Synopsis
Seema looks at the life of Gauri (Nutan).
Unwanted by her uncle and aunt with whom
she stays, she works as a domestic help
where she is pursued by the lecherous cook
of the house (CS Dubey). As she spurns him,
she is framed for a robbery by him. Hungry
and unable to get any employment because
of her record of being a thief, she goes
to teach him a lesson. But instead he tricks
her and returns with the police. With her
uncle and aunt unwilling to take her, Gauri
is put into a reform institution run by
an elderly kind warden (Balraj Sahni). Though
angry at large with and the world and constantly
breaking rules and getting into fights there,
gradually through his efforts Gauri settles
down there nicely and starts to fall in
love with him…
The film
Seema is without doubt the finest
film in Amiya Chakravarty’s career,
a career that started with the great Bombay
talkies studio. Chakravarty was a full time
political activist who was arrested during
the Salt Satyagraha. Forced to leave Bengal,
he joined Bombay Talkies. His first film
was the Devika
Rani – Ashok
Kumar starrer Anjaan (1941)
followed by Basant (1942), one
of Bombay Talkies’ biggest successes
and among other films he also directed include
Dilip
Kumar’s first film – Jwar
Bhata (1944), Girl’s School
(1949), Badal (1951), Daag
(1952), Patita (1953) and
Badhsah (1954) before Seema.
The film, released in 1955, takes us back
to an era when filmmakers thought of stories
that were both socially relevant and entertaining
and Seema is one of those good
films that satisfy both these criteria.
The film is sensitively directed and is
a fine look at life inside a reform home.
The film makes one empathize with the heroine
in her sufferings and smile along with her
as a ray of hope enters her life. To his
credit, Chakravarty was one of those filmmakers
who looked sympathetically at the sufferings
of women in Indian society and consequently,
frequently gave roles of substance to the
women in his films – be it, Nimmi
in Daag, Usha Kiron in Patita
and Nutan in Seema.
 Seema
is aided greatly by its two central performances
that of Nutan
and Balraj
Sahni. Seema is the film that
first brought to the fore Nutan’s
astonishing ability as an actress. Till
then none of her films had really offered
her a role of such depth and a character
that was so finely etched and Nutan gives
it all she’s got. It was the perfect
comeback vehicle for her as she had taken
a short sabbatical to study at the Swiss
Finishing School La Chatelaine. In Seema,
Nutan gives us glimpses of what a thinking
actress she was. Her face is a myriad of
expressions and what she could say with
one simple gesture or glance what most actresses
were unable to say in a whole lot of dialogues.
It is a brilliant performance and went on
to win Nutan the first of her five best
actress Filmfare Awards. Balraj Sahni plays
the perfect foil to Nutan. Sensitive, natural
and restrained as alwayshe plays the understanding
warden trying to make a better life for
the women and children there to perfection
who could be calm but also be tough when
it matters.
Of the supporting cast, the film introduces
Shubha Khote to Hindi films as one of the
inmates of the reform home, Putli. She gives
a fine performance as the tough woman who
befriends Nutan and who is basically a good
person inside. Shubha Khote was a cycling
champion and Amiya Chakravarty incorporated
this aspect into the script as Putli puts
her life at risk and retrieves the money
stolen from the institution after a thrilling
cycle chase. CS Dubey plays the key role
of the man who is the root cause of Gauri’s
trouble. Dubey was not only an actor but
also working with Chakravarty as his production
manager and assistant director. He does
a fine, slimy job of his role in the film.
Seema is complemented by a fine
musical score by Shankar – Jaikishen
at the peak of their prowess. The lyrics
are by Shailendra and Hasrat – Jaipuri.
The songs of the film – Chhoti
si Gudiya ki Lambi Kahani, Baat Baat Par
Roothon Na, Kahaan Ja Rahein ho proved
to be extremely popular but it was the Manna
Dey song Tu Pyaar ka Sagar Hai
that is the piece de resistance of the film.
It is most unfortunate that a singer like
Manna Dey with a phenomenal talent and a
rich classical base never really got his
due from the film Industry always playing
a poor second cousin to Mohd.
Rafi, Mukesh,
Kishore
Kumar or Talat Mehmood. Seema
sees him in fine form as a singer with his
voice complementing Balraj Sahni perfectly.
Another highlight of the film is the classical
song Man Mohana. Perfectly rendered
by Lata Mangeshkar,
the lip sync of Nutan to this difficult
song is spot on and this when the song is
picturized inreally long takes! Every subtle
change in pace or tempo is registered subtly
by Nutan particularly in the alaap portions
and this song was in fact rated by Lata
Mangeshkar as the best ever lip synching
given to any of her songs. Lata always felt
that Nutan was the one actress who actually
seemed to be singing her song rather then
just enacting it.
In many Hindi films we have seen happy
and sad versions of a song that is linked
to a particular character. This is used
in Seema as well with Choti
si Gudiya ki Lambi kahani. But while
in most films the happy version normally
comes first and then the sad version comes
later as the character is in mental turmoil,
in Seema the sad version comes
first as Gauri lives out her hellish life
with her uncle and aunt and the happier
one later as she settles down at the reform
home.
On the flip side, one must admit that the
romantic track between Balraj Sahni and
Nutan in the film looks a trifle forced
and is brought rather abruptly into the
latter part of the film. Perhaps this was
because the filmmaker was uncertain about
audiences accepting a film without a conventional
hero-heroine and romance or maybe because
once the conflict between Gauri and the
warden was over, the film would be over
and much too early. Surely the seeds of
this romance could have been sowed earlier
rather than brought in hurriedly towards
the end.
It is a real pity that Amiya Chakravarty
passed away just 2 years later after this
masterpiece when just 45 years of age thus
having cut short his wonderful cinematic
career. Seema is one of his films
which clearly remind us what might have
been had he lived on…
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