Some movies are way ahead of the times they were released in. Kagaz Ke Phool was way ahead of its time. So was Lamhe. As was Silsila. All these three films dwelled on the complexities of human relationships and despite the veracity in their cinematic idiom, were box office duds. By a strange twist of fate, all the aforementioned movies are now considered to be classics, watched over and over again on VCD and Cable TV.
To Gen. X Yash Chopra is the man who manufactures (produces and directs) only candyfloss – Dil To Paagal Hai, Mere Yaar Ki Shadi Hai, Mujh Se Dosti Karoge, etc. What it probably doesn’t know that Yash Chopra is the same man capable of delving deep into the human psyche and examining the contours of labyrinthine relationships, albeit within the well-padded confines of the commercial format complete with songs et al. Yash has also directed the songless, semi-classic Ittefaq, much before the Verma brigade of Kaun and Bhoot fame took over.
On with the review of Silsila.
In the early eighties (1981 I think), Yash Chopra came up with a combustible casting coup. Those days, Amitabh Bachchan’s more-than-friendly interest in Rekha used to make front-page news and excellent drawing room conversation. Rekha was the ‘other woman’ who had snatched the Big B from the First Lady (Jaya Bachchan). Yash did the unthinkable. He cast the three of them together, in familiar real-life situations.
Amitabh played Amit, a dashing playwright (I think his role was a mixture of his own and his father, the great Hindi poet, Harivanshrai’s personality), Jaya played his wife, Sudha, while Rekha (Chandni), you’re right, was the other woman.
Amit and Chandni are in love, while Amit’s brother – Shekhar (Shashi Kapoor), a pilot -is engaged with Sudha. All is well until Shekhar is killed in an air crash. It is revealed that Sudha is carrying his child and as a good brother, Amit ties the knot with her, aborting (or so he thinks) his relationship with Chandni.
And then begins the real drama.
Amit and Sudha meet with an accident in which Sudha loses the baby. They are hospitalized and are treated by Sanjeev Kumar, who is none other than Chandni’s husband. Amit and Chandni surreptitiously renew their romance. However, soon Sudha and Chandni’s husband get wind of the affair and the film hurtles towards its climax.
Silsila is one of Yash Chopra’s most mature works, way ahead of Kabhie Kabhie and even Lamhe and at par with Daag (Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, and Rakhee), and Deewar (Amitabh, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh, and Nirupa Roy).
Silsila scores on many fronts but two most easily identifiable elements are the individual characterizations, and the interplay of human relationships. The predicament faced by Amit, Sudha, and Chandni and her husband is palpable. Each character is given enough time and space to grow. Even Deven Verma (who plays Amitabh’s friend of his struggling days) has such a well-etched role. He is not your typical comedian, but a friend who can make you laugh and also make you understand (something akin to Anupam Kher’s role in Lamhe).
Amitabh Bachchan stands out in a role tailor-made for him. He is awesome to say the least. He is witty, pragmatic, emotional, intense … everything that the role demands from him and more.
Jaya Bachchan plays the role of the woman fraught with marital problems with great sensitivity. Wonder what happened to that flair in K3G where all she did was shed copious tears (well Shah Rukh also did the same) in a flamingly red saree borrowed from Ekta Kapoor.
This is one of Rekha’s greatest performances, Umrao Jaan included. From a woman reveling in the first flush of love, to a woman who wilts under despondency to a woman who indulges in adultery, Rekha is in fine fettle here. Well, Amitabh, as they say, always brought out the best from her.
Sanjeev Kumar was a fine actor who many a times got caught in weird get ups and hairdos (Naya Din Nayee Raat, Sholay etc). But he was superb while playing a character closer to his age. In Silsila, he charms his way into the hearts of the viewers and gains their sympathy. The scene where he narrates to Sudha the story of a princess (in a hotel, when Amit and Chandni are in each other’s arms, dancing) is just excellent.
Shashi Kapoor is as usual adorable in a cameo. His drunken scene with Amitabh is exhilarating and poignant at the same time. Also, do not miss the one when the two brothers are under the shower. That one is a real scream.
The songs of the film (Music Shiv-Hari, Lyrics Javed Akhtar and Harivanshrai Bachchan), like all Yash Raj movies are great. Neela Aasmaan So Gaya (Amitabh’s version ) is easily the pick of the sound track. Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum is also fabulous while Dekha Ek Khwab is easy on the ears. Rang Barse sung by Amitabh again (he was a one-man dhamaka in those days) with its folksy tune and great picturization tickles your funny bone to this day. That this song brings the crisis faced by the characters to the fore, is another movie.
Yash Chopra has managed to make a film that is all at once simple, well told, probing, subtle, and poignant. However, I feel that the climax of the film was a bit too contrived. Amit returns to Shobha even though he did not love her, leaving Chandni in the cold once again. Yash Chopra probably didn’t want to offend the somewhat conservative audiences of those days and decided to let the husband return to the wife than the other woman. Or was it a case of sending Amitabh back to Jaya rather than Rekha?