Ek Saal

Directed by: Devendra Goel

Starring: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, Kuldip Kaur, Johnny Walker

Released: 1957

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

There is nothing more poignant then watching a movie about a girl who is slowly dying, knowing that the actress herself will not live long and is actually slowly dying. This depressing thought was the only thing I really took from „Ek Saal“, a drama with some romance and hurting thrown into it. I suspect that my copy of the film had some scenes cut out and I thus did not get to see the entire movie as it was released. There was nothing too obviously missing really, but at times I wondered. After all, it wouldn´t have been the first time something like this happened to me with an old movie.

Usha, a girl of a simple name and manner, as well as extraordinary face and gazillion of gorgeous expressions (yes, Madhubala), is celebrating her birthday and everyone wishes her „A thousand years to live“. Unknown to her though, Usha has a brain tumour, something her rich rich rich father just found out, and his heart is breaking. As it appears his daughter doesn´t have a thousand years to live – not even several more. Just one. And the devastated man decided that the whole year that remains should be filled with happiness and not a single worry for his laadli beti. And so when Usha falls in love with their new estate manager Suresh, who doesn´t return her gentle feelings, father bribes him: for every month he spends pretending to love his ill-fated daughter, he will give him a considerable amount of money. Suresh accepts with head lowered in shame – and joy in his heart!

Because Suresh is in fact a conman, who is only trying to rob the rich family of as much as possible. And such an easy income as this he couldn´t have even imagined. And so he romances the girl and keeps counting his money, and planning a future of sorts with Rajni, his partner in crime. Since it is in his best financial interest to keep Usha alive as long as possible, Suresh searches for a doctor, who would be able to help her. But as the months are passing by, with unmerciful clocks tickling, he is becoming more and more aware that being greedy may not be exactly a virtue. And Usha´s innocence and love also start bringing their fruit. Suresh falls in love – for real. And unfortunately the possessive Rajni will have none of his lovey-dovey nonsense.

Why does Usha fall in love with Suresh? That was what I wondered in the first place. And I suspect that is where something was missing from my copy – because I don´t like an idea she simply falls for him just like that, in a matter of a few days, considering he didn´t show any interest in her whatsoever, plus was so bothersome to her at the beginning. Whatever the case, her love also chose to be quite blind. During the film there are several situations during which Suresh nearly shows his true face (like not believing in God and hiding suspicious letters before Usha), yet she never question him on anything, doens´t even stop to think about it. Then again perhaps Usha does have such a naive, almost childish mentality, considering her father decides she shouldn´t even know about her own state of health. Madhubala is as gorgeous as ever in the film, making Usha almost an ethereal creature, though not exactly someone you could relate to. She makes a nice couple with Ashok Kumar, who in his turn delivers a good performance too. Suresh and his change of mind (and heart) do not happen overnight and the inner struggle shown as a dialogue with his own mirror image/photo, who gain live for a few moments, is probably the most interesting aspect of the story.

Kuldip Kaur as Rajni is one sassy character with an attitude. She is no walk over, and she doesn´t just sit about making empty threats. She goes out and actually does what she wants without any delays. She does make you hate her, at the same time I realised I admired her to an extent. Same cannot be said for Johnny Walker with his completely useless comedy track, that gets way too much space for my liking and I recommend to fast forward through it, because it really IS useless.

Ek Saal did not win me over. It failed to make me feel emotional. As I have already said at the beginning, only the knowledge that Madhubala, playing a girl dying of brain tumour, was slowly, slowly dying of her weak heart, stayed with me once the closing credits kept rolling.

Pakeezah

Directed by: Kamal Amrohi

Starring: Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Nadira

Released: 1972

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

I love old Bollywood classics and I have a soft spot for all courtesans and tawaifs and their stories full of woe, yet Pakeezah failed to make any impact on me whatsoever. In fact I found it overall such a weak film I´m convinced it´s cult status and classic label are closely bound with the fact it was Meena Kumari´s last movie. A film, originally opening to a lukewarm response, became a hit overnight when Meena Kumari pulled off the greatest promotional stunt ever – she died. Succumbing to a long illness that slowly took her away, she gained a heart-breaking, tragic image, which lasts till this day.

We first get to see Meena Kumari as Nargis, a tawaif with golden hair and light eyes, who is dying out of shame over her profession. Hoping for a new life she runs away with her lover and they get married, but get a shock when his family refuses to acknowledge their union. Nargis thus without a word flees from her husband and settles in a cemetery of all places, where she intends to live without letting anyone know about her whereabouts. She gives birth to a child and shortly after that promptly dies. As we will see, her daughter, dark eyed and dark haired but again with Meena´s face, inherits not only her dancing skills but also her confusing way of thinking with no sense of logic, reality or self-respect. Why Nargis never tries to contact her husband – only sending him a letter knowing she will be dead by the time he will get it – or anyone else, even though she apparently has a sister who loves her dearly? It is just one of the loopholes that you encounter in the film. The sister however finds the child and raises her to also become a tawaif.

"We don´t want a whore in our house."

"Nahiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"

"WTH just happened?"

Eighteen years later the letter from Nargis finally reaches her husband (so stop complaining about your local post service), who decides he wants his daughter back, but before he can take her away from the brother her aunt secretly smuggles the girl out of town. And once the girl falls asleep in her train compartment while traveling, one of the weirdest and least believable love stories I´ve ever seen starts. And drags till the very end. What else do you expect though, considering it is about a relationship of a well-situated man and tawai´s feet. For the rest of the movie you only watch Meena lying down all over the place (indication of her poor health, but very uneffective for the character) and mope, and her moping doesn´t cease at any point, not even when she meets the guy with feet fetish whom she fell in love with through a short written note (mentioning her feet of course), not even when he takes her away with him and tries to marry her, and frankly she doesn´t even look happy at the very end, which is meant to be happy. 

"I´m singing a song...."

"About this creeper on the train..."

"Who gives me the inspiration for some serious moping."

The character is so frustratingly confused it makes it difficult for the viewer to feel pity for her. There is only one scene that I would label as a highlight – when Meena returns to her kotha (after running away with screams from the man he wants to marry her) she holds a short speech about tawaifs being in fact just dead and breathing bodies. We can blame her illness for what seemed a rather half-hearted performance in the rest of the film to me, but at this moment she is brilliant. Even though I cannot agree with the content of her outburst. The only tawaif who seemed a dead body was her, and just moments ago she could have easily get out of there forever. I had a feeling she doesn´t even want to try and be happy. How am I suppose to like a character who has no sympathy whatsoever for herself? She is painfully, annoyingly weak. Her refusal to dance for the guests at one point is not a protest of any kind, she just feels mopy so she doesn´t feel like doing it. There is absolutely no sign of struggle in her, she is just completely resigned and at times even masochistic. Her dancing on the broken glass at the end is no way meant to show her inner strength or desperation. Instead it feels she just wants to inflict more and more suffering upon herself. 

"But it feels so good to feel bad!"

There is no thrill (in spite of a wild elephant attack) and hardly any emotions that would manage to reach out to the viewer. Meena had next to no dialogues and was really just looking sad and more sad throughout, the role of a dancing miracle was also not fit for her as she has to be one of the most awkward dancers ever on screen – and same goes for Padma Khanna, who was her double for the long shots. The male characters are all unsympathetic loosers, but women hardly fare any better. 

"Tss. I´m FABULOUS!"

The film only deserves a shot as the last film of a famous actress, and if anything, it is a sadness over the knowledge the woman you are watching was singing her swan song. And another good reason is the music, very beautiful music. The visual part of the film too deserves some plus points. The pink palace, Meena´s long hair in a fountain, play of colours, that all was beautiful to watch. In the end though Pakeezah was a big disappointment after all my desperate searching for a good copy with subtitles. I did not get an engaging story, I did not get an amazing performance, and I did not get another favourite tawaif. 

But this shot is a classic.....