There are very few movies which leave an impact and which we can recollect even after years, Bandini is one such movie. It has my favourite heroine Nutan as the central character. I’m surprised no one at MS has reviewed this movie yet, is it coz none of u have seen this one? huh? :) Here is my ’’little’’ review :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Story :
The time is before independence and our heroine Kalyani (Nutan), is serving a jail sentence for murder. The prison doctor Deven (Dharmendra), is in love with her and wants to marry her. However Kalyani fears that knowing about her past he would change his mind & refuses his proposal for marriage. The jailer, who is a family friend of Deven, then tells him Kalyani’s story
Flashback :
Kalyani is the daughter of a village postmaster. When a revolutionary Bikash (Ashok Kumar) visits the village both are attracted towards each other & soon fall in love. In an attempt to save Bikash’s life during a problem situation Kalyani poses as Bikash’s wife. When her father learns of this he is upset as this would ruin his honour in the village. Bikash proposes to marry her, Kalyani’s father agrees to the marriage. Bikash leaves the village promising to come back but he never does. Later, Kalyani is told that he has married someone else. The villagers ridicule Kalyani & her father. To avoid further insult to her father, she leaves the village & gets a job in a hospital where is given the task to take care of a particular shrewish & ill-mannered rich woman patient. When her father comes to the city in search Kalyani, he is killed in an accident. Learning of this Kalyani is very disturbed [excellent acting in this scene] & on the same day she discovers the woman she is taking care of is Bikash’s wife !!! She believes that this woman is the cause of all her troubles & also of her father’s death. Kalyani poisons her & surrenders to the police.
After learning her story, Deven & his mother are still willing to accept her. Finally, Kalyani too agrees for the marriage but as she waits for the train to take her to Deven’s house, she meets Bikash again. He is very ill and she learns the real circumstances of Bikash’s unhappy marriage [for the freedom cause]. In the end of the film, Kalyani decides to go with Bikash............
The Director :
This classic film has been directed by Bimal Roy, who is also the director of a well known films: Do Bigha Zameen, Madhumati. He has handled a very sensitive topic with great care. In times when women were not given much options, his heroine is very daring yet sensitive too. The film tells her story with lots of sensitivity & simplicity, which would not have been an easy task for Bimal Roy.
The performance :
Nutan gives an amazing performance in Bandini. This is one of the best roles of her career, others being in Sujata, Milan, Saraswatichandra etc. It seemed as if she is not acting, she is living Kalyani’s character. As Kalyani she comes across as a very gentle yet passionately in love woman, who is not afraid to take drastic steps to make things right or even sacrifice for her lover. There is nothing dramatic about her performance and the audience is fully sympathetic to Kalyani, even when she murder’s her lover’s wife, only because they are convinced of Nutan’s fine acting as Kalyani.
Ashok Kumar, also gives a splendid performance, which is his usual for all his other films roles too. Also the role of Deven, enacted by Dharmendra deserves a special mention, as he was pitted against sucha powerful actress Nutan and yet he manages to attract the audience with his tiny role in the movie.
The songs :
Mora Gora Ang Laile
Jogi Jabse Tu Aaya Mere Dware
O Jaanewale Ho Sake To Laut Ke Aana
O Panchhi Pyare
Ab Ke Baras Bhejo
Mat Ro Mata Lal Tere
Mere Sajan Hai Us Paar - S. D. Burman*
- The Ab ke baras bhej, Bhaiya ko Babul is sung by Asha Bhosle, which was a surprise to me coz she is famous for jhakta-matka songs. This is a beautiful slow song which Kalyani sings in the jail alongwith her inmates. One would have expected this song to be sung by Lataji but Asha does equal justice to the song. Surely, this is among the best songs on Asha Bhosle. Lata Mangeshkar sings two pleasant songs in the movie : ’Mera gora ang laile, mohe shaam rang daide’ & ’Jogi jab se too aya mere dware’’, which are again superb.
* The best song sung by S.D Burman himself - O’ re maanjhi, Mere Sajan Hai Us Paar, is a soul stirring song. The climactic song, it beautifully expresses Kalyani’s dilemma of having to choose between Bikash & Deven. Bandini means a prisoner, something which Kalyani has been all of her life but when she chooses to be with Bikash coz she is a bandini of love, we all are glad by her decision coz the audience wants Kalyani to be happy at last !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanx for reading :)