Synopsis
An untouchable girl is sheltered in infancy
in an emergency, when her kinfolk die in
a plague epidermic, by an engineer, Upendranath
Choudhury (Tarun Bose), and his wife, Charu
(Sulochana), of Brahmin caste. The family
assumes the arrangement to be temporary
hoping a suitable home would be found for
the child. In the course of various postponements
of finding the girl a home, the family becomes
attached to the child and she is brought
up with their own daughter of similar age.
The untouchable girl is named Sujata meaning
well born. In later years as the girls grow
Sujata (Nutan) is sometimes referred to
by acquaintances of the family as their
daughter. Charu always parries this but
says that Sujata is like her own daughter.
Sujatha though growing up in an atmosphere
of love is aware from this phrase that she
is in some way different from the girl she
regards as her sister. The parents are not
especially troubled by Sujatha's outcast
origin till it becomes time to arrange the
marriage of their own daughter, Rama (Shashikala).
Rama's marriage has been discussed for years
with another Brahmin family whose scion
is the handsome and promising Adhir (Sunil
Dutt). The family is deeply disturbed that
an untouchable girl has so long lived in
Rama's house. However they consider themselves
modern and feel the marriage should go ahead
provided the untouchable girl is first married
off to a suitable husband wishing to avoid
her presence at the wedding. But a complication
has developed. Adhir, during his few visits
to the house has fallen in love with Sujatha
and wishes to marry her and not Rama. Charu
is outraged that the marriage of her own
daughter has been frustrated by the untouchable
girl they have sheltered. Finally at the
end when Sujatha donates blood to save Charu's
life, the latter relents and calls Sujatha
her daughter and marries her to Adhir.
The film
To
Bimal
Roy any form of injustice was unacceptable
be it social, religious or economic. Sujata
looking at the plight of untouchability
remains one of the most humanistic films
made on the subject. Sujata saw Bimal
Roy returning to more realistic imperatives
after the comparatively lightweight Madhumati
and Yahudi, both of which incidentally
were big successes at the box-office.
Bimal
Roy showed himself to be one of the first
Indian directors capable of simplicity and
understatement. Sujata is a sensitively
directed film with the romantic scenes between
Adhir and Sujata almost lyrical. The story
is told in a series of deft, restrained
episodes never ever lapsing into self-pity
that could have easily marred the film.
And unlike a PC
Barua, whose classic Devdas
Bimalda had photographed before remaking
the film himself, where a death or two would
have seen the story out of its tangled web,
Bimalda asserts that such a marriage is
possible. Adhir takes a firm hand with his
family and has his way.
 Sujata sees yet another
tour de force performance from Nutan
in the central role. It is perhaps surpassed
only by her performance in the other Bimal
Roy film she did, Bandini.
Nutan enacts the role of the untouchable
girl with stunning grace and is able to
convey her hurt, her trauma with just a
glance or a gesture. She proves once again
what a thinking actress she was. One who
could convey much more with just a look
or a fleeting glance than most actresses
could with expansive dialogue. In fact Lata
Mangeshkar, no less, singled her out
as the heroine whose expressions came closest
to suggest that she was actually singing
the song herself.
Though he is burdened with being the only
representative of the progressive forces
ranged against oppressive tradition and
despite the role not being fleshed out totally
Sunil
Dutt shines as he plays the earnest
Adhir as a perfect foil to Nutan. He realizes
it is her film and at no times tries to
corner any of the limelight for himself.
The rest of the cast support the lead pair
perfectly
The
film is shot handsomely with rich lyrical
tonal quality and evocative framing that
bring out the human emotions of the story.
And helping to lift the film several notches
is its evergreen musical score by S.D.
Burman. The film is laced with such
masterpieces such as Jalte Hain Jiske
Liye, Kali Ghata Chhaye, Hawa
Dheere Aana, Bachpan ke Din and
Sun Mere Bandhu rendered by Burmanda
himself. Jalte Hain Jiske Liye is
perhaps the piece de resistance of the film.
It must rank as one of the best romantic
solos in Indian Cinema and one of singer
Talat Mehmood's finest songs. Hawa Dheere
Aana remains to date one of the most
enduring lories ever in Hindi Cinema. Geeta
Dutt is in full form in this delicate
little lullaby making prime use of her voice
with minimum orchestrall support of just
a jal tarang and Asha
impresses with Kali Ghata Chhaye.
Other songs include the cute Asha-Geeta
duet Bachpan ke Din Bhi Kya Dine The
and the Rafi
solo Wah Bhai Wah. And to push its
humanistic message, the film includes an
elaborate stage performance of Tagore's
dance drama Chandalika.
A
minor little controversy surrounded the
birthday party number Tum Jiyo Hazaron
Saal. For years this song was credited
to Geeta Dutt and even made it to a LP that
HMV came out with as a tribute to Geeta
Dutt when she died - In Memorium Geeta
Dutt, when in fact it was sung by Asha
Bhosle. R.D.
Burman who was S.D. Burman's assistant
at the time confirmed that the song was
first rendered by Geeta Dutt but later on
S.D. Burman rerecorded the song with Asha
Bhosle and Asha's version used in the film.
Neither singer knew the other had sung the
song. HMV, which credited the song to Geeta
Dutt, claims that they followed the information
that Bimal Roy Productions gave them. But
how is it that all the parties - Bimal Roy,
Asha Bhosle. SD Burman and Geeta Dutt kept
silent over this? Finally Asha Bhosle acknowledged
after 27 years that she did sing the song.
But never knew of the mix up as she never
listened to the radio or heard any of her
recordings. Once a song was recorded and
done with she moved on to the next. But
what about everyone else involved? And what
about the millions of music lovers or the
experts. Couldn't they distinguish Asha's
voice from Geeta's? HMV finally clarified
that the song was indeed sung by Asha Bhosle
and the song was immediately included in
the next collection of Asha Bhosle they
came out with. While
the controversy is not of any earth-shaking
importance, of any great political, historical
or sociological significance, after all
it is just a song. But there is the issue
of artistic integrity and due credit. Imagine
a painting by one master being attributed
to another or a literary wok being erroneously
published under a contemporary's name and
this while both individuals were alive!
Anyway Asha finally laid the controversy
to rest as she said.
"If
this song has been credited to Geeta, it
makes no difference to her reputation or
mine, her repertoire or mine."
All
in all Sujata endures as one of Bimal
Roy's masterpieces and one of Nutan's best
ever performances.
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