Watercooler Tidbits 2nd Nov 2011 - Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam

Some events that happen almost feel random and out of place. Even if you want to justify such occurrences with a “lesson-learnt” or “karmic cycle reason”, they still don’t make sense enough for one to “feel at home” or feel complacent. These events are normally very small, almost negligent, in all respects, whether duration, after effects and even impact. But the brain remembers it so well. As if, “it meant a lot”. As if, there was some learning which wasn’t assimilated. But, what?

On the contrary, the “big events” make the drama of one’s life and everything good or bad, is somehow or the other “made to associate” with. The brain commendably, links memories so tactfully that the poor thinker is never out of the vicious circle of “thinking”. That gives most of us, our favorite pass time, especially for certain people (which includes me) who otherwise don’t fancy a hobby or a skill. But those small events, those really puny moments, I don’t get those. I don’t know why they stick. You try not to think about them and inadvertently you are already thinking about them. That brings us to question if there is any real meditation possible on Earth. In the purest and truest sense? I say yes, not because I have experienced or rather embodied it, but for the simple reason (and fact) that if there is copious amount of literature documented about it, there has to be some truth in it.

This makes me wonder if anything documented, stemmed from truth. Will it be possible to trace the truth? Ever? Think about the Mahabharata, for instance. How would one find out the truth behind or in it? For now, I rely only on my conviction, which somehow never deceives me, until yesterday, when it decided to take me on a jolly good ride. The belief system I held (and I think I still hold the same) was challenged and ushered me to a place of complete discomfort where nothing I saw was known.

How did I land myself in such a situation, I keep thinking in amusement! It wasn’t so hard actually. I just watched one of Guru Dutt’s classics, “Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam”, which is otherwise a documented story. Yes, it’s “Bibi” and not “Biwi” as most Hindi watchdogs would advocate. Guru Dutt was known to be an unorthodox movie maker. He experimented with almost every aspect of cinematography. Unfortunately, most of his movies received their due only after his death, long after, the cinema fraternity actually “matured”. If one has watched any of his movies, one can see evidently, the stark contrast. But of course, every movie has its own standing and comparisons or “reviewing a movie”, is not where I mean to go. Nevertheless, reading the wiki page of Guru Dutt is recommended.

“Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam” is about as the same suggests, about an employee (somehow using “servant” seems devoid of empathy, although correct) named Bhoothnath and his wealthy employers, the Chaudhuri couple. The role of Bhoothnath is played by Guru Dutt himself. Rehman plays the role of “Chote sarkar” and Meena Kumari plays “Choti Bahu”. We have Waheeda Rehman play the role of Bhoothnath’s wife, Jabha.

The backdrop is that of a British-ruled India’s “Calcutta”, the society torn apart by strong dogmas. Wealthy Zamindaars cheat the poor off their land, rendering the latter to be completely at the mercy of the former. The wealthy and the rich competing amongst. Different factions of rebels and freedom-fighters waging their own wars against the British Raj.

The state of women, in every sense and every spectrum of that society, was sad. The best a woman could do was to get married to a wealthy man and save herself from falling into the dungeons of filth. If lady luck smiled on her, her husband would wander “less beseeching love”.

The drama begins with Boothnath’s entry into the scintillating palace of the Chaudhuri’s. He finds shelter here and gets a job at the Mohini Sindoor Karkhana. The company makes vermillion powder, “which when smeared on the forehead by married women, made their wishes come true”. Why would this be worth mentioning? Well that would unfold in a bit. Boothnath meets Jabha (the company owner’s daughter) here and I’m not sure if it was love for him. She surely, fell for him after a few tiffs.

The first 30mins are lavishly spent on beautifully carving the background for the aftermath; the audience is left to wonder if there are any Sahib and Bibi, at all. But once the page turns, the importance of building that mindset is understood. Impeccable style of the director, Abrar Alvi.

Chote Sarkar normally returns home sloshed and is helped to his room by his personal attendant, Bansi. His wife, Choti Bahu who comes from a rather poor family, has been well indoctrinated to believe that her life is useless because of the lack of love/ attention from her husband. She decides to use Mohini Sindoor with the hope that she may be able to “free her husband” from the shackles his illegitimate lover. Thus, she approaches Boothnath, with some help from Bansi.

The first show of Meena Kumari, decked up from head to toe, brings awe not only in Boothnath but also in the audience, rendering both speechless. She looks gorgeous, even in the black and white print of the movie. Thus builds up a strange relationship of respect, admiration and slight ownership for Boothnath. He cares for his mistress more than Jabha, who he “thinks” he loves. Every wish of Choti Bahu, would be taken as his command.

To please and lure her husband to be with her, Choti Bahu decides to have alcohol, which grows into a habit and leaves her own on her death bed. She tells Boothnath to get her a bottle which he refuses at first, but then gives in to the pressure.

Change of job and strangeness of events in Boothnath’s life, make him go away for a while to another city. When he returns, the once, most-talked-of, beautiful palace he had seen, vanishes in thin air to house a grotesque structure. The times had changed. The people once smitten by the wealth of the Chaudhuris’ had turned their backs and gone looking for better pastures.

Chote Sarkar was now bed-ridden and Choti Bahu was still an alcoholic. Her state was pitiful and yet she looked lured by the false hopes. She asks Boothnath to help her find a certain sage who could cure her husband, which Boothnath readily agrees to.

They take a carriage one night, when her brother-in-law sees them both and thinks that they have an illicit association. He orders his henchmen to kill Choti Bahu. On the way to the sage, Choti Bahu tells Boothnath her last wish; to dress her up like Goddess Laxmi when she dies and smear lot of Sindoor on her forehead, before the last rites. Just then, the henchmen stop the carriage, beat up Boothnath and kill Choti Bahu.

Several years later, Boothnath, now married to Jabha, returns to the fortress, only to find the skull and bones of his Choti Bahu.

Most songs in the movie are quite popular even today. But the only one that really struck me was “Piya aiso jiya mein …”. This song amplifies the veil of illusion that Choti Bahu draws over herself to make her believe that she shared a loving relationship with her husband. It’s an unhappy outcry of sadness.

It is indeed a tragic story, certainly not recommended for the faint-mind.

On hindsight, all I remember is a woman’s angst for her husband, for his attention and love, well portrayed by Meena Kumari. She struggles till the end. Boothnath is a person who thinks he loves a girl (Jabha) but cares and literally owns his Choti Bahu. He has a love for her which is not intimate in nature, but the kind which brings about a maturity, immense respect and profound sense of understanding.

He sees Choti Bahu not as an attractive, good-looking, wealthy woman, but more like a woman who in struggling in her own world of DOs and DON’Ts; trying out ways to “win her husband”. Does our society understand such relationships? Is it mature enough to let be a man and a woman, without naming the relationship? Well, we need to see who makes the society; which is we. So can we, individually, think of a bent of mind which sees everyone with respect? Or are “they” all the centre of our gossip and jokes?

The relationship between Choti Bahu and Bhoothnath is certainly beyond the understanding of an average person. Our paradigms are made so well and fool-proof that we falter even when we have to imagine a loop-hole. Also, when some of us see the loop-holes so clearly, we choose not to speak because of the fear of being the odd-one-out. We have a hard time accepting opinions which don’t match with ours, thus alienating “the maverick”.

Boothnath was very much human and thus his expectations burgeoned without even his knowledge. He had a sense of ownership towards his mistress which didn’t do well for him. But on thinking deeper, the ownership is not like the one most relationships boast of, where possessiveness sprouts and relatively suffocates either of the parties. This ownership just wanted the well-being of his mistress, at all times. It was like an expectation which had no grounds but was there because of the innocence of the character who thought that his authority would bring her back to her sense.

When one hears the title of the movie, undoubtedly, the mind conjures a story where the “Bibi” and “Ghulam” have an illicit relation. Once again, the thought of meditation needs more assessing and questioning. Why? Because, when we can’t move away from our pedagogies, how can we even think of moving beyond them and embody a self, mature enough to meditate.

It is strongly recommended that the one watching this movie should make an attempt to think, rationalize and ponder on the issues touched by the movie. “Some issues may not hold true today”, one may say, but I strongly suggest, you think closer and contemplate if the issue exists no more. If the contemplation brings one in conflict with oneself, there surely is some “healing” required.