Synopsis
The
film is a tragedy featuring a policeman Ganpat (Modak) and
a prostitute Maina (Hublikar). Ganpat saves Maina from a police
raid on a brothel. They fall in love. However her reputation
and sense of guilt resist his attempts to rehabilitate her.
Ganpat's respectable middle-class mother (Sundarabai) symbolizes
what he would like Maina to be like. But feeling her past
would always catch up with her, Maina leaves Ganpat. She is
arrested for killing her wicked uncle and refuses Ganpat's
offer to release her from prison.
The film
Manoos is arguably regarded as Shantaram's
finest film. It might well be so for Manoos
is significant not only in terms of thematic
content but also as a work of motion picture
art, as well as for its technical innovations
and artistic integrity particularly in the
use of physical spaces to represent mental
states of the characters.
The
film is entirely shot on sets including
the street corners, alleys, corridors etc.
and consists mainly of night scenes often
in heavy shadows. The only location sequence
is the film's romantic duet wherein Maina
and Ganpat blunder on to a film set. ( Shantaram
uses the occasion to include a delightful
spoof on the rival studio, Bombay Talkies
kind of cinema. The hero and heroine of
the film sit by a tree and sing similar
to Ashok Kumar and Devika
Rani in Achchut Kanya (1936).
Wherever the characters move, the entire
orchestra playing live follow them! And
after the song, the Anglo-Indian girl who
speaks and sings with an English accent
removes her dark long wig and sari to walk
away in a western dress!) However the biggest
hit of the film was the multi-lingual song
Kashalya Udyaachi Baat set in Tamil,
Telegu, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi in
addition to its Marathi refrain as Maina
entertains her clients who are from all
over India. This song is also a kind of
spoof alluding to familiar stereotypes from
the corresponding film centers. 
The
key sequence highlighting Maina's dilemma
that she can neither come to terms with
her past nor her present is strikingly handled.
Maina and Ganpat's mother are both lying
side by side in the prayer room. While the
old woman is peacefully asleep, the former
is visibly agitated. Her hand accidentally
touches the tanpura used by the old woman
during her prayers. The tanpura strikes
a chord. With utmost economy and in a quick
montage of shots of Maina, the deity, the
prayer book, the flickering light of the
oil lamp Shantaram
is able to show her state of mind in a purely
cinematic language.
Shanta
Hublikar became an icon in Marathi Cinema
with her role as Maina. In fact Kashalya
Udyaachi Baat was also the title of
her autobiography (1990). Modak too became
a top Marathi star following Manoos.
However his earlier reputation in contemporary
socials like Manoos was later superceded
by his overwhelming success in Sant Dnyaneshwar
(1940) after which he acted in mainly
mythologicals. He went on to play Krishna
in 29 films in Marathi, Hindi and Bhojpuri!
However
like in Kunku (1937)
what really disturbs one in Manoos is
the film's ending. By refusing a better
life for herself and going back to where
she came from, the whore feels she is not
fit for a normal life - Once a whore, always
a whore. Thus the film ends up with a situation,
which is a kind of status quo without any
solution in sight and an outlook that is
far from revolutionary.
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