Synopsis
Meena (Mala Sinha) is in love with Rajinder
(Sunil Dutt). When her sister Kamla (Nirupa
Roy) dies suddenly, Meena is married off
to her brother-in-law, Ashok (Ashok Kumar)
a barrister, for the sake of Ashok’s
two young children. Rajinder re-enters her
life and Meena finds herself being drawn
to him again. As the two continue to meet
behind Ashok's back, Meena starts getting
blackmailed by a woman, Leela (Shashikala),
who claims to be Rajinder’s wife…
The film
 1963
is a year regarded as a signifant one for
the Hindi screen woman. There were at least
three major films - Bandini,
Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke and Gumrah
that saw filmmakers making women-centric
films with the central character going off
the beaten (read traditional) path. If in
Bandini, Kalyani follows her heart
and goes to her lover Bikash instead of
the good doctor Deven that society expects
her to marry, Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke
was 'inspired' from the Nanavati
murder case and though diluted in that the
wife was seduced by her husband's friend
rather than mutually entering into the affair,
it was still a case of her commiting adultery.
Gumrah, inspired by Kamini Kaushal's
life when she had to marry her sister's
husband for the sake of the children when
the sister died suddenly even though she
was involved with Dilip
Kumar, is a tale of marital
infidelity, showing a woman resuming her
romance with her lover after marriage, as
did Kaushal till her brother, a military
man, threatened Dilip Kumar with a pistol
and put an end to the affair.
Gumrah is one of BR
Chopra's finest films, Naya
Daur (1957) withstanding. Chopra always
endeavoured to make socially relevant films,
yet taking care that his films always catered
to popular sentiment. And to be fair to
him, he has also done several films that
were regarded as bold and ahead of their
time. He dared to try a songless film with
a hard-hitting suspense courtroom drama,
Kanoon (1960), produced Ittefaq
(1969), in which the heroine is an adulteress
and murders her husband with the help of
her lover and in Dhund (1973) showed
a woman married to a paralytic take on a
lover. Similarly Gumrah too is
a daring and unconventional film for its
times as the married heroine is unable to
come to terms with her past when her lover
shows up in her life again and begins to
see him again behind her husband's back.
The film equates the 'Lakshmanrekha' with
the sacred threshold of the home inside
which lies the safety of a happily married
woman, the true homemaker and the consequences
of what happens if she crosses the line
and goes astray or 'gumrah.' Sita suffered
when she crossed the line and so must Meena,
even if she was forced to marry a man she
did not love at the cost of her love. After
all for an Indian woman, marriage was regarded
as the pinnacle of achievement with perhaps
only procreation being higher on the social
scale and here was Meena jeopardizing both
her marriage and her motherhood.
Gumrah does sympathise with Meena
and shows how tough it is for a woman to
give up her first love especially as our
films have always propogated that an Indian
woman loves but once. Hence the film really
comes into its own once the triangle is
set up as Meena is made to marry Ashok and
Rajinder re-enters her life. Thereafter
the film is gripping and engrossing with
the suspense well-maintained as you wonder
if and when she would get caught especially
once she starts getting blackmailed by Leela
even if the denouement is a bit pat. The
film captures Meena's helplessness extremely
well as she finds the situation getting
messier and more out of hand, leading her
to even attempt killing herself.
Looking at the times, though the premise
was bold, the ending had to be 'acceptable'
and of course, the sanctity and purity of
marriage had to be preserved. Duty and sacrifice
had to take preference to matters of the
heart. So Meena finally realizes her mistake
of going 'astray' and breaks it off permanently
with Rajinder and conventionally settles
into the life of a dutiful housewife even
though Ashok has left her free to go to
Rajinder if she so wants. The end dialogue
when Meena tells Rajinder "Yahaan
Koi Meena Nahin Rehti. Yeh Mrs Ashok ka
Ghar Hai." (No Meena stays here.
This is Mrs Ashok's house) and shuts the
door on his face was met with solid clapping
and approval from the audiences and was
considered as the highlight of the film,
even if appears ever so corny and 'filmi'
today.
Central to the film are the three extremly
competent lead perfomences. As the woman
caught between her husband and lover, Mala
Sinha, otherwise having a tendency to work
herself into hysterical, melodramatic histrionics
of the highest order, responds with perhaps
her career’s most effective and reined-in
performance. Though not the original choice
(BR Chopra's first choice was Meena
Kumari), Mala makes the grey-shaded
role her own and by and large it is one
of her most controlled and memorable performances.
Both the men, Ashok
Kumar and Sunil
Dutt lend able support though Sunil
Dutt walks on thin ice trying hard and not
totally succeeding in making his character
not appear cad-like as he re-enters Mala's
life after her marriage and encourages her
to resume her affair with him. Shashikala
vamps it up deliciously as the blackmailer,
giving the standout performance of the film,
coming in the last part of the film and
practically walking off with it. She deservedly
won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting
Actress.
The film is a musical triumph for Ravi,
perhaps his finest score ever and for singer
Mahendra Kapoor who has sung some of his
most popular songs in the film. Each of
the songs, brilliantly written by Sahir
Ludhianvi, be it In Hawaon Mein
In Fizaon Mein, Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza,
Aap Aaye to Khayal-e-Dil-e-Nashad Aaya
or Chalo Ek Baar Phir se Ajnabee Ban
Jaayein Hum Dono among others, was
a smash hit, in particular the last named
which got Mahendra Kapoor the Filmfare Award
for Best Playback singer. It is said that
the song was born when Ludhianvi came across
his estranged lover, singer Sudha Malhotra,
at a party and told her " Chalo
Ek Baar..." Mention must also
be made of Pran Mehra's deft editing.
Gumrah was a huge critical and
commercial success and went on to win a
Regional Certificate of Merit at the National
Awards. The Chopras themselves reworked
the film as Dehleez (1986) and
recently Dharmesh Darshan too was 'inspired'
to make Bewafaa (2005) with Anil
Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor,
which was nothing short of a disaster. Our
suggestion? Stick to the original any day.
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