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An enduring saga, an enduring show
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Kalpana Lajmi and Bhupen Hazarika join hands once again in "Kyon", a film on changing family equations in urban India. ZIYA US SALAM caught up with the duo in New Delhi this past week during the International Film Festival of India... .
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Kalpana Lajmi steps beyond the tried and the tested with "Kyon". — Photo: S. Arneja.
REMEMBER "EK Pal", the Shabana Azmi-Naseeruddin Shah starrer released in the early `80s? The film drew houseful shows at Plaza cinema, then among the very best in New Delhi, for a week before petering out. And won the National Award for the Best Creative Sound. Or "Rudaali", a tale of mourners which hit the silver screen in the early `90s and took everyone by surprise? "Dimple can act," was the unanimous response as `Bobby' set out to chart a new course in her career. Or "Daman", that timeless saga of marital violence which married Raveena Tandon's name to the list of National Award winners and an unending controversy. Well, if your memory is like a sieve which retains little, never mind. The lady behind these ventures, laudable in their own right, is turning a new leaf too. More than two decades after making films on women and the varied shades of exploitation in their life - with the probable expression of "Darmiyaan" - Kalpana Lajmi is letting go of her past, taking a new direction. Don't ask why. Just accept that "Kyon", Lajmi's latest offering, is likely to be a path-breaking film which will probably help the lady, who pulls no punches in scoring a point over those who regard her as a feminist film-maker, nothing more, nothing less.
"Kyon", set in pop culture where a daughter is likely to meet a mother already there, is a murder mystery with Rahul Dev, Soni Razdan and a host of new artists. Incidentally, Dev, who plays a cop in the film, had to lose a few kilograms and trim his side-burns to look plausible in his role. Earlier names of Riya Sen and Neha Dubey had been thrown around for important roles in the film before the director settled for newcomers like Sanober Kabir and Niti Agrawal, who incidentally, is likely to maker her debut in Dev Anand's" Love At Times Square", scheduled for release in December this year.
Ask more about the choice of actors and actresses of this `different' lady of Bollywood and she surprises you. She went for Sanjay Suri for "Daman" after watching him in "Pyar Main Kabhi Kabhi". "She could well have gone for celebrated stars opposite Raveena Tandon in the film. But she chose me," recalled Sanjay Suri who was in Delhi recently.
Giving Lajmi company in "Kyon", touted as a new generation film is the seasoned Bhupen Hazarika. Little wonder then "Dil hoon hoon kare... "!
Incidentally, contrary to some reports in a section of the media, "Kyon" is not based in Assam, nor is it taken from any real life incident which took place in the North-eastern State sometme back. Unlike "Ek Pal" and "Daman", this Lajmi film is based in Mumbai and Delhi, though as Lajmi puts it: "the film could have been based in any metropolis, any part of urban India."
In the Capital to attend the just-concluded International Film Festival of India, Lajmi says: "Kyon is about the changing social structure. It is about growing up problems, about the relationship of parents and children. It talks of the responsibilities of parents." The film will be ready shortly and hit theatres early next year.
Bhupen Hazarika... .a new tune for a new generation. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
Adds Hazarika: "This film is close to my heart. It is today's film for today's youth. It has music for the current generation. This film does not have a star, yet it is quite interesting. It is about the parents who raise a finger at their daughter for coming home late at night but forget the fact that the previous night they themselves came home drunk after midnight."
To get just the right lyrics for this "young at heart film", Hazarika got real young Prasoon Joshi to pen together a few words. Yet, the 76-year-old man, sitting in New Delhi's Hotel Asoka exclaims: "I am yet to grow. When I look back I find only struggle. Now, I am taking a little rest. I don't hanker after money. Whatever little I have got should be sufficient to last for my remaining years."
"Kyon" marks another addition to the lasting Lajmi-Hazarika firm. The two had joined hands for the first time in a TV serial "Lohit Kinare" and since then have been inseparable in almost all the films.
There is an interesting incident regarding "Rudaali" and the duo's best known partnership. Discloses Hazarika: "There was a meeting in New Delhi's National School of Drama. There were many seasoned directors and leading film personalities. We were scrutinising some film proposals. Among them was Lajmi's idea of `Rudaali' where she had called me as the music director of the film and I had no idea till then what was the film all about! Anyway, I withrew from voting on the panel as I was suddenly an interested party. I did `Rudaali' for free. Later, I took token money from the recording company. And it was a delight when somebody wrote that `Dil hoon... ' had beaten songs like `Sarkai lo khatiya' and `Chole ke peeche' in the popularity charts."
How come Hazarika only occasionally stepped beyond Lajmi in Bollywood? "Well, I did not get the right offers and initially I did not have money to come and stay for a month in Delhi or Mumbai and ask for work. Also, I am choosy about my work. A slogan cannot be a song; it must touch the heart."
He is clearly unhappy that in the name of attracting the new generation, old classics are being remixed. "Ragas and tunes can never be distorted by anybody. They are the soul of music."
Well, all that is for later. The fate of "Dil Vil Pyar Vyar" where R.D. Burman's songs have been remixed in new voices shall tell us if the masses approve of this `distortion'. For the moment, one will have to wait for "Kyon", Lajmi-Hazarika combine's latest answer to those who believe partnerships cannot last among two creative artistes.
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