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Bandini
Bimal Roy got into this act in 1963. He had produced and directed this haunting musical. S.D. Burman took the industry by storm with tunes that rent the air even today.
The story has quite a few dimensions (Story by Jarasandha, dialogues by Pal Mahendra, Screenplay by Nabendu Ghosh).
The backdrop is the pre-independence India. The central character is shown physically as an imprisoned inmate of a prison but her actual imprisonment is about her lover getting married to another woman while she is 'caught' in a troubled situation. She actually kills a hysterical woman in a hospital and lands in the prison. She happens to be her lover's wife. A young doctor ( Dharmendra) proposes to her in the prison but is unable to consider. She is deserted by the community owing to her situation and her father too reaches the hospital in search of her daughter and dies exactly there. This leaves her a real prisoner of her times. Vikas (Ashok Kumar) gets married to another woman as per the dictates of the leader (he is a freedom fighter) since Vikas is required to glean certain secrets from the woman's father who is a Police officer.
'Bandini' is therefore a victim prisoner from all sides. Patriotism, romance, marriage, society, kinship etc. put her behind the bars of her times. Nutan handles this crafty character with utmost care. She takes the character's niceties with ease and portrays exactly what the poetry in the plot had proposed.
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The flashback is narrated rather late. Just as Nutan is about to board the train to reach her new lover-the young doctor, Ashok Kumar is ailing and about to board the steamer. The historic song-Oye Majhi is shown here and the entire story ends with this song where Nutan changes her decision and joins Ashok Kumar. The movie ends here. Perhaps since this song had been marked for the complete climax release of the prisoner, the flashback gets going only just before she is released from the prison. Essentially, the song says it all-'mein bandini piyaaki, mein sangini hun saajan ki' and the way S.D. Burman stresses the word 'bandini hun piyaaki' is a real expression! This actually means that there is a clear inner meaning to the word ' Bandini' - a prisoner of my beloved husband! This stated through the song in the climax is more than pleasing!
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The song leaves you singing the tune days after you have viewed it revealing the consummation of creative expression. The music rendition mixes with the subject-a boat man splashing as the waves strike. 'Man ki kitab se tum mera naam hi mitaa denaa...' goes like the ups and downs of the waves and the mighty yell of a boatman actually throws up to the wind and the sky!
Another song-mora gora rang laile...take my fairness and give me your dark colour so that I shall hide inside the dark night! As the song progresses, there is the sudden emergence of the Moon from within the clouds and there is a lull. A woman's exquisite feelings are brought out dramatically. Nutan excels.
Ashok Kumar does a decent job but owing to a single dialogue from his assistant revealing his predicament, perhaps the scope and the situation for exhibiting his talent are overtaken. This narration could have been in the visual format since the movie is by no means lengthy and after all, this forms the paradox which is missed out for some reason.
This movie has been rewarded on several counts but the real reward is something else. Great artistes have left their monumental works for posterity. They hardly go anywhere. They had persevered to get that magical blend between creativity, the lines, the music and the vision on the Silver Screen. They believe in waiting for that exact blend...even after they leave this mortal world-'mar ke bhi rehta intajaar...' ( The waiting shall be there even after death!)
