(Rakhee Gulzar and M K Raina in Avtar Kaul's movie "27 Down )
AVTAR KAUl'S 27 DOWN.
The language of silence in "27 Down.
I do not know why am i coming to the movie "27 Down "again and again. I wish the talented director had lived to add his part of creative output to the parallel cinema that emerged during the seventies and early eighties of the last century.
I am informed that Avtar Kaul(1939-1974 ) was not only the director of this movie, he had also arranged finances from NFDC. He wrote the script and dialogues and personally selected the talented cast comprising of M. K. Raina ( 1970 batch NSD graduate and a man from theatre), Rakhee Gulzar, Sadhu Mehar ( He shifted to Oriya cinema), Om Shivpuri, Rekha Sabnis and Sudhir Dalvi. He arranged the music from Bhuban Hari ( Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Bhubaneshwar Misra ). I saw this black and white movie again recently from the rescued version put on DVDs by N.F.D.C. The film is based on Ramesh Bakshi’s Hindi novel, Athara Sooraj Ke Paudhe.
The film came out at a time when Amitabh Bachan had begun his climb up the star ladder. Shyam Benegal had set free his 'Ankur ' upon us. M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa had also arrived.
I liked the storyline, screenplay and the dialogue. I am informed that Avtar Kaul made it a point to shoot inside Bombay local trains and crowded railway stations to give the movie a realistic feel. The frames shot at Bombay’s VT station and inside the crowded local train give a sense of kinetics to the shots. Such shots give you a feeling of commotion within and outside. No character in this movie makes the usual filmi or impressive gestures.
You confront silence also. I believe this silence is a corollary to settlement in a relationship. In relation, if attitudes are identified and reflexes established to deal with them, not much needs to be actually talked about. Silence then engulfs togetherness. This phenomenon one observes in this movie. I confess being guilty of not having seen this grand movie seriously on a previous occasion.
“ Phir koyee pul hai Kya ? Shayad Pul hi hai ”
“ Has another bridge come? looks like a bridge only “
( A dialogue from the movie )
A routine traveller seeks to confirm his assessment by the thud and sound of the train that he is used to. This traveller has been crossing bridges daily without reaching anywhere.
“Log ek din ya ek raat ke baad kahin pahunchtay hain , par mein to ek khayal ke baad doosray khayal pe pahunch jaata huun ” from the movie .
“People reach some destination after a day’s or night’s journey. But I continue to leave one dream to enter another .”
Fathers generally choose their own profession for their children ignoring the preferences and likes of the child. In a sense, it is forced upon the child. Here in this movie, the hero Sanjay faces this from his Father.
Anna ( Sanjay’s father ) is a train driver and works for the Railways. One day his train meets with an accident and his right leg gets paralyzed. When Sanjay grows up, Anna wants his son to join the Railways as Ticket Checker. Sanjay on the other hand wants to carry forward his artistic career but his father, decisively wants him to join Railways. His father believes that such a job shall give security and a handsome salary. And a good salary with a secured job would mean an ideal life for his son. Put under passionate pressure from his father, Sanjay takes up the railway job. Annoyed and discontented with a monotonous life, he feels he is heading nowhere until he meets Shalini.
“ Log hain ki ek jagah se doosri jagah tak jaatein hain . Mein hoon ki kahin se chal kar kahin bhi chalaa jaa raha huun ”
“ Din raat bhi agar meri duty laga dein to mujhey koyi eiteraaz nahin ”
This character known as Sanjay ( M. K. Raina ) measures life in train sounds and distances. The demands of conformity affect his relationship with a young woman Shalini ( Rakhee ). When Sanjay faces his father Ana ( Om Shivpuri) who tells him what the future holds for him, two words slip from his tongue
“Par Ana ( Then Ana ) "
Born in 1940 in Kashmir, Avtar Kaul graduated in science in the early 60s and decided to pursue a filmmaking course in the US. He studied filmmaking in New York, where he was exposed to every aspect of filmmaking.
The unexpected zoom-ins, zoom outs and freeze frames give a moving visual sense to this film. Avtar Kaul learnt this technique during his apprenticeship with Ivory Merchant production BOMBAY TALKIE ( Sashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Aparna Sen and Utpal Dutt ). Avtar also worked as an Assistant to James Ivory . Had he lived, he would have certainly made films that would have been middle of commercial and art cinema. The film won National Awards for Best Film and Cinematography in 1974...
(Avtar Kaul behind the camera )
Avtar died before knowing that his film had won awards and rave reviews. He jumped into the monsoon sea at a beach in Bombay to save a drowning friend and lost his life.
Prof Jaya Parimu told me this:-
"Avtar was pushed by a wave against the stone wall and he had an instantaneous death. January, February and March 1974 we got to be with him often at Sam's restaurant Jehangir Art Gallery. Kurta, pyjamas and a cotton cloth bag hanging over his shoulder. He was financially broke, waiting for his movie's formal release or premiere. He and we Samavor goers attended the première, and Avtar was thrilled by the overwhelming response. Excited and happiest he was with astounding reviews about his movie, but destiny had something else stored in for him ."
Avtar had an American wife. She was in the US at the time of the tragic death of her husband. We don't know anything about her. Avatar's brother, Predhuman Kaul had assisted him in producing 27 Down. Predhuman lives in Delhi.
I am adding some lines from the poem HISTORY by noted Bulgarian Poet Nikola Vaptsarov to this write up. ...
I am adding some lines from the poem HISTORY by noted Bulgarian Poet Nikola Vaptsarov to this write up. ...
' History, will you mention us
In your faded scroll?
We worked in factories, offices –
Our names were not well known.
We worked in fields.
For the hardship and affliction
We do not seek rewards,
Nor do we want our pictures
In the calendar of years.
Just tell our story simply
To those we shall not see,
Tell those who will replace us –
We fought courageously."
( Avtar Mota)
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
