Sunil Dutt), falls for her and is determined to marry her. Upen’s pious aunt who had adopted Adheer after his parents had died, is obviously against his love for Sujata, a low born. The film takes few dramatic twists and ends on a happy note.
The film stands apart for its subtlety in surfacing the pain of girl who is being loved yet not accepted and the conscious choices of the couple who seem to be caught between their beliefs and that of the society’s. The director is justified to go to the bottom of the problem by bringing in blood compatibility between the Brahmin mom and the low born girl in the last couple of scenes, as the heinous roots of untouchability demands such primal treatments to grab the attention of the viewers.
Lyricist Majrooh, Music composer SD Burman and Nutan’s powerful expressions are a treat to watch, as the trio along with the director, makes us the viewers experience what it feels like to be addressed- “She is like my daughter” instead of “She is my daughter”. The mise-en scene of the film enhances the visuals and it is a treat to watch the magical song sequence, ‘Jalte Hai Jiske liye’ by Talat Mehamood- the irony being, the usage of a telephone, a modern advent of those time, by the hero to sing to the heroine, in a plot which houses a core theme of an age-old caste discrimination.
The harbour’s sound signals echoing Sujata’s every sorrow, the silent weeps of hers, the pain of her wailing heart, the hangover of love every time her eyes meet Adheer’s, the innocent reminder to give an umbrella to protect him from the scorching heat, every time her father steps outside house – The doyen director has packaged it all, that makes it a ‘Memorable Watch’.