Synopsis
Neela
(Sandhya), a dancing girl, is seen doing a cheap dance by
an old time Guru (Keshav Rao Date) and his son and disciple
Girdhar (Gopi Kishen). Chastised by the Guru and shown what
real dance is by Girdhar she sees a new meaning in dance and
begs the Guru to teach her. He tells her it will be a hard
task but she is willing. Girdhar and the Guru stay in her
place, where her maintenance is paid for by one of her admirers
Mani Babu (Madan Puri). As Neela and Girdhar begin their training
for a prestigious dance festival, the two of them also fall
in love. The Guru is furious as he is totally against any
display of any emotion by the artist other than devotion to
his art. Neela withdraws from Girdhar's life making him hate
her and even tries to kill herself but survives. She gives
up everything so that Girdhar may excel in his art. Now that
Girdhar needs a partner, the Guru and Girdhar decide on Roopkala,
a dancer who had trained under the Guru but had corrupted
his art. Holding Girdhar responsible for Neela spurning him,
Mani Babu buys off Roopkala who refuses to dance. As Girdhar
is alone and about to be disqualified, Neela reaches there
and performs the Shiv-Parvati dance with him. The Guru relents
as he realizes the hardships Neela has undergone and he reunites
the lovers.
The film
With
Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje,
V. Shantaram once again proves his ability
as a master filmmaker as he combines an
extremely well written screenplay with the
dance element of the film. With this film,
his first foray into technicolour Shantaram,
proves that you can turn to your own culture
and come up with a superb, engrossing, thought-provoking
and well crafted film. Jhanak Jhanak
Payal Baaje is a film which propogates
that India must preserve her artistic purity
and not be swayed by 'westernization'. .
The film is a tribute to the Classical Dances
of India. From
lessons in Kathak to Yaman Raag to Dance
of the Seasons to the Shiv Tandav sequence,
the film is a series of sparkling vignettes
and gorgeous ensembles of Kathak, Bharatnatyam
and Manipuri. The nascent romance is keyed
to the performance of the romantic Radha-Krishna
number in traditional Kathak style and as
it grows it exposes itself in the wild joy
of the Bhil dance staged in association
with the late Thakkar Bapa's Varanasi Seva
Mandal Troupe. It blossoms amid the ecstasies
of Bhartanatyam in Mysore's famous Brindavan
Gardens. True, the film is a feast of Indian
Dance but never moving away from the story
and is in fact an essential part of a tender
romance of the Guru's disciple, which ripens
into love and is turned into drama and near
tragedy before resolving itself happily
at the end. Certain sequences intermingling
with the dance and drama are extremely well
conceptualized and carried off with flair.
This intermingling of life with art also
heightens the drama and gives the film more
depth and layering making for enriched viewing.
 The highlight of the film is the Shiv Tandav sequence as Gopi
Kishen sets the screen ablaze. Gopi Kishen
and Chaube Maharaj create a virile dance
crowned by the best that the glory of dancing,
youth, beauty and vigour can give it. It
is enhanced immeasurably with its perceptive
camera angles and skilful use of spot lighting.
Gopi Kishen is the life and soul of the
film as long as he sticks to what he knows
best - dancing. His dances are the films's
strengths as he makes the viewer realizes
the richness and artistry involved in Indian
Dance. Shantaram who was a perfectionist
made Sandhya train for two years before
he began the film. Sandhya tries hard but
lacks the natural talent in both acting
and dancing and one cannot help thinking
what wonders a seasoned actress - dancer
like Vyjayantimala
could have worked with a role like this.
The
brilliant choreography, sets and costumes
of the film deserve a mention even if admittedly
the team did get carried away with the fact
that the film is in colour and admittedly
the look is garish with saturated colours
reminding one more of Indian Calender Art
but Shantaram makes great cinematic use
of it with dynamic camera movements and
takings that highlight his mastery over
the medium.
The
other strong point of the film is its lyrics
and musical score. Hasrat Jaipuri has done
some of his best work in this film with
soulful lyrics like Nain so Nain
and Ae Mere Dil Bata and the film
is a triumph for Music Director, Vasant
Desai. Vasant Desai was a regular with Shantaram.
He began his career at Prabhat as an actor
and a studio hand in 1929. He became assistant
to the music directors there like Keshav
Rao Bhole, Master Krishna Rao and Govingrao
Tembe. Desai is best known for mainly adapting
traditional Maharashtrian musical modes
of Powada and Lavni and made several polemical
statements calling for Marathi Cinema's
return to regional music traditions. It
is said that following the success of Baiju
Bawra (1952) where Naushad
so successfully incorporated Indian Classical
music Shantaram was advised by well-wishers
to take Naushad to score the music for the
film but Shantaram was adamant and stuck
to Vasant Desai who responded with perhaps
his career's best score! The music mingles
the rhapsodies of the flute and soft outpourings
of the sitar to highlight and subdue as
the case might be the interludes in which
the lovers hold the stage as lovers. An
interesting point is the absence of Raag
Bihag which is actually associated from
time memorial with separated lovers and
here the film refrains from using it even
though the lovers do get separated before
reuniting at the end. Vasant Desai proves
how accessible Indian Classical music can
be and repeated his success story in Goonj
Uthi Shehnai (1959) which had the great
Bismillah Khan playing the shehnai!
Jhanak
Jhanak Payal Baaje was written off by
some critics but the public responded most
favourably to the film as it ran for over
two years at a theatre in Mumbai and even
went on to win the President's Gold Medal
for Best Feature Film of 1955. In 1959 Shantaram
returned to another film combining dance
this time with fantasy - Navrang
about an artist who glamorizes his wife
in his fantasies as his muse. Though critics
like Baburao Patel of Filmindia dismissed
the film as 'the mental masturbation of
a senile mind', the public once again responded
enthusiastically to the film making it a
success at the box-office! Oh well...To
each his own!
|
