Note
Balraj Sahni Centenary
Harsh Thakor
The legendary Indian actor Balraj Sahni was born in
Rawalpindi, Punjab on May 1, 1913. It is so appropriate that he was born on the historic occasion of May Day as he himself devoted his life to the liberation of the working class.
What was unique about Balraj Sahni was the style in which he portrayed the oppressed masses of lndia. He was a thorn in the flesh to the ruling class culture. From his youth days he was influenced by Marxism and joined the Communist Party of India. Balraj was one of the founding members of the IPTA and was arrested in 1951 for supporting the Telengana Struggle. Balraj was the founding member of the All India Youth Federation-the youth wing of the Communist Party of India.
In 1947 Balraj gave his first portrayal in 'Dharti Ke Lal'. Dharti Ke Lal was critically acclaimed for its scathing view of notorious Bengal famine of 1943 in which over 1. 5 million people died. It is considered an important political film as it gives a realistic portrayal of the changing social and economic climate during the World War II. The film uses the plight of a single family caught in this famine, and tells the story of human devastation, and the loss of humanity during the struggle to survive. During the Bengal famine of 1943, members of IPTA travelled all over India, performing plays and collecting funds for the survivors of the famine, which has destroyed a whole generation of farmer families in Bengal. Thus Abbas was deeply influenced by the work of IPTA, and hence based his script upon two of IPTA plays, Nabanna (Harvest) and Jabanbandi by Bijon Bhatacharya, and the story Annadata by Krishan Chander. Even the cast of the film was mainly actors from IPTA.
However, it was in 1952 that he gave the best performance of his illustrious career in 'Do Bhiga Zameen' directed by Bimal Roy. This film portrayed the poverty and landlordism prevalent in post-independence more than any film and its theme is arguably more relevant in the modern era of globlisation. Balraj brilliantly enacted the role of Shambu Mahato who becomes a rickshaw puller in Calcutta in order to pay his debts to the money lender and save his land. In the end a factory is put up on his plot. No face in Bolywood could express the sorrow of the peasant as Balraj Sahni acting as Shambu Mahato did when his land is lost. Sahni's face literally wrote the hearts of millions of oppressed peasants of India not only then, but even now. To get into the skin of the character Balraj pulled rickshaws and lived with the rickshaw pullers. Viewers could hardly feel Balraj was even acting as he was as natural as water flowing in a stream. He brilliantly exhibits feelings of hope and frustration as well as insecurity and confusion. lt was one of the finest acting displays representing the opression of a common man in world cinema. Today in villages in India there are shortages of drinking water, suicides of peasants who are unable to pay their debts to commission agents, and forceful seizures of land by SEZ's. Today in Balraj Sahni's very homeland of Punjab there is still an abject monopoly of moneylenders.
The story revolves around a farmer Shambu Mahato (Balraj Sahni), who lives with his wife Parvati Paro' (Nirupa Roy) and son Kanhaiya (Rattan Kumar) in a small village that has been hit badly by a famine. After years of drought, the region finally gets rain, leading to the farmers to rejoice. Shambu owns two bighas (a unit of land measurement where 3 bighas is 1 acre) of land, which is the only means of livelihood for the whole family. The local zamindar (landlord) Thakur Harnam Singh (Murad) partners with some city business men to construct a mill on his large parcel of land, which in return would profit them and bring prosperity to the village. The only problem is that in the middle of Harnam Singh's land lay Shambu's meagre two bighas of land.
Harnam Singh is very confident that he could buy Shambu's land. Shambu has borrowed money from Harnam Singh several times in the past and has not paid back his debt. Harnam Singh calls for Shambu and proposes Shambu to sell his land to him in exchange for his debt. Shambu disagrees to sell his only livelihood and Harnam Singh gets upset. Harnam Singh orders him to pay back his debt by the next day or risk auctioning his land.
Shambu comes back home to discuss the issue with his father, and with the help of his son, they figure out that the debt amounts to 65 rupees. Shambu wants to save his land by all means and sells all his household items including his wife's gold earrings. When Shambu meets Harman Singh's accountant to pay back his debt of 65 rupees, he's shocked to know that he actually owes 235 rupees. The accountant had forged the accounts and now refuses to consider the labor provided by Shambu's father Gangu as portion of debt payoff. The case goes to court and Shambu being an illiterate, has a tough time explaining to the judge how the accountant forged the numbers and how he took accountant's word of mouth and did not demand any receipt. Shambu loses the case, however the judge orders Shambu to pay back 235 rupees to Harnam Singh in three months. If Shambu is not able to pay back his debt, then his land would be auctioned off and the proceeds would go to pay off his debts.
Shambu now struggles to get the money and he is unable to get a loan because he has no collaterals. One of his village friends gives him an idea to go to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and try to get a job to earn enough money to pay off his debt. Shambu likes this idea, but faces resistance from his wife as she's pregnant and does not want to live away from him. Shambu persuades her that he'll be gone for three months only and it would benefit his family and the new born baby. Kanhaiya wants to join his father too, but Shambu refuses and scolds him. On the train to Calcutta, Shambu finds Kanhaiya hiding and hitchhiking with him and after a brief confrontation agrees to take Kanhaiya with him.
Back in the village the land is auctioned because Shambu fails to pay back the debt and Gangu develops a mental disorder. The land is now owned by Harnam Singh and the mill construction has begun. Shatnbu and his family come back to the village only to see their land sold and a factory being constructed over it. He then tries to get a handful of dirt from his land, but is stopped and forced to throw away by a security guard. The film ends as Shambu and his family walks away from their land.
In Kabuliwala , he again meticulously prepared for the role living with the kabuliwalas. Although emotional he again portrayed the character to perfection. Abdur Rehman Khan (Balraj Sahni), a middle-aged dry fruit seller from Afghanistan, comes to Calcutta to hawk his merchandise and befriends a small Bengali girl called Mini (Sonu) who reminds him of his own daughter Amina back in Afghanistan. He puts up at a boarding house along with his countrymen. Since he is short of money he decides to sell his goods on credit for increasing his business. Later, when he goes to collect his money, one of his customers abuses him and in the fight that ensues Rehman warns that he will not tolerate abuse and stabs the man when he does not stop the abuse. In the court Rehman's lawyer tries to obfuscate the facts but in his characteristic and simple fashion Rehman states the truth in a matter of fact way. The judge, pleased with Rehman's honesty, gives him 10 years' rigorous imprisonment instead of the death sentence. On the day of his release, he goes to meet Mini but discovers that she has grown up into a woman and is about to get married. Mini does not recognize Rehman, who realises that his own daughter must have forgotten him too. Mini's father gives Rehman the money for travelling back to Afghanistan out of Mini's wedding budget to which Mini agrees; she also sends a gift for Rehman's daughter. The film ends with Rehman travelling back to his homeland.
In 'Garam Hawa', (1972)his acting championed the cause of secularism, when his acting portrayed the character of Salim Mirza, who refuses to yield to communal forces and migrate to Pakistan.
Where Sahni drifted was that in spite of being morally so drawn to the left he showed great sympathies toward Nehru and Gandhi and stood by the CPI, during the great Debate, failing to demarcate from the revisionism of the then USSR. He also acted in 'Haqeekat' a film about the lndia-China war in 1962 which virtually treated China as the villains or culprits and glorified India's cause. He failed to unite with the leftist forces who opposed the India-China war, taking no concrete stand opposing India's role in the war.
Neverthless his good outweighed his negative points by far. Today revolutionary cinema could learn a lot from Balraj Sahni's techniques. Balraj combined both the Brechtian and the Stanislavakian methods of acting. His acting revealed great depths of sensitivity and emotion but also contained powerful elements of being detached from the actual character. No actor ever in the history of Bolywood could exhibit the oppression of the common man with such skill and natural acting style. Balraj Sahni is simply an icon for Marxist cultural workers. He literally wrote the character which he played. His art contained more realism than any Indian actor enacting the oppressed common man. Today although a flourishing industry Bolywood is selling itself to the imperialist culture and represents the lackeys of the ruling classes. Major stars basically represent the capitalist classes and imperialist culture. It is significant that in this very day a large section of people would still like to idolize his work and see significance. Several critiques rate Balraj Sahni, amongst the 3 finest Indian Bolywood actors of all time. This is a tribute to the ideology of Marxism–Leninism. Communist revolutionary ranks of today appreciate the work of Sahni. The late revolutionary playwright, Gursharan Singh compiled a series of works of Balraj Sahni and launched the Balraj Sahni Prakashan. Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ranks could imbibe many a lesson from Sahni's even if he did not publicly uphold Maoism. It is of significance that even the bourgeois media and writers acclaim 'Do Bhiga Zameen' amongst the 5 best Bolywood films of all time. Progressives should re-incarnate 'Do Bigha Zameen', in the context of the modern era of globalisation, with the onslaught of the SEZ's. This new version would have to place more emphasis on the neo-liberal onslaught.
Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 49, June 16 -22, 2013
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