Saquib Salim

Cinema, like literature, is a reflection of the society we live in, and, in turn, hugely impacts the way society functions. The argument seems to falter when we look at India’s social and political situation and the cinema it, especially Mumbai, produces. We are living in a society dominated by petty politicians playing dirty tricks of divisiveness. Cinema, more precisely Bollywood, hardly reflects this reality though, in 75 years, the cinema has shown a disdain for fanaticism and its politics.

Dharmputra, a 1961 Hindi movie, starring Shashi Kapoor, Mala Sinha, Rehman, Manmohan Krishna, and Nirupa Roy is a Bollywood flick that never gets outdated in its message. Yash Chopra’s second directorial venture and Shashi Kapoor’s first one as an adult, the film throws light on the communal politics in India. The mainstream cinema has mostly downplayed this most aspect of Indian politics. Either the film is silent over the issue or, if they acknowledge the existence of communalism, the film would show a few Muslim characters who want to sabotage the nation with foreign aid.

Dharmputra takes a departure from this approach. Produced only 14 years after the tragic partition of the country, Yash Chopra boldly takes up the subject and handles the issue with honesty, which only a great artist can display.

The movie starts with a sequence set in 1925, where a large procession is raising slogans, Inquilab Zindabad (long live revolution) and Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai (Hindus Muslims are brothers). Nawab Badruddin (Ashok Kumar) comes to Doctor Amrit Rai (Manmohan Krishna), in Delhi, with her daughter Husn Bano (Mala Sinha), who is pregnant without getting married. Doctor’s father and Nawab were best friends and Bano ties rakhi to him. The movie differentiates itself at this point itself. When the doctor asks Bano who did wrong with her, replies that it was not a mistake but love. Nawab, her father, did not let them marry because Javed (Rehman), her lover, was from a lower caste. Nawab tells the doctor that society has codified a few procedures to differentiate between high blood and the degraded. Javed, who was a professor, could not be married to Bano because he was not of high caste. The movie is arguably the first, among few in the mainstream, where the caste system among Muslims is shown.

Doctor, in consultation with his wife Savitri (Nirupa Roy), decides not to abort the fetus, takes Bano to Shimla, and lets the baby be born. Doctor and Savitri, adopt the baby boy and name him Dilip. The kid, whose biological parents were Muslims, Bano, and Javed, was adopted by Hindu parents and raised as a Hindu. Meanwhile, Nawab finds Javed and marries him to Bano. Bano, as a result of an accident, would never bear a child. Savitri gives birth to two boys and a girl subsequently. Both the families are neighbours, and they build a bridge between the two houses so that Dilip can easily play with Bano, his real mother who he calls Mausi (aunt). The movie moves to 1931-32, in the wake of the Civil Disobedience Movement of Mahatma Gandhi, Nawab braves the bullets of the British police and dies with the slogan of Inquilab Zindabad and Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai on his lips. Rehman and Bano left the country for Europe to return only in 1947, just before the independence.

Bano, the real mother of Dilip (Shashi Kapoor), rushes to meet her son only to find a young man, who has become a fanatic Hindu leader. Dilip hates Muslims and hence would not acknowledge his real mother as an aunt. Dilip’s siblings are shown having heated debates with him on Hindu-Muslim issues. At one point his younger brother Sudesh (Deven Verma), during a heated discussion, tells Dilip that an ordinary Indian will remain enslaved even if the British leave India because then fanatics, like Dilip will be ruling the Indians.

The movie delves into the process of communalization of Indian politics between 1920s and 1947. Rehman points out that at the spot where Nawab was martyred while he was shouting slogans of Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai, people are raising slogans of Le ke rahenge, Pakistan (We will take Pakistan at any cost). He wonders how within a span of 15 years, the country has moved to the verge of partition.

Doctor and Rehman are bewildered at the developments. The country is being partitioned. Dilip is leading mobs to kill Muslims, raising slogans of Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan. In his world view, Muslims have no right over India. Rajendra Kumar, in a cameo as a leader, addresses a crowd that even homes are partitioned between brothers and that does not translate into violence.

Yash Chopra does not put entire blame of communalization on a Muslim antagonist but shows, in Dilip, a radicalized Hindu youth leader who wants to burn the houses of Muslims. He leads a mob in an attempt to kill his biological father Rehman and then tries to burn down his house. Doctor and Savitri, confront him. The doctor teaches him that what he believes is not the Hindu religion. Religion teaches love, compassion, and fraternity. This communal politics in the name of religion is satanic. Doctor equates fanaticism with mythological villains like Duryodhan, Ravana, Judas, Abu Lahab etc. And, in the heat of the moment, he gets to know the reality of his birth and is devastated.

Dilip asks if a person has no conscience while choosing a religion. Does a person belong to a certain religion only by accident of birth? The mob, he was leading, now wants to kill him. A timely police intervention saves him and a background voice announces that the nation, India belongs to all those who consider her their motherland. Hindus and Muslims will be equal in this country.

Dharamputra Captures the unity of the two largest religious communities in a powerful metaphor. The two families, Bano and Savitri, are shown standing on the bridge between the two homes. The bridge connects Hindus and Muslims, and thus depicts a united India.

The movie is laced with gems from Sahir Ludhianvi. In the qawwali, Ye masjid hai, wo butkhana, chahe ye maano chahe wo maano (This is a mosque and that’s a temple, you can revere any of them) the idea of all religions teaching humanity is propagated. The song, Ae rehbar e mulk o qaum bata ye kiska lahu hai kaun mara (Tell us O leader of the nation and the community, whose blood is this, who has been killed) brings home the point that in any communal riot those who die are Indians. No religion teaches to kill innocent people, rape women and burn houses. It is a shame for humanity and no religion can be proud of killing people.

The movie is 60 years old but feels as relevant as it was then. They do not make such movies anymore but we can, rather we should watch this movie to understand what nation-building means. Bano and Savitri, both are devout Muslims and Hindus, yet they would live like a family. To respect other religions, become secular, love your country, you don’t need to stop following your own religion. Rather, it is the faith in religion that teaches respecting other religions and humans.

 Saquib Salim is a Historian and a writer