'SATYAKAM' - Dharmendra's Best Performance?

I’ve wanted to watch ‘Satyakam’ for ages… about 2 years now actually, ever since I first read a review that described Dharmendra’s performance in it as his career best. It wasn’t easy, but I finally got my hands on it. My next post was supposed to be about something light-hearted and frivolous…‘Satyakam’ is anything but. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not exactly a depressing, dark film – but it definitely made me pause and reflect, which I think was what Hrishikesh Mukherjee and his team intended.

Speaking of the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee, I am a huge fan of his work – he’s my favourite Hindi film director and I’ve loved all the films he directed (that I’ve seen so far). But ‘Satyakam’ was totally different from the others I’ve seen, which is interesting as it’s also the earliest one (1969) that I’ve seen. It’s not fun and light-hearted (like ‘Chupke Chupke’ or ‘Gol Maal’), and it doesn’t quite have the sweetness of a ‘Guddi’ or ‘Bawarchi’ or the heart-tugging (but nicely done) melodrama of a ‘Mili’ or ‘Abhimaan’. ‘Satyakam’ is measured and restrained. It unwinds slowly (perhaps a little too slowly at the beginning, actually) and its tone is reflective. I love the fact that it raises more questions that it answers, leaving its audience to ponder on the issues for itself.

Where is the balance (if there is one) between being ‘yourself’ and adapting to the harsh realities of your environment? How much of your true self is dictated by your genes and the circumstances of your birth, and how much is dictated by life experience and the pressures of everyday living? Are values important enough to live or die for? Does dogmatism always either devour itself or collapse into hypocrisy? Can one man really take on the system? Must there be a sacrifice of values for the sake of ‘greater good’ (however defined)? Where is the balance between personal honour and emotional truth? Is there even such a thing as truth, or is it really all about shades of grey and personal judgment?

Speaking of judgment, is it really possible to ‘temper justice with mercy’? What dictates the true value of a life? Where is the line between the protection and preservation of self and family interests on the one hand and the service of higher interests on the other? These are just some of the questions that ‘Satyakam’ raises. It doesn’t answer them all, but in raising them, it tells a compelling story of one man’s devotion to truth, the people he meets along his path, and how ‘successful’ he is at being the man he aspires to be. There is also an interesting subtext that I feel was a bit under-developed (or maybe I was just rather inadequate at unpacking it) – the relationship between Satyakam’s story and the story of a young and newly independent India, finding its feet, making its choices, navigating the constant socio-moral seesaw between concession and right, and arriving at its own destiny.

Satyapriya (played by Dharmendra) comes from a long line of honest, upright, truth-tellers. He has been raised in the long-held family traditions of honour, truth and respectability by his beloved and noble grandfather (played by the brilliant Ashok Kumar). While at college, he meets and becomes firm friends with Naren (played by Sanjeev Kumar in one of his first film roles).

After college, the friends separate and Satyapriya (‘Sat’) takes his first job as a project engineer. He quickly comes face-to-face with corrupt, self-serving, dishonest men. From Day 1, he firmly and boldly takes a stand against every practice that goes against his values, and of course, there are consequences. While dealing with this, he also meets the beautiful but sad Ranjana, a young woman cast out of honourable society due to the circumstances of her birth and destined (it seems) to become the plaything of wealthy men. Even her own guardian has no quibble with subjecting her to this future – as far as he’s concerned, she can hope for nothing better with her history, and life in ‘service’ to a rich, lecherous will at least fetch a handsome income.

When Satya becomes familiar with her circumstances, he wants to help but is torn between the demands of heritage and reputation, and the need to protect a helpless woman who cares for him (and who he comes to care for). In many ways, this proves to be a watershed moment in his life. What does Sat choose to do? How does his decision affect his relationships and his future? How does he come to terms with the fact that he will always walk alone? How does his fierce, black-or-white brand of personal integrity hold up against the challenges of his future? Does he find peace and personal fulfillment in the life he has chosen? Well, you'll have to watch this film and find out for yourself.

Although I said earlier that ‘Satyakam’ isn’t like any of the other Mukherjee films I’ve seen, it does have some of his hallmarks. As always, he is masterful at setting up moments and scenes that are so poignant and real that they stay with you long after the film is over. The film has the grace of his other films (but is less formulaic and more multi-dimensional than the others I’ve seen). I always love how Hrishikesh Mukherjee could capture something special and intimate in the most seemingly mundane, simple things. Another thing I love about ‘Satyakam’ is the fact that, with its subject matter, it could very easily have degenerated into an over-simplified preach-fest, with Satya hitting us over the head with melodramatic railings on the value of honour; but instead it’s restrained, dignified, and rich with subtext. I love that.

The cast of ‘Satyakam’ features some of Mukherjee’s ‘favourites’: David, Asrani, Ashok Kumar. Then of course, there’s the core cast: Dharam, Sharmila and Sanjeev. The choice of Dharmendra for this role, to my mind, must have gone across the grain – the role of Satya is no simplistic, hackneyed ‘handsome hero’ part – it requires real acting to capture the complex situation and emotions of this character – but Dharam does a bang-up job of it. He really is ‘Sat’ – he reflects the inner resolve and grapplings of his character beautifully and with great restraint, while also balancing this out with Sat’s charm, humanity, simplicity and honesty. It’s a lovely performance.

The rest of the cast is excellent as well – Ashok Kumar is fantastic as usual in his small (but pivotal) role, especially in the film’s final scenes, a young Sanjeev Kumar is simply brilliant as the sweet Naren – he perfectly embodies the ‘everyman’ that his character is – I loved how wonderfully he brought to life the love, and most importantly, the respect, that has for Sat.

Sharmila Tagore is also excellent as Ranjana – although I felt that her character wasn’t given sufficient dimension until much later in the film, she uses her acting chops effectively to keep the character from becoming a boring caricature, and when she does gets some ‘meat’ later in the film, she goes for it and really makes her character memorable.

Memorable... that’s the word I would use to describe ‘Satyakam’. When I had finished watching it, I felt like I had been put through the wringer. I felt like I had felt what each of the main characters had felt… I was saddened, but also uplifted. And most of all, watching this film was more than just a pleasant way to spend two evenings. That doesn’t happen very often.

And finally, you may be wondering, do I agree with the pundits who consider this to be my dear Dharam’s best performance? Well, it’s certainly the best I’ve seen so far. It doesn’t have any of the stylish, ultra-cool, Dharam-trademarks that I’ve liked so much in other films of his I’ve seen, but what it does have is deeper and more powerful, and makes me respect him more than I ever have (you gotta excuse a fangirl her schmaltz!)

Up next… a Director’s Round-up (been ages since I did one) on the undisputed king of ‘traditional family values’: Sooraj Barjatya.

'SEETA AUR GEETA' - The Hema Malini Show

So… I finally got round to ‘Seeta aur Geeta’, yet another Dharmendra movie - yup, I’m on a roll! ;-). It stars the fabulous Ms. Hema Malini in a challenging ‘double role’ as chalk-and-cheese twins named ‘Seeta’ and ‘Geeta’; twins who were separated at birth. Dharmendra is one of her leading men, and Sanjeev Kumar is the other. ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ is your typical 70s masala flick – there’s something in there for everyone - sadness, laughter, drama... and it’s just a whole lot of fun.

I’ve been looking forward to this particular movie for a long time… and maybe that’s partly why I didn’t love it as much I probably could’ve. I really liked it though, it had some really fun moments, and Hema is so fab in it, so I know I’ll definitely be returning to it time and again. For now though, I thought it might be fun to do a list of pros and cons about my experience with ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ (I love lists of pros and cons, thanks to one of my fave actors, Dustin Hoffman (in ‘Kramer v. Kramer’)). I can’t decide whether to do the pros first or the cons first, so I’ll interchange…

Pro: Hema and Dharam are always a cute couple, and this movie is no exception. Was great to see them onscreen together again.

Con: I so was not feeling Sanjeev Kumar’s performance… it seemed like he was trying too hard, and he came across as a bit of a fancy-pants-Ronald mummy’s boy (it didn’t help that he kept going ‘Mummy Daddy’ either). He really does not look cute on skates – and I was not feeling that hair. Fine, I know he was supposed to be a bit stiff and geeky, but he could have done it better, I think. I usually like geeky, but I didn’t like his geeky. Plus (and most importantly), that slap… what a horrible thing to do. I hate that clichéd ‘I’ll bring this hysterical woman to her senses by slapping her’ rubbish. I still think Sanjeev was a pretty cool actor, but this was definitely not one of his stronger showings.

Pro: Now my Dharam, he was looking good… a little rough around the edges, but good. Loved his little gold earring. And his character was fun as well – I enjoyed his scenes (would’ve liked to see a bit more of him, but hey, I’ll take what I can get).

Con: This was probably my biggest problem – my dvd (by the mighty Eros) is absolutely abysmal in terms of picture quality. Everything is just RED and YELLOW and DIRTY and BLURRY and so so eeuw… I’m definitely getting the Shemaroo version when I go to India. This one stinks big time. (It’s the main reason for the lack of screencaps in this post) I'm beginning to think I may have unknowingly bought a fake DVD 'cos I have quite a few Eros DVDs, and none are this bad.

Pro: Hema is just the bomb in this movie. She is so super-cool, and adorable and fun, and you just fall in love with her (both versions of her). Simply too fab for words.

Con: The subtitles were not good at all. They were really minimal, and they were out of sync with what the characters were saying, and they were just kind of weird.

Pro: There’s always a silver lining…some of the subtitles were hilarious! (They’re the main reason why I have screencaps in this post at all.) Here are my top 5 - I love them. They're a little hard to read, so I'll spell 'em out.

1. No friends. I have none. I was born on the lap of footpath.

2. Why should I tell lie for such a petty thing? Yes she put leg break.

3. Don't worry. Raka will get Geeta freed, even if she is in jail or in den.

4. So, it is your duty to feel shy before my daddy and mummy. Understand?

5. I am your another form. I am your twin sister, Geeta.

Con: This film should’ve been ‘Rama aur Shyama’ (excuse me, I just have to be idiotic and say they should’ve put the ‘ram’ in the ‘ramashyama ding dong’). Or they should've called it ‘Ramita aur Shyamita’… or something… because it’s EXACTLY the same film as Dilip Kumar’s ‘Ram aur Shyam’; it just has a female star instead of a male one, and a female villain instead of a male one. I mean, it’s pretty much exactly the same movie… down to like, everything (all they really added in S&G was the existence of ‘Dadi Ma’). I have to admit that this detracted from my enjoyment of the film – I always knew exactly what was going to come next. Maybe it would’ve helped if I’d known going in that I was going to be watching a ‘Ram aur Shyam’ remake. The fact that I saw ‘Ram aur Shyam’ first (and on a rather good DVD, I might add) made comparisons on my part inevitable… and I honestly have to say that, on the whole, R&S wins it for me – for reasons I can’t go into right now, ’cos I’d end up saying too much about both movies (I still really like S&G though).

Pro: I very much liked the cute duets with all the la la la-ing (I have a soft spot for la la las), and I liked all the other songs too. So the music (by RD Burman) gets a big thumbs-up.

Con: The whole bit with Dharam’s character being an alcoholic and Hema trying to dissuade him from drinking… hmmm… I didn’t like it… let’s just say it hit a little too close to home for me. I just couldn’t help but wonder if that scene has been replicated in real life… but I’m veering into gossip territory… and I really shouldn’t.

Pro: There was some great comedy in this flick. My three favourite scenes for laughs – when Chachu drags Seeta down the stairs dressed in that crazy outfit with crazy make-up – I love the way Hema stumbles down in horror; when Dharam goes ‘wow, great dive’ (can’t say more than that, or I’ll spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie – I just thought that bit was hilarious); and when Chachu and Chacha walk into the police station and all the policemen are just sitting around looking shell-shocked. There were plenty of other funny moments (most of the ones with Sanjeev and Hema, as well as the ones at the mansion, I found pretty funny), but those three are my faves.

Con: The pointless thing by the pool with Sanjeev and the bikini-clad chick… like, so very yawwnn…

Pro: I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s the best thing about this movie – so here it is again – Hema ROCKS!! I dare anyone not to love her after watching this film!

So, I think the pros just about outnumbered the cons… I’m glad ’cos I really liked this movie and I’m looking forward to getting a better DVD so I can enjoy it properly!