Reminiscence of the forgotten- Musafir by Hrishikesh Mukherjee 
By Deepa Gahlot, January 5, 2007 - 07:00 IST
Now that Nikhil Advani's Salaam-E-Ishq and Reema Kagti's Honeymoon Travels Pvt Limited are in the news because
of their unusual episodic
structure and ensemble cast, it is interesting to revisit Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film Musafir, made way back in 1957, which
used this structure. Much ahead of its time, this film was Hrishida's debut as a director.
The stories in the film had a common factor- a house in Mumbai. The tenants who live in it for short periods of time are the
musafirs (travellers) of the title. In the first story Shakuntala (Suchitra Sen), who has eloped with Ajay (Shekhar), comes to
stay in the house. Ajay is worried about his parents' reaction, since there has been no reply to his letter. The day the landlord is
expected to collect the month's rent, Ajay is out. So when an elderly couple visit, Shakuntala assumes it is the landlord and his wife.
They are actually Ajay's parents and are so charmed by Shakuntala that they take the young couple home with them.
The next tenant is Madhav babu, who arrives with his pregnant widowed daughter-in-law (Nirupa Roy) and younger son Bhanu
(Kishore Kumar). Despite his best efforts Bhanu is unable to find a job and is reprimanded by his father. Bhanu writes a suicide
note and consumes poison. In the morning, a telegram announces that Bhanu has got a job. Luckily for him, the poison was
adulterated. The baby is born to his sister-in-law and the family happily moves with him to a new house.
Next comes a lawyer with his widowed sister Uma (Usha Kiron), to seek treatment for her paralyzed child. At night Uma hears the
haunting notes of a violin and when she sends for the musician, he turns out to be Raja (Dilip Kumar), the man she was to have
married. He had cruelly rejected her and broken her heart. Uma learns that Raja is drinking himself to death, and later finds out that
he had left her because he was suffering from a terminal illness. Raja had promised the child that he would walk the day flowers
appeared by his window. Suddenly one morning, flowers bloom on the tree Shakuntala had planted and the boy takes his first
step to recovery. Under the flowering tree Raja lies dead.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee had been working with Bimal Roy as an assistant, and living in a one-room tenement in a Mumbai suburb.
The coming and goings of people in the tenement inspired him to come up with the story of a house and the themes of marriage,
birth and death. Dilip Kumar encouraged Mukherjee to do the film and agreed to do it free. He also sang a number for this film –
Laagi naahin chute Ram chahe jiya jaaye.
The storyline and episodic structure was unusual for its time, and the film flopped at the box-office. However, it went on to win a
National Award (then called the President's Gold Medal).
Then, two years later in 1959, KA Abbas, made Char Dil Char Raahein, also using a similar structure and star cast. But that's
another memory...
MUSAFIR (1957):
Production, Direction & Story: Hrishikesh Mukherjee Screenplay: Ritwik
Ghatak, Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Dialogue: Rajinder Singh Bedi
Camera: Kamal Bose
Lyrics: Shailendra
Music: Salil Chowdhury
Art Direction: Sudhendu Roy
Editing: Das Dhaimade
Sound: Essa M. Suratwalla
Cast: Suchitra Sen, Shekhar, Bipin Gupta, Durga Khote, Nirupa Roy, Kishore Kumar, Nazir Hussein, Keshto Mukherjee, Hira
Sawant, Daisy Irani, Dilip Kumar, Usha Kiron, Paul Mahindra, Mohan Choti, David, Rajlaxmi, Baby Naaz, Rashid Khan |
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