Synopsis
Nearly
caught by the police while carrying blackmarket goods in his
bullock cart, Hiraman (Raj Kapoor) takes a vow never to carry
contraband again. Transporting bamboo for a trader, he is
beaten by two men when their horse swerves to avoid Hiraman's
cart and upsets their carriage. He now vows never to carry
bamboo again. One night he is asked to carry a woman passenger
to a fair forty miles away. She is Hirabai (Waheeda Rehman),
a Nautanki performer going to perform at the fair. As they
travel together, Hiraman's innocence and simplicity charm
Hirabai who is also moved by the songs he sings to pass the
time. Hiraman tells her in song the legend of Mahua, a beautiful
motherless girl who fell in love with a stranger but is later
sold to a trader by her stepmother. Hirabai coaxes Hiraman
to spend a few days at the fair and see her dance. At the
Nautanki Hiraman gets into a fight with a drunkard who makes
an insulting comment about Hirabai. Hirabai angrily asks him
what right does he have to fight on her behalf. Hurt, Hiraman
stays away from the show. Hirabai calls him to her tent and
apologises to him. Hiraman asks her to leave this profession
where people talk ill of her. His concern touches Hirabai's
heart as she realizes he looks upon her just as is she were
a respectable woman. Becoming unhappy with her situation,
she refuses the local zamindar's overtures. The zamindar tries
to force himself on her but she fights him off. Hirabai decides
to leave the Nautanki company for her presence will threaten
the livelihood of others in the troupe as the zaminndar will
not leave them alone unless she gives in to him. But she cannot
live a lie with Hiraman. She sends for him to say goodbye.
At the train station she tells him she is going back to her
old company. She tells a hurt Hiraman that like Mahua she
already has been sold. As she departs and Hiraman returns
to his cart he takes a third vow never to carry a woman from
a Nautanki Company again.
The film
It
is one of Indian Cinema's tragic ironies
that a sensitive and poetic film like Teesri
Kasam sank without a trace indirectly
leading to its producer lyricist Shailendra's
death due to stress of financial problems
caused by the failure of the film. The irony
is even more so as today the film is recognised
as one of the the all-time great films of
Indian Cinema.
The film is based on Phanishwar Nath's
(of Maila Aanchal fame) short story
Mare Gaye Gulfam. Shailendra acquired
the rights to the story and began filming
the film in 1962. The film was initially
begun with Mehmood
and Meena Kumari
in mind for the roles finally done by Raj Kapoor
and Waheeda Rehman.
The initial thought was to shoot the film
in the Nepal - Bihar area but hearing stories
of dacoities and unrest in the area, the
film was finally shot in Igatpuri where
incidentally Madhumati was shot. Shailendra
was warned by friends like Raj Kapoor not
to fall into the trap of making films but
herefused to listen and the latter seeing
that he was adamant even advised him to
make some changes in the story to make the
film commercially viable but Shailendra
was firm that he would stick to the original
story and make it the way he wanted to.
The film plagued by production problems
took more than three years to make and finally
hit the screens in 1966 only to falter at
the box-office.
 Teesri Kasam is also
perhaps Basu Bhattacharya's best and most
accessable film. He had worked under Bimal
Roy earlier and it shows in the film. The
rhythm of the film is lyrical and ever so
gentle and rarely has rural ethos been captured
so beautifully on the Indian screen. The
film, refraining from conventional drama,
flows like the song of Mahua in the film
(Duniya Bananewale) - beautiful,
eternal and moving. Though Basu Bhattacharya
went on to make some significant films as
part of the parallel cinema movement in
India in the 1970s and 1980s - Anubhav
(1971), Aavishkar (1973) and
Grihapravesh (1980) to name some,
they never really matched his work in Teesri
Kasam.
The
blossoming of the bond between Hiraman and
Hirabai is warm, wistful and charming and
is extremely delicately handled. What draws
the nautanki dancer to the rustic cart driver
is his simple philosophy of life and his
natural aesthetic sense which he expresses
through his moving songs. Only as the final
parting appears imminent, does the intensity
strike. In a key scene of the film Hirabai
laments that she could play the part of
Laila but could never become Laila herself
as she justifies her decision to continue
her life as a nautanki performer. Love and
Marriage are not for her. Can 'art' ever
merge with 'life'? Perhaps not.
What
adds further poignancy to the story is the
fact that the end of the relationship between
Hiraman and Hirabai appears inevitable from
the start. To quote Star and Style's review
of the film,
"The
way the cart driver and nautanki dancer
meet, talk and discover each other and themselves
at the same time and the manner in which
they part are like a poem on celluloid with
a thread of pain running through it."
In
an unforgetable image after the parting
as Hiraman prepares to go back and is about
to hit his bullocks he overears her voice
- Don't hit them (earlier when he was transporting
her to the fair and tried to hit the bullocks
she had stopped him with the same words)
and as he looks back - through the fluttering
curtains of the bullock cart is seen the
train in which Hirabai has left in the extreme
far background - Magical!
Raj
Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman literally live
their roles in the film. Though a trifle
old for the role, Raj Kapoor more than compensates
with his performance as a naive country
bumpkin. One cannot help but smile with
him each time he blushes and goes 'iss'
and one cannot help but be moved emotionally
looking at the hurt on his face as Hirabai
bids him farewell. Waheeda Rehman responds
with perhaps the best performance of her
career, her films with Guru Dutt
and Guide (1965) nothwithstanding.
The film offers her a great opportunity
to showcase both her great histrionic ability
and dancing talent and it goes without saying
she excels in both. It is a remarkable,
perceptive performance. Sadly however for
her, after Guide her best work in
films like Teesri Kasam, Khamoshi
(1969) and Reshma Aur Shera (1971)
went largely unnoticed as the films sank
and her regular commercial potboilers like
Patthar ke Sanam (1967) and Ram
Aur Shyam (1967), where she just had
to be decorative and dance with the hero
and shed a tear or two, were huge commercial
successes!
The
film is beautifully shot by Subrata Mitra enhancing
the lyrical feel of the film. The frames
and compositions are poetic and rich in
tonal quality and represent some of the
finest Black and White camerawork done in
Indian Cinema. The lyrics by Shailendra
and Hasrat Jaipuri retain the rural ambiance
of the film and are simple yet profound.
Rarely
does one see a film where music is so well
integrated into the film. Shankar-Jaikishen
have given an outstanding musical score
in the film - simple melodies rooted in
folk music. The music is much enhanced with
the use of flutes, traditional string and
percussion instruments. Sajanre Jhoot
Mat Bolo, Sajanwa Bairi Ho Gaye Hamar,
Duniya Bananewale all rendered by
Mukesh and
Pan Khaye Saiyan Humaro sung by Asha Bhosle
stand out. It is interesting to see that
in keeping with the realistic and human
look of the film, Hiraman is just one of
the revellers in the song Chalat Musafir
and not the lead singer as is the case normally
in our films.
Teesri
Kasam in spite of its box-office failure
went on to win the President's Gold Medal
as the Best Feature Film of 1966. However
the film had taken its toll on Shailendra
and he passed away, a broken man, on December
14, 1966 on good friend Raj Kapoor's birthday.
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