A Man and his Ego - My Thoughts on Abhimaan (1973)

The battle of the sexes has been a subject of a number of interesting films. And it becomes an even bigger battle if the protagonists in the battle happen to be married. There is a lot of he-did-this and she-did-that which only further complicates the matter and makes it impossible to actually apportion the errors, if any in neat timelines. Actually, in most cases, the error is a mole and the furore the mountain.  Talk about a mole in the mountain!

However, only a few Hindi Films made on that subject have been able to stir both the hearts and the minds of the populace, without severely the impacting the bottom-line of the movie. A case can be made for Talaq (very few must have actually heard about this Rajendra Kumar starrer), Dastak (a movie par excellence), Kora Kaaghaz (Much about this milestone later on) and the Basu Bhattacharya starrers, Anubhav and Avishkaar.

A majority of the movies on this subject have almost the same incestuous plots (not to do with incest per se but with the commonality of the plot) and the ever same contrived endings. Very rarely does a movie made on this premise go deep into the psyche of the characters and delve on the psychology of these emotions. What is the reason for the discord? Why did he behave in this manner? What was her justification? Did he mean what he say? Did she do what she did for some ulterior motive? Who was responsible? Why did this happen? Questions galore but most remain unanswered and what actually we see is the storm that threatens the existence of the tea-cup, in this case marriage.

If there was ever a movie which did complete justice to the concept without sermonizing or taking sides, it had to be Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s great take on the subject – Abhimaan – the surprise packet of 1973.

In a nut shell Abhimaan is the story of a couple whose family life falls apart due to the predominance of male ego over familial ties. The movie beautifully traces the growth of the monster of jealousy to its final metamorphosis in it’s all destructing avatar as the resultant male ego brooks no boundaries as it shatters all hopes of reconciliation and by the end of the movie one is forced to delve deep into one’s own self and find instances when one has also felt the pangs of male ego and there must have been many who must have observed the self-destructive ability of this abominable monster from close quarters.

Amitabh Bachchan as the male protagonist, Subheer Kumar is unbeatable. This is one of his earliest films and Amitabh plays the role with the perfect intonations and the exact shades of grey, without trying to justify his actions- the bane of many leading stars. I don’t understand why actors feel the need to justify themselves. Acting is supposed to be the art of the subconscious – if you are a good actor, your performance will justify you! And yet even the best try their best to justify themselves. Amitabh stays away and in the process gifts us cinegoers with an excellent performance for all times. The expressions on his face in the scene where a female fan snatches away her autograph book from his hand is just perfect.

This is Amitabh at his vintage best. 1973 was finally the year Amitabh took off with Abhimaan, Namak Haraam and Zanjeer highlighting the actor’s strong hold on different aspects of performance.

Jaya Bhaduri nee Bachchan as Amitabh’s singer-wife, Uma is perfect. I have doubts that any other actress would have been able to perform this role with the deft maturity that it requires.  As a wife, trying her best to salvage her relationship with her husband, she is just extraordinary. Unlike other actresses who would try to perform anguish with dialogues or overdramatic gestures, Jaya displays all her anguish with her silence and a look at her eyes in the course of the movie tells much more than can ever be expressed by dialogues. In fact, the beauty of the movie lies in the fact lies in the fact that it speaks more with silence and eyes than with dialogues. 

No wonder Jaya won her first Filmfare trophy for her subtle and strong, though understated performance in the movie. It was also the first time in the history of FilmFare that the trophy was divided among two female contenders - the other winner being Dimple Kapadia for her debut performance in Bobby.

Abhimaan also boasts of memorable and impeccable performances by the supporting cast. Bindu (in a rare positive outing), David Abraham, A K Hangal and Durga Khote all perform their roles with consummate ease and perfect intonations. When I saw the movie for the first time in my childhood, I was surprised with the effortless with which Bindu managed a positive turn. I had sadly got used to the Hindi movie's penchant for typecasting good actors.

 Asrani captures more than our hearts in the role of a family friend who is a silent though unwilling witness to the spiral down in the couple’s relations. In fact, the popular comedian was so convincing and subtle that he was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor Category for FimFare awards for this performance. Unfortunately he didn't win the award (he lost to a brilliant performance by Amitabh Bachchan in Namak Haraam) but few can challenge his performance.

S D Burman, as usual comes up trumps with songs that gel with the flow of the story and also resonate with the mood of the movie. This album can be considered without any objection to be among the top 10 musical scores ever in the history of Hindi music. Such is the versatility of the composer that he composes tunes to the strength of every singer and at the same time keeps the mood of the movie within his firm grasp. From Pyaasa (1957) to Guide (1966) to Abhimaan (1973), he is indeed the doyen of Hindi Cinema.

Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, and Manhar Udhas, all score with their brilliance. Anuradha Paudwal, the top singer of the late 80s and early 90s makes her debut in the Hindi film industry with the rendition of a shloka sung with great fervour in this movie

The 3 duets in the movie have each a life of their own. Whether it is “Loote Koi Man Ka Dagar” with Manhar Udhas, “Tere Mere Milan Ki Ye Raina” with Kishore Kumar or “Teri Bindiya Re” with Mohammed Rafi are all exceptional. 

In fact, “Teri Bindiya Re” is among my all-time favourite duets. Every Rafi-Lata duet down the years is a special treat but this one is just in a class of its own. 

Similarly, “Tere Mere Milan Ki Ye Raina” has a life of its own and I consider this the best ever Kishore-Lata duet only next to the ones in Aandhi and Tere Mere Sapne. 

Hrishikesh Mukherjee manages to hold our attention throughout the movie without indulging into high theatrics and it’s to the credit to the talent of this young director that such an intense movie does not look heavy duty. Maybe it is the dialogues by the great Rajinder Bedi that make the difference. 

The confrontations between Amitabh and Jaya and the final reconciliation (or should I say redemption) is perfectly handled. So is the reaction of every friend and relative, keeping in view their seniority and their closeness well described. So Asrani, a friend reacts as friends do, while Durga reacts effeciently as an elder relative would. It is to the director's credit that there is no artificality in the movie or on the part of the characters. 

His biggest plus point lies in the fact that the director presents every character as it is. There is no sermonizing or sloganeering involved. Nor is there any heavy-duty victimization or ruthless villainy. There are no antagonists but man and his deep-seated ego! Kudos to the director for ensuring that the movie doesn't take sides but at the same time doesn't bow down from making a telling point either.

Do watch this movie if you are newly married, long since happily married or on the verge of some major relationship break. Marriage is not a joke, at least not one where personal egos should interfere. A Marriage is made of more than one people; so it is imperative that personal ego should always take a backseat to collective responsibility and trust among the stakeholders. 

Think about it!