Bhabhi ki Chudiyan (1961)

1961

Directed by: Sadashiv J. Row Kavi

Music: Sudhir Phadke

Lyrics: Pandit Narendra Sharma

Starring: Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahni, 

Master Aziz, Seema Deo,  

 Durga Khote, Om Prakash, 

Sailesh Kumar

I watched Bhabhi ki Chudiyan a long time ago, when a friend of mine recommended it as 'another film in which Meena Kumari doesn't cry'. Since that recommendation came just after I had watched Miss Mary and Kohinoor, I was more than willing to watch anything with Meena Kumari in it. It wasn't a comedy or a raja-rani romance like the others, but the film didn't disappoint at all. And when I watched it again, recently, I found that I still liked it very much. 

Mohan (Master Aziz) lives with his elder brother, Shyam (Balraj Sahni). They are very fond of each other, but the younger brother exhorts his older brother to get married soon - he's tired of staying alone. And if his elder brother doesn't want to get married, then perhaps he should get him married off! Their parents had died when Mohan was a baby - their mother immediately after his birth and their father a few days later. Shyam, much older, has brought up Mohan by himself. Shyam is being pressured to marry by everyone around him, but he cannot bring himself to think about it. What if the woman he marries is not kind to Mohan? But his superior officer at work has a woman in mind for him - the daughter of Darshan Lal, a retired officer. Before he knows it, his marriage is fixed. (Neither his boss nor the girl's father seem to take his reservations seriously.)

 

Mohan decides he needs to 'see' his prospective sister-in-law before he can 'approve' her. So Shyam sends him off with the address. He promptly proceeds to tell Darshan Lal that Shyam will get married to his daughter only if he, Mohan, approves of the alliance. Darshan Lal is amused. He treats Mohan with great deference, all the while trying to hide his laughter.  (He doesn't quite succeed.) The first sight of Geeta (Meena Kumari), the daughter, is enough for Mohan.

Shyam and Geeta are soon married and their little house is filled with happiness. Geeta loves Mohan just as much as if he were her own, and their home soon acquires the little touches that only a woman can bring. Mohan follows Geeta around like a little puppy, her willing slave as she goes about her chores.  The motherless boy becomes so attached to Geeta that he begins to think of her as his mother. Geeta returns his affection.

 

But when Geeta becomes pregnant and goes home for the delivery, Mohan is bereft. He can no longer bear to stay without her. He insists on going with her, but she manages to convince him to stay back to 'look after his brother'. Unfortunately, she loses the baby. All her maternal affections are now concentrated on her little brother-in-law. One day, Mohan writes an essay in school for which his teacher rewards him - with a rupee. In his eagerness to show his bhabhi the reward, he breaks her glass bangles. Seeing her distress (the breaking of bangles is considered an ill-omen), he promptly replaces them, using that one rupee.

Soon, Mohan has grown up, enough to begin his first job teaching at a university. With his first salary, he buys his bhabhi a pair of gold bangles. Shyam and Geeta are very happy; now if only Mohan would also get married. Mohan has his own ideas about that. 

But, caught red handed by his bhabhi, he is pleased to discover that both his brother and sister-in-law do not have any objections. So the proposal is sent to the Prabha's (Seema) house where her father (Om Prakash) finds it perfectly acceptable. Not so the mother (Durga Khote) who was hoping to get Prabha married off to a man who had no  close relatives so they could insist he stay with them. Here, she's heard that the professor has a sister-in-law, and that he obeys her every word!

There's nothing to worry about, says the father. Prabha is her mother's daughter after all, and just like she had separated him from his brother and family, Prabha will do the same. His sarcasm doesn't go down well with his wife, though his daughter is amused. Prabha is sensible though her mother tries to convince her that separating her husband from his family is the best course of action. 

Matters deteriorate from before the wedding itself. Prabha's mother insists that instead of giving money as dowry (which Shyam and Geeta do not want anyway), they will use that money to make ornaments for Prabha. If not, how are they to know that the money will not be misused? Mohan is furious at this insult to his beloved brother and sister-in-law.

 

He insists that they refuse the proposal, but Geeta and Shyam persuade him to agree - his brother had already given his word, and if Prabha's parents make ornaments for her, how does it matter anyway? After all, they don't want the money. Despite Mohan's reservations (what if she turns out to be like her mother?), the marriage takes place, and Prabha is welcomed home by Geeta. 

The young couple are gloriously happy at first. But the first hint of trouble comes when Prabha, who is not used to doing any work in her own home, finds out that her in-laws do not even have a maidservant. That is smoothed over but Geeta is worried at the continued bickering between the couple. Shyam thinks it will all blow over, but Geeta is not so sure. 

Besides, Prabha's mother's overactive imagination is also at work. Coupled with some advice from a 'well-wisher', the mother decides that she will 'advise' her son-in-law to stay separately - after all, it is a question of her daughter's well-being.  She invites Mohan home, and insists on her husband leaving them alone when he comes. 

Mohan arrives and she tries her best - perhaps he could come to their house for tea everyday after college? And if he wants to renovate his 'share' of the house...? Mohan is not dumb. He cuts her off right at the beginning - no house will be a home if his brother and sister-in-law are not living with him. 

He storms off in a rage at her continued insistence, while she considers herself insulted. (The father, overhearing their conversation, finds much in this son-in-law to recommend him, especially his spine, which he himself lacks.) Back home, Mohan is even more upset when he finds that his bhabhi is still doing all the chores. Geeta warns him against making a mountain out of a molehill - after all, she is not complaining. Prabha, watching their interaction from above, resents their closeness. 

Matters are exacerbated by Mrs Manchanda, the mother's 'well-wisher'. Meeting Prabha and Mohan shopping, she comes back to fill Prabha's mother's ears with how weak her daughter is, and how pitiful she looks. This is all Prabha's mother needs to hear - she will bring her daughter home, she vows, and thereafter, will not allow her to go back at all! Her poor husband, spineless as he is, has no opinion on the matter.

The next day, Prabha's mother and Mrs Manchanda proceed to Prabha's home. While waiting for her in her room, the two ladies mock and disparage everything in the house; Prabha's mother, especially, has only scorn to heap on Geeta's head. Their conversation is overheard by Geeta, who, withdraws quietly, hurt.  Mohan, who has had his mother-in-law's measure by then, is as sarcastic as he was a couple of days earlier. His remarks provoke his mother-in-law to throw down the gauntlet - if her daughter has the courage, she will teach them all a lesson. 

She storms off, leaving Prabha, who has overheard their confrontation, seething with anger at the 'insult' to her mother. Coupled with her jealousy of her husband's close relationship with his sister-in-law, she too insists that they live separately. Mohan's refusal spurs her decision to leave the house.  Geeta and Shyam try to stop her; failing that, they agree to the separation - Geeta insisting that it is better to live separately and amicably rather than together, with strife. 

 

Hurt, Mohan lashes out. If that is what his sister-in-law desires, then so be it. But he wants the house, the crockery, the jewellery, his brother, his sister-in-law... all of Shyam's and Geeta's loving ways to calm the younger couple fail, and Mohan, beyond angry now, takes his wife and drops her at her mother's place without much ado. 

A couple of months later, Prabha gives birth to a baby boy. Her father sets out to give the good news to her in-laws, but is stopped by his wife. If he goes over there, they will forever be seen as having bowed their heads before their in-laws. But the poor man has had enough. His wife succeeded in separating him from his family. Now she is bent on ruining her daughter's life. It is up to him to go apologise to his son-in-law and his family, and see that Prabha and her baby are reunited with them. For the first time in his life, he refuses to bow down to his wife's orders. 

In his enthusiasm to share the news, it takes him a little while to realise that Shyam and Mohan are not as overjoyed as he expected. Geeta had just suffered another miscarriage. The good man, repentant at having burst out with his news just when Shyam was suffering a tragic loss, tries to hide the sweets he brought to give them.  But Shyam congratulates him on the new arrival - after all, joy and sorrow co-exist in this world. 

Geeta, miserable at having lost her baby, is upset at Mohan's continued recalcitrance, but back at Prabha's, her mother continues to fan the flames of Prabha's anger. Nothing that her husband says, and he advises much good sense, makes any difference to the mother or daughter. When Geeta, unable to bear it any longer goes to visit them, they make excuses not to let her see the baby. Unhappily, Geeta returns home. Mohan's stubbornness on one side, and Prabha's adamance on the other pain her; seeing her anguish, Mohan finally gives in and goes to his in-laws' house to bring his wife and son back. 

 

Prabha's mother cannot prevent her leaving. But as they step out, she instigates her further - Geeta is 'unlucky'. She is sure to be envious of Prabha, and her envy will cast an evil eye on Prabha's child. Be careful, she warns, and her words fall on fertile soil. For a while, though, happiness fills the little household. Geeta is thrilled to have Prabha and the baby there, and she takes great pleasure in looking after the little one - much to Prabha's resentment. (Though she is perfectly happy to let Geeta do all the work of looking after the baby.) However, Mohan stops her from giving vent. Until one day, everything boils over. Her mother's words come readily to Prabha's lips, and she utters them, regardless of consequences. 

Bhabi ki Chudiyan, the remake of a Marathi film called Vahininchya Bangdya (Sulochana Latkar played the bhabhi), is an unusually restrained film. Soaked as it is in the flavour of a middle-class family, with an emphasis on the ties that bind one family member to another, there was enough scope for the movie to degenerate into a melodramatic mess. It is to the director's and actors' credit that the emotions are brought out so subtly. 

The film obviously revolves around Meena Kumari, the eponymous bhabhi, and Master Aziz and Sailesh Kumar as Mohan, the young devar. Meena Kumari does a wonderful job as Geeta, a strong, self-respecting woman, who is the lynch pin of her little household. She is a loving, supportive wife, and a loving sister-in-law/mother to her motherless brother-in-law. She is not a self-sacrificing martyr, or a cloying, syrupy sweet 'mother'. The relationship between her and Mohan is lovingly etched out, and her affection towards her devar and her anguish at not being a mother herself are brought out beautifully. Yet, she doesn't spend her time crying through the movie because she is 'barren'. Yes, there are tears, as would be natural, but most of the time, she is busy - living. There is a quiet strength in the way she goes about the trajectory of her life, and yes, happiness as well. 

Master Aziz, similarly, is very natural as the young lad who desperately seeks the mother he has never known. His interactions with both his brother and his sister-in-law are that of a slightly spoilt yet inherently decent child, who demands their love as his right. In return, he gives them a devotion that is endearing (and certainly not diabetic). Their daily interactions are natural, and there is no emphasising just how much they all love each other. It just comes through organically; you know they love each other because it is evident in the little things they say and do. As the older Mohan, Sailesh Kumar does a reasonably decent job. He is hot-tempered, principled, and blunt. 

 

Balraj Sahni plays a supporting (and supportive) role as Shyam. I should think the role of benign elder brother is something he could play in his sleep. Both Om Prakash and Durga Khote are their usual competent selves - their roles similarly are both restrained and nuanced. 

Seema (not yet Seema Deo) is young and pretty and her Prabha, while not being a big role, is yet crucial to the plot. She is quite a good actress, and her change from the reasonably sensible girl at the beginning to someone who is influenced by her mother is believable. So also her change of heart at the end. 

The music, by Sudhir Phadke, who also composed the music for the original film, has some beautiful songs. Jyoti kalash chalke is of course, very famous, but I loved Lau lagate geet gaati and the plaintive Meri laaj raakho giridhari, all Lata solos. Asha Bhosle came in for a duet, Kahan ud chale with Mukesh. 

What I liked about the film is that they kept the drama very, very low-key. Yes, I could have done without a couple of the dialogues - Geeta's father trying to persuade a reluctant Shyam to marry his daughter saying 'She will be your daasi' or Shyam informing Mohan that he is bringing home a 'naukrani' - meh! But at least with the 'naukrani' dialogue, Mohan snaps at his brother - 'Don't call my bhabi a naukrani!' The last couple of reels, similarly, went on far too long (they weren't overdone or melodramatic, by the way, just unnecessary), and I did wish they had changed the ending because an alternate ending surely would not have been implausible.  On the whole, though, this is a film that is worth a watch.