If one were to monitor Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s vast array of films, the
common factor in all of them is their simplicity. And yet, the film
maker managed to evoke such phenomenal warmth, pathos, sensitivity
through them.After films like ‘ Anupama’, ‘ Ashirwad’, ‘ Satyakam’, ‘ Anand’ ‘
Guddi’and many more, Hrishikesh tackled a subject that revolved around the most
basic human emotion-jealousy.
Abhimaan’ is all about a famous singer Subeer Kumar(Amitabh
Bachchan) who falls in love with Uma, a simple village
girl(Jaya Bhaduri) and gets married to her.
The one factor that has drawn Subeer to Uma is her melodic voice.
Uma comes to the city with her husband and things are great between
them. Soon after at a party, Subeer persuades her to sing along with
him. There are many important guests around and they all take note of
her vocal talents. Sometime later, Uma gets an offer to do some
professional singing. She refuses outright but Subeer convinces her to
go ahead with it. And that’s when it all begins. She makes a name for
herself and starts getting loads of work. Reputed companies and music
directors want to sign her on. In the meanwhile, Subeer stops getting
his regular quota of work. Slowly, the cracks develop and the husband
starts feeling threatened by his own wife’s success.
Subeer stops communicating with Uma and begins to treat her with
disrespect. A time comes when he stops spending any time at home. His
frustration is tearing their relationship apart.
Not being able to take the pressure, Uma suffers a nervous
breakdown. That’s when Subeer realizes his folly and they finally come
together in a rather tearful, emotional reunion.
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan excelled themselves as the couple
in distress. The film was so well balanced that at no point did one
character feel overburdened by the other.
What shouldered the film and gave it a solid impetus was S D Burman’s
soul-stirring music. All the songs in the film were absolute marvels-‘
Tere mere milan ki yeh raina’, ‘ Meet na mila re man ka’, ‘ Ab to hai
tumse’, ‘ Teri bindia re’, ‘ Piya bina’, ‘ Loote koi man’, and ‘ Nadia
kinare’. Rarely has any film album displayed so much depth and
poignancy.
Thanks for reading my review