DAWN
Tuesday Review, Nov 14-20, 1995
The Director's Cut
The director holds the central position
in a picture. Although 'author' is a legal title referring to
the financing organisation (mostly a studio) yet most critics,
especially belonging to the "auteur" school of thought,
would study films as creations of their directors ('auteur'
is the French for author). Auteur critics maintain that a comparison
of several works by the same director always reveals strands
of thought that remain understated in isolated studies. We know
that this is not always true as sometimes another member of
the team (such as the producer, or a clever actor) may have
more influence on the production. However, the theory holds
weight as a general truth. For instance, if the films of Hitchcock
are compared with each other then themes such as his ambivalence
to women becomes evident. In his films (The Thirty-nine
Steps, Saboteur, Psycho, The Birds, etc.), blondes are
subjected to various forms of degradation -- being hand-cuffed
to a man, being slashed to death in a shower or having their
faces pecked by attacking birds.
This kind of study has not been
done extensively on the directors of India and Pakistan. Only
recently has there been some work on Mehboob, the director of
such films as Andaz (1949) and Aan (1952).
But that is just a drop in the ocean.
In the films directed by Subhash
Ghai the themes of strained relationship between two friends
recur frequently. These are Dilip Kumar - Shammi Kapoor in Vidhata
(1981), Dilip Kumar - Raj Kumar in Saudagar (1991),
Sanjay Dutt - Jacky Shroff in Khal Nayak (1993), and
so on. But also noticeable is Ghai's typical use of a simple,
rather childish theme song to highlight the main storyline in
the film -- hence "Imli ka boota, beri ka payr" in
Saudagar, or "Jagmag" in Viddhata.
What we may get out of such a
study of Indian and Pakistani directors may not be only the
hidden corners of the mind of the director, but also series
of cliche techniques used by a director again and again. While
the western directors try to grow out of their previous artistic
achievements with each new venture, our directors find it difficult
to invent a fresh grammar for every new film.
Looking at the Pakistani scene,
things are not as hopeless as one may generally assume. There
have been clever directors. To name some: Shaukat Husain Rizvi,
Kardar, Pervaiz Malik, Nazrul Islam, Hassan Tariq, Raza Mir,
S. M. Yousuf and these days, Syed Noor. Shamim Ara also made
a valuable contribution if one could forgive her making too
many movies around the same storyline.
Let's pick up Nazrul Islam and
Hasan Tariq for a brief study. He has been blamed for plagiarism
but then who is not? Dilip Kumar once said, "We all steal,
but some of us do it more cleverly." I am not presenting
a case for plagiarism but I would like to point out that Nazrul
was a clever director. Even a film like Aina (1977),
which was certainly indebted to at least two Indian movies (Aandhi
and Aa Galay Lag Ja) retains a touch of class and an excellent
degree of coherence. In fact it is one of the best examples
and rare examples of brevity of plot in Pakistani cinema. Also,
Nazrul deserves some praise for depicting the rape scene in
his last movie Khwahish (1993) in a manner that does
not defeat its message by exploiting the trauma of the hapless
victim in order to tantalise the audience. Again, a rare practice
in Pakistani cinema.
A recurring feature of almost
all Nazrul movies is a sensational treatment of female sexuality
without being too vulgar or too explicit -- since one can't
be very explicit in Pakistani cinema, many lesser directors
substitute sexuality with sheer vulgarity. A very common motif
in a Nazrul film is a woman soaked in water. In Aina
(1977), Shabnam is discovered asleep in her bathtub whereas
in Nahin abhi Nahin (1980) she is alone in a public
park amid heavy rains when Arman first sees her. Interestingly,
the famous song rendered by Mehdi Hasan, "Teray bheegay
badan ki khoshboo say" also came from a Nazrul film,
Sharafat. Other filmmakers of India and Pakistan
have also exploited similar situations but what is different
about Nazrul's films is that here the water appears either at
the beginning of a love relationship or with grave importance
at some other remarkable point in the story -- treated almost
like a fetish.
Two other important features of Nazrul are his use of music
to carry the story forward and his celebration of the city.
Who has ever seen Karachi more beautifully filmed than in those
song sequences in Nahin Abhi Nahin.
The films of Hasan Tariq are different.
First, they lack in refinement, for instance as compared to
Nazrul Islam. Second, they have a more than generous share of
choreography. It seems as if Hasan Tariq discovered a formula
for presenting an entire story through eight dances. Usually
there are one or two dances in the beginning which introduce
the main characters. In Anjuman (1972), there are two, each
introducing an important family from the plot. Subsequently
a separate dance sequence marks the commencemnt of each new
phase in the development of the plot (such as problems, crisis,
resolution and climax). No wonder Rani features in almost all
Hasan Tariq movies: Shama Aur Parvana (1972), Laila
Majnun (1973), Umrao Jan Ada (1974), Ik Gunah
Aur Sahi (1975), Suraiya Bhopali (1977), etc.
Rani was also his wife for some time in her life. It seems as
if the pattern of Hasan Tariq movies evolved with the discovery
of the choreographic talents of Rani. His earlier movies such
as Kaneez (1965), Devar Bhabhi (1967) and
Maa Beta (1968) are essentially different from his
later movies.
Another interesting pattern which
emerges through a comparison of Tariq movies is "love triangle,"
usually with one woman. Tariq must have explored more varieties
of this technique than any other director. Even in his rendering
of the traditional story of Laila Majnun the role of
the Iraqi prince (the rival) is more emphasised than it is in
any other version of the story. Another complexity that Tariq
seems quite fond of is "double triangle" -- this occurs
in films like Shama Aur Parvana and Naag Aur Nagin
whereas in Anjuman there are "multiple triangles"
-- first triangle: Sabiha, Santosh, Rani; second triangle: Santosh,
Rani, Waheed Murad; third triangle: Rani, Waheed Murad, Deeba.
In multiple triangles the first character in each set loves
the second who in turn loves third while the third character
loves someone else (member of a different triangle) and this
complication serves as the essential skeleton of the story.
Resolution comes about by taking away (either through death
or through some other device) the character who was appearing
in all triangles. With him/her missing, the "triangles"
naturally reduce to "pairs" of characters with mutually
happy relations!
Of course this study could not
include all directors who deserve our appreciation and attention.
This is due to limitations of space. But one thing that emerges
from this scrutiny is that good directors have a mind of their
own which manifests itself through several films (quite often
through all films). Even when they "borrow" from others'
works they "borrow" only that which fits their own
paradigm and retain the integrity of their idea one way or the
other, whether consciously or unconsciously. That is the mark
of a director and it can be seen even in Pakistan
