Muslim Socials, an extinct genre...

With the Supreme Court's decision on triple talaq, the focus has come back on the condition of Muslim women in the country. While the Muslim community has to gear up for the changes, their clerics also will have to ponder on the applicability of the personal laws with regard to the times we live in.

Which brings me to the topic of the day i.e. Muslim Socials in Hindi films. This genre of films is now extinct whereas at one time it used to be a great material,  having strong story line , top-notch star cast and melodious music in form of ghazals, mujras and qawwalis.

 

The advent of the Muslim Socials in Hindi Film Industry can be traced to the film Najma ( 1943), if the 1939 Sohrab Modi film Pukar is considered a historical film. Najma told the story of contemporary Muslim household and families.  The film was written by Agha Jaani Kashmiri and directed by Mehboob Khan. With Ashok Kumar as a hero and Veena playing the title role, the film was the first glimpse into the upper-class Muslim families, their lifestyle and the marriages being planned and broken. The film emphasised the importance of education and etiquette and became a blueprint for many films to follow.

Mehboob Khan repeated the Muslim Social theme in 1947 with the film Elan, with Surendra and Munawwar Sultana playing the star-crossed lovers, both Muslim characters. There was a love triangle also with Mohammad Afzal bringing up the third angle. The country got independent in the same year and the condition of Muslim families, poor and rich was shown in the film. In a way, the film broke ground, assimilating various stratas of Muslim society.

The next big Muslim Social was Chandni Chowk ( 1954), directed by B.R.Chopra, in which the Muslim families  of differing status were shown with their  members falling in love. Shekhar and Meena Kumari were in the lead, with Jeevan playing the scheming villain. B.R.Chopra's second venture after Afsana( 1951), this film's success prompted Chopra to launch his own production house BR Films.

There have been  films which have Muslim characters, but they are historical or autobiographical in nature ( like the iconic Mirza Ghalib or Umrao Jaan and Laila Majnu in later years) and such films are being kept out of the purview of this blog. The idea is to document Muslim Socials which portray contemporary Muslim lifestyle, rather than royalty or celebrities.

The Nawabs of 60s were a declining breed, having seen better times in the first half of the century and still clinging to the orthodox value systems, in a rapidly changing world. The films of 60s and 70s showcased the Nawabs in all their facets.

The first of such films was  Chaudahvin Ka Chand ( 1960), which was directed by M.Sadiq and had Waheeda Rehman teaming up with Dutt. Rehman played the proverbial sacrificial character of the love triangle.

 After the debacle of his semi-autobiographical Kaagaz Ke Phool, Guru Dutt needed an out and out commercial film to run his production company and this became his 'comeback' film.
No  better subject than a Muslim Social !

 The film showed the lifestyle of the traditional "khandani" Muslims, weaving a love story around it.
. The place chosen was   Lucknow and the nazaaqat-nafaasat and tehzeeb of the city was brilliantly captured in the film, making it a prototype for future films.The film was a great success and triggered many films, based on  Muslim families

The changing face of the Muslim aristocracy was exhibited in Chhote Nawab ( 1961). The heir of a Nawab is caught in the ever-changing   world,  forsakes the values of his family, getting swayed by the artificial world. The elements of this system got increasingly visible with each such film in the decade. Mehmood and Ameeta starred in the film.

Alongwith the ghazals, qawwalis  and mujras, these films had great dialogues, mostly in chaste Urdu, making them very popular in the Hindi-Urdu belt. The terms like Masha Allah, Subhan Alah, Salaam-waalekum, Aadaab Arz  and Khuda Hafiz started to become part of the language of even those who normally did not use them.


Mere Mehboob ( 1963) was a huge film of this genre. The formula of rich versus poor, burqa-clad ladies singing poetry in   Urdu, a scheming decadent heir and the righteous educated hero made waves, aided by great musical score and competent performances by Rajendra Kumar, Sadhana, Nimmi , Ashok Kumar and Pran.

.

Many such films found favour with the audiences in the 60s.

Films such as Benazir ( Shashi Kapoor and Meena Kumari )   and Ghazal ( Sunil Dutt and Meena Kumari), both released in 1964, had great visuals, fine music , a lot of emotional content and were true representatives of the community. However, they were not as successful as the initial films of this category.

Two more films were released in quick succession in the mid-sixties: Palki ( Rajendra Kumar and Waheeda Rehman) and Bahu Begum( Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar)

Palki ( 1967)  was again a musical with same elements of a poet and his beloved fighting the circumstances and was laced with melodious music. The stereotyping also became evident with each such film, with the elements of achkan-sherwani ( for menfolk) and  choodidar salwar- kurta and shararas being the typical apparel and the ubiquitous burqa for women was all that could be seen in the film.

Bahu Begum ( 1967 again) had a more interesting storyline, which put on display the crumbling edifice of Nawabs. The good-hearted Ashok Kumar marries Meena Kumari who is already in love with  Pradeep Kumar. On arrival of the baraat back, it is discovered that the bride is missing !
The film spoke volumes about the conflict between reality and appearances, showing that , indeed, the community was at crossroads.

By this time, the Muslim Socials were getting more and more unreal, since the effect of the changing climate was not dovetailed in the narrative. The emphasis was still on failed romances, sher-o-shayari, grand havelis, courtesans in their kothas and strict patriarchs. Mere Huzoor ( 1968) is one of those films which focus on the romantic/lachrymose episodes : another form of escapism from reality.
The film starred Raaj Kumar, Mala Sinha and Jeetendra.

It appeared  that with the coming of the first superstar Rajesh Khanna like a  fresh breeze , the Muslim Socials will be a thing of the past. On the contrary, we saw Kaka as a Nawab in the film Mehboob Ki Mehndi( 1971) wearing the sherwani and pyajama  , complete with a cap, crooning ghazals and ballads, wooing Leena Chandavarkar !
The  commercialisation of the genre was complete !

 Kamal Amrohi's  magnum opus  Pakeezah ( 1972)  also qualifies as a film of this genre, with great sequences shot showing the tension and stress when Raaj Kumar brings Meena Kumari to his home and family. The inability to accept a unknown woman into the family became the flash-point, showing the generation gap in all its ugliness.

Savour the sequence....

Now for an interesting trivia :

Isn't it strange that the trinity of Hindi films Dilip, Raj and Dev is missing from the genre of Muslim Social ? Well, the absence of Raj and Dev can be understood.
 But Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan?
It may be news to you that Dilip Kumar never played a Muslim character in his career of 64 films, except whne he pplayed Prince Salim in Mughal-e-Azam. But that was a historical film. From Jagdish in Jwar Bhata ( 1944) to Jagannath Singh in Qila ( 1998), Dilip sahab always played a Hindu character !

Around this time a new variant of Muslim Social was being developed, showing the condition of the Muslim community with realism and sensitivity. One of the first such films was Dastak ( 1970), which showed the real condition of poor Muslims living in questionable areas of the city, with great acting by Sanjeev Kumar and Rehana Sultan. The other film Garm Hawa( 1974) showed  the effect of Partition on the Muslim community were shown with a lot of  empathy. Balraj Sahni, one of the most natural actors ever,  played the protagonist.

The Seventies took the sheen off from the Muslim Socials and films such as Nawab Sahab ( 1978), starring Parikshit Sahni and Rehana Sultan, failed to revive the genre. The sensitive portrayal of Muslims was sacrificed for stereotyping.

The Eighties attempted the revival again with a few films: Nikaah, Bazaar,  Deedar-e-Yaar and Tawaif. 

Bazaar ( 1982) was a very realistic film depicting the plight of young Muslim girls , with regard to the issues of marriage. Great music, competent performances and fine script made the film a milestone of the new wave Muslim Social. 

The 1982 film Nikaah ( which was originally named Talaq Talaq Talaq) also brought out the situation of women in Muslim community with regard to the Damocles Sword of Talaq hanging on them. Salma Agha played the wife who gets tossed between Raj Babbar and Deepak Parashar as if she was a commodity, driving home the real condition of many such ladies. B.R.Chopra's Nikaah , in many ways, is the closest example of the Muslim woman, irrespective of being educated or not, since the orthodox traditions bind her strongly.

Deedar-e-Yaar( 1982) was a masala film, trying to cash on the Muslim backdrop, with lavish sets, big stars and usual props, but failed. Tawaif ( 1985) , too was a masala film with the focus on the kotha and coourtesans, featuring Rishi Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon and Rati Agnihotri, which didn't do well. Probably the last nail in the coffin, pun intended.

Not quite, as New wave film-makers hit back  with great films.

Anjuman ( 1986) by Muzaffar Ali showed the plight of chikan workers off Lucknow and starred Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh. it was good to see the focus shift from aristocracy to blue-collar.
Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro ( 1989) laid bare  the impact of communal conflict on Muslim youth  both realistic picturisation of Muslims in a society, getting  divided increasingly, on  religious lines. Pawan Malhotra brought the character of Salim Lagda to life in the film.

The trend continued in Nineties,  but the country was not not the same and the genre was losing steam as these films could not curry favour with the masses. The riots brought about the reality in stark colours. Films such as with Mammo (1994), Naseem and Bombay ( both 1995) and Zakhm (1998) focussed on the vulnerability of the community,  under such circumstances.  Sardari Begum(1996) was a portrayal of a singer who chose to defy the norms of her society. 

In the last 15 years , there have been a handful of such films. Fiza ( 2000)  and Fitoor ( 2016) come to mind. The subject became increasingly anachronistic and the categorisation of the Muslim community as a stereotype has more or less stopped. 

An unceremonious end to a great genre which offered great all-round excellence.

ये इश्क़ नहीं आसाँ ...

The recent noises about Love Jihad have again brought the focus on the Hindu-Muslim divide, this time,  in the matters of heart. When within  the two communities also we find eyebrows raised, if  the caste is different, it is almost blasphemy to imagine an inter-religion marriage, let alone a love affair.



However, in Bollywood , there have been many instances of marriages between artistes of different faiths, due to Cupid doing his job well !

Admittedly, the number of such couples was very less in earlier years that now.  These stories are not having fictional characters , but real life flesh-and-blood individuals choosing to marry a person of different religion.
 This makes them quite brave, irrespective of the period in which they decided to go ahead.

Let's begin at the beginning.

In the Thirties, the actress-singer- composer and producer Jaddan Bai was a popular name in the fledgling Hindi cinema industry. She married thrice and her last husband was Uttamchand Mohanchand, a devout Saraswat Brahmin, who converted to Islam and was named Adbul Rashid.

The Forties saw another Muslim film and theatre actress and dancer  marry a Hindu. Born as Sahibzaadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan, Zohra was an accomplished ballet dancer and singer. She was one of the heroines of Neecha Nagar, by Chetan Anand, the first  film to have won an international award. She was part of the IPTA too. She came into contact with Kamleshwar Sehgal , scientist, painter and dancer of Indore, who was from the Radha Soami sect.

The Fifties case is that of Zubeida Begum. She was an actress, who had starred in the first ever talkies Alam Ara, after having a successful stint in the silent era. She acted in many mythological films and made a great pair with Jal Merchant.  She married the King of Jodhpur, Raja Hanwant Singh, by converting to Hinduism, taking the name of Vidya.

The most celebrated inter-faith couple was however, Nargis and Sunil Dutt who married in 1958. This was probably the first of the many second generation inter-faith marriages to occur, Nargis being the daughter of Jaddan Bai and Uttamchand Mohanlal.

Playing his mother in Mother India, she was saved in  a fire accident by Sunil Dutt by risking his life. The two go close and married, making Nargis a second-generation actor to have tied the knot to a person of different faith. At this point of time, both were celebrated stars and this became one of the most talked about marriages in Hindi filmdom. Nargis changed her name to Nirmala after marriage.

In the Fifties, the Kapoor brothers Shammi and Shashi, both married outside their religion. Shammi married Geeta Bali ( Harsimran Kaur, a Sikh) and Shashi married Jennifer Kendal, a catholic Christian and his co-star in many plays and films.

Early in the Sixties, the marriage of Madhubala (Mumtaz Begum Jahan Dehalvi, originally ) with Kishore Kumar ( originally Abhas Kumar Ganguly, who took on the name Abdul Karim) was in the headlines. it is aid that this was a marriage on the rebound by Madhubala, after her liaison with Dilip Kumar came to a nought. The two actors were part of many films and even though they were not romantically linked publicly, they chose to get married. Madhubala was ill at the time. They were married for nine years :she died in 1969 at the age of 36. 

Rajshree V.Shantaram , the actress of the doyen of the film industry married Greg Chapman, an American student she had met while shooting for Around The World. 

The most famous and extremely successful  inter-faith ( and inter-professional)  conjugal union of the 60s was that of Sharmila Tagore, great-great--grand niece of Rabindranath Tagore marrying Nawab Mansoor Ali khan of Pataudi. Sharmila was a successful actress and Mansoor was the captain of the Indian Cricket team. Sharmila converted to Islam and took the name of Ayesha Sultana.

                                

The Seventies saw many such cases, as the society was gradually coming  out of the orthodox mindset.

Waheeda Rehman , a  Muslim actress   married Kanwaljeet , a businessman and her co-actor inShagoon ( 1964). Waheeda was a very popular and successful actress, having portrayed a lot of varying roles and in the 70s, she had started to play mother to younger actresses ( Phagun of 1973 saw her playing mother to Jaya Bhaduri). In 1974, she married her beau.

The number of such marriages swelled in the Seventies and Eighties in Bollywood.
Three Irani sisters Honey, Daisy and Menaka, all married non-Parsis !

Honey married Javed Akhtar scriptwriter and lyricist, Daisy married K.K.Shukla script-writer and Menaka married actor-director Kamran Khan. Salim Khan, script writer first married Sushila Charak and later on,  Helen.

 Farooq Sheikh married his college junior and co-actor on stage Roopa Jain. Naseeruddin Shah married Ratna Pathak. Sangeeta Bijlani got married to cricketer Azharuddin and Reena Roy married Mohsin Khan ( an international union, too).
Feroz Khan married Sundari and Mumtaz married Mayur Madhwani. Interestingly, later on the children of Feroz and Mumtaz married each other, another second generation inter-religion marriage !

Gulzar (  real name Sampooran Singh Kalra and  a Sikh by birth) married Rakhi Majumdar, a Bengali Brahmin.

The list of Bollywood celebrities in later years is a who's who of the industry.

The list is endless with the second and even third-generation inter-faith marriages !

 The first third -generation case is that of Sanjay Dutt ( son of Nargis and Sunil Dutt) who wed Manyata (actually called Dilnawaz Sheikh).  Saif Ali Khan ( son of Sharmila and Mansoor) married twice, both times inter-faith: to Amrita Singh and Kareena Kapoor. Soha , his sister married Kunal Khemu.

 Both the Irani sisters' descendants Farhan ( son of Honey and Javed ) and Farah ( daughter of Menaka and Kamran) were second-generation spouses as when  Farhan  married Adhuna Bhabhani and Farah tied the knot with Shirish Kunder.

The  Khans also have Hindu wives : Shahrukh-Gauri, Aamir-Kiran, Arbaaz-Malaika , Sohail-Seema, Farah-Shirish and Zayed-Mallika Parekh.

Some more such couples: Sunil Shetty-Mana Qadri, Atul Agnihotri-Alvira Khan, Urmila matondkar-Mir Mohsin Akhtar, Zarina Wahab-Aditya Pancholi, Ritesh Deshmukh-Genelia D'Souza, Manoj Bajpai-Shabana Raza , right down to Nawazuddin-Anjali !

Almost all the major actors of the industry have found love outside their faith and married, even if it has lasted only a few years. Hritik-Suzanne, Raj Babbar-Nadira and Aamir-Reena are cases in point.

 With the floodgates getting opened, more such marriages continue to happen in tinsel town, but it was the unflinching love and tenacity of these pioneers of inter-faith marriages which set the ball rolling.

BANNED !

The unceremonious exit of the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification was long overdue, given the controversies that happened in his tenure. While there can be no one in the world who can please everybody, the autocratic and illogical decisions of the incumbent, with the backdrop of moral policing alienated him from the large sections of serious movie-watchers.

Which brings us to our topic today : Hindi films which were banned  !

Films can be banned by Censors, or Courts, either temporarily or permanently. The reasons may be ranging from political overtones of the content of the film, excessive and gory violence and sex or controversial content with regard to religion or communities. But there are other reasons too, as we shall explore.The ban,even if it is a  partial one ( few scenes cut ) is a form of censorship and merits examination of the circumstances under which it is decreed.

The earliest instance of a film being banned and all prints getting confiscated was that of a 1957 film called, ironically,  Begunah !
The film, a comedy,  starred Kishore Kumar and Shakila. Kishore Kumar plays a character who has got an ailment of hiccups when he is in presence of girls. Except, of course, when Shakila is around. The reason for the film getting banned was that it was a frame-by-frame copy of Warner Brothers' film Knock on Wood.  The foreign film company decided to drag the producers of Begunah to court and after a couple of years the court decided in favour of Warner Brothers, ordering all prints of the film to be seized and destroyed.This must be the one and only instance , since it did not deter Hindi film-makers to copy foreign films.

The film had great music by Shankar Jaikishan. One song Ae pyase dil bezubaan , by Mukesh was picturised on a young Jaikishan playing a piano.

The sixties were largely untouched by regulatory authorities, probably because of the non-political and pristine nature of films being made. A couple of films ( Neel Akasher Neeche- for exhibiting political overtones in Bengal and Gokul Shankar- for glorifying Nathuram Godse) did undergo the ban, but this was not publicised too much.

 But in early 70s, there was a film which the Censor Board ( as the CBFC is generally called !) found fit to ban. Well, not ban actually, but its release was held up for a period of 8 months after which people got to see Garam Hawa, one of the iconic films on Partition. The story of a Muslim family during the period of enormous bloodshed and strife which followed the Independence , was not considered fit to be screened,fearing its impact on the public. 
 

In 1975, the proclamation of Emergency was decidedly not the right time for a film, whose protagonist was said to be based on Prime Minister ( or was it Tarkeshwari Sinha ?) . Aandhi , which was based on the novel by Kamleshwar titled Kaali Aandhi was banned by the then government. Suchitra Sen played the role of the main character, with the white streak of hair so well-known to the viewers ! The film was released in 1977 on national TV when the new government had taken over. A great political drama with all-round excellence ( music, dialogues, performances), it is a shame that this film bore the brunt of being politically incorrect.

Another film which was released after Emergency was Kissa Kursi Ka. In fact, it was re-made after the original prints were destroyed by the government, as it was lampooning Emergency. The character played by a dumb Shabana Azmi was named Janta and the autocratic leader Gangu ( The Gangu of कहाँ राजा भोज कहाँ गंगू तेली becoming the Raja !) was played by Manohar Singh.
The film was submitted for certification before the Emergency was declared. However, the seven-member committee suggested 51 cuts, which the producer did not agree.With Emergency being promulgated in June, the prints of the spoof were collected and burnt , which was later proved in a court of law and the accused were sentenced too.

The film made by Arjun Nahata  was a brave attempt to voice dissent in the times of dictatorship. 

The issue of censorship/banning is essentially related to Article 19 (1) a of the Constitution , which is  " Freedom of Expression". However, in practice,  reasonable restrictions, stated in Clause 2 of the same Article, go with the Right.

 Muzzling any form of expression ( the "right to expression" is often called the "right to dissent", but manifests itself in the "right to offend" !) is dangerous for the society as it opens the door for dictatorship, as we have seen in the past.  The subjectivity creeps in due to sensibilities of the authorities imposing the restrictions, times prevalent and the sensitive nature of content, which may be akin to a " spark in gas godown" . Ultimately, by not restricting the content, who takes the blame, if the situation on the ground turns explosive ? So, it remains a debate which has balanced sides and therefore, makes it difficult to take a decision pleasing all.

The Eighties had no noticeable episodes save temporary banning of the English film Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, since it depicted Indians in a negative light. However, in the Nineties, there was a film called bandit Queen which created a lot of controversy. Replete with crass language, realistic  picturisation of violence and sexual content and  a narrative not told in such stark manner, generally. Phoolan Devi, then an MP , on whom the film was based got Delhi High Court to ban the film, albeit temporarily. She challenged the authenticity, which was never in doubt , having been made by Shekhar Kapoor. The film was released and appreciated.

The Nineties saw many controversial films being made, also   in regional languages, which attracted the ire of Censors.The 1991 film  Kuttrapathirikai ( Tamil for Charge-sheet) was based on Rajiv Gandhi's assasination, which was banned.

 In 1996, two film made splashes of the kind we are talking about. 

Kama Sutra:a tale of love was bound to be controversial as the subject mandated explicit picturisation. The two minutes of nudity made the film a talked-about affair.Initially banned for picturisation in India, the film was finally released but after clipping off the two-minute scene. 

Fire was the film which created the maximum heat, pun intended. A story of female characters played by Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, the controversy was two-fold: their lesbian relationship and the names of the characters. While same-sex relationships were still a taboo, it was expected to be in rough waters. However, the bigger fracas happened because the names of the two characters were Radha and Seeta. The film was taken off after release and referred back to CBFC. The film was released again and met with vandalism and protest. However, the film was, ultimately, screened and had its run at the box-office, before audiences lost interest and moved on to newer releases.

A film which was banned for showing excessive violence and vulgarity was a black comedy,  Urf Professor ( 2000). Another film Divya Drishti met the same fate that year.

 Another film, a big one,  which was  banned for glorifying drugs, violence and sex was   Anurag Kashyap's 2001 film Paanch, based loosely of Pune's Joshi-Abhyankar serial murder case. The depiction of drug abuse, coupled with bad language made the CBFC ban the film. The film was a product of Kashyap's college day experiences and his study of the serial murder case files. The film was later cleared but did not get a theatrical or home video release. However, it was released in various film festivals, around the world. 

In 2003 , a film titled The Pink Mirror ( Hindi release called Gulabi aaina) was subjected to ban by CBFC , as it explored the story of trans-sexuals and transgenders. The film was found 'vulgar and offensive' by the Board and was never released in India. it did get screened in film festivals. 

The case of the  2004 film Hawa Aaaney De is really interesting.
 This film was not accepted by Censors without cuts totalling upto 20 minutes, which was not agreed by the producer.Hence, the film was never released in India, despite being on the agenda of a film festival in India. The subject of the film was about interactions of characters from Hindu and Muslim communities, with the backdrop of a possibility of Indo-Pak war.
समझदार को इशारा काफी है !

Films based on communal riots are , obviously, prone to censorship, as it is apprehended that their release may incite large-scale disruptions.The Punjabi film Hawayein (2003)  was banned and another film Amu (2005) ,  also had to suffer cuts before they could be certified.Both these films were based on 1984 Sikh genocide.The Gujarat riots was the subject of the film , Parzania ( 2005) , which faced protests and bans in Gujarat and was not permitted to be released in that state.

Films having religion as the core idea also attract protests and bans. One such film was Sins ( 2005) , depicting erotic journey of a Kerala priest, triggering protests from the catholic community. CBFC banned the film on grounds of nudity, though.The Bengali film Gandu ( 2010) was also banned for explicit content and nudity.

 While films like Black Friday and Water were embroiled in court cases and public protests , without getting a brush with Censors, the film which did get into rough weather was Unfreedom ( Daagh Ujala) , a 2015 production. The film was objected to because of sexuality, violence, LGBT issues with a focus on Muslims. The Examining Committee rejected the film and, on appealing,  the Revising Committee suggested cuts for releasing the film.The producer did not agree to the cuts and the Appellate Tribunal banned the film, irrespective of the cuts. This is the only film banned till date and not agreed to be released.

The most intriguing case is the latest in the line of such episodes. The trailers of the film Mohalla Assi, starring Sunny Deol were shown in cinema halls in 2015 and the public waited for their favourite actor portraying the role of a Sanskrit teacher and an orthodox priest in Varanasi's mohalla. However, since the film was contemporary in nature, showing events of Eighties and Nineties, the charges of hurting religious sentiments were levelled and the censor banned it in April 2016.

It remains to be seen , if the changes in CBFC are going to make it more liberal or more conservative.
Only time will tell...










                                                                   

ये दुनिया अगर मिल भी जाए तो क्या है ...

The shocking "suicide game"  called Blue Whale Game highlighted by the last week's tragedy  claiming the life of a young boy sent shivers down the spine. It is a fact that the Internet has seeped into the psyche of the kids so much that they disregard the  outcome of such ventures and this  is horrifying.

Suicide, or taking one's own life is , in itself , an enigma. Whether it is an act of cowardice or courage, is debatable. Cowardice, since the individual is not able to face life and Courageous, as it is not an act of the weak-hearted one.

There was a time when this was an offense, to be punished, if attempted. The law has been changed, but the instances of suicides, whether that of old or young, still unsettles most of us.

Bollywood has seen its share of artistes committing the act of ending their lives. These were creative and successful individuals who could not bear the burden of life. Had they thought otherwise, maybe life would have given them another chance. Let's explore the history of Hindi films to find out the luminaries who chose to have the limelight shifted from them in this tragic manner.


The first name that comes to mind is none other than Guru Dutt. A gifted individual, a path-breaking director, a competent actor and at the same time a person torn between contradicting loyalties, both in his personal and professional life: that's how one can attempt to decipher the personality of Guru Dutt.

Though his name was , he was given the name of Guru Dutt, not for films, but as it was considered auspicious. He did get lucky, leaving the job of a telephone operator to join Prabhat film company, Pune ( then called Poona). He was taken in as choreographer, but started to get bit roles and had to assist the directors, too.

His association with Dev Anand gave him success at Navketan and he made a name for himself as a director who could weave the realism in the film with  a commercial backdrop, thus making it palatable for classes as well as masses. The inevitable stresses of vanishing success, complexities in personal life and its overlap with professional commitments became too much for Guru Dutt and alcohol coupled with an overdose of sleeping pills brought end to a fantastic career. Some say it was an accident, but the fact is that at some point of time, he had realised the pointlessness of the world and its ways, much like the character he played in Pyaasa and took his life at the age of 39.

There have been other young deaths in Bollywood, such as Meena Kumari ( 40), Vinod Mehra (45) and Smita patil (31), but they were not suicides. Excessive drinking caused the cirrohsis of liver for Meena Kumari, heart attack was the cause of Mehra's demise and Smita died during child birth.

The wilfull abdication from life is a different ball game, altogether. After the shocking death of  Guru Dutt in the Sixties, there was no such tragedy in 70s and 80s, in Hindi film industry.


In 1990, there was another case of drug overdose. This time , it was a starlet and costume designer Reem Kapadia, who had acted in a few films like Haveli ( 1985), Kaash ( 1987) and Shehzaade ( 1990). She was better known as the third of the Kapadia sisters, the other two being Dimple and Simple. Reem was probably not made out for the stardom she was aspiring for, in the shadow of her illustrious sister. She was thrown out of films for her unprofessional behaviour and probably, found the easy way out.

The  explosive news was that of the rising star Divya Bharti, who at the age of 19, jumped from a 5-floor apartment  and met her last. As usual, there were conjectures about this being a murder, suicide or accident. However, reports suggest that she had attempted to take her life twice earlier. Divya had been popular in Telugu films and was on a crest after Deewana with Shahrukh and Rishi Kapoor was declared a superhit and had a lot of films lined up. Divya was known to be impulsive and her quick marriage with Sajid Nadiadwala, while she was still settling down is a pointer. In her death, Bollywood lost a good actress.

What would have to happen for a super- successful producer-director of the stature of Manmohan Desai to have taken his life, one wonders. The news of ace director's death by falling from his house made waves and it was not clear what transpired to trigger the tragedy. Desai, whose success rate was 65% ( 13 of his 20 films were superhits) was a widower at the time of his death and was engaged to actress Nanda. The reason behind his death was touted to be a weak railing in his balcony , on which he leaned and fell. Again, the suicide was never confirmed, but it was a fact that in the year 1994, he was going through a bad patch with Toofan and Anmol, his last two ventures flopping miserably.

Silk Smitha was predominantly an actress of South Indian films, but was known to Hindi film audience for her sensuous dance in Sadma. She was said to be under depression as she had accumulated a lot of debts from producing films, which she was not able to repay. She hung herself from a rope and ended her life.The film Dirty Picture, starring Vidya Balan was supposedly made on Silk Smitha's life.

One of the most glamourous heroines of her time, Parveen Babi became a sorry shadow of herself in the years before her death. Parveen had a great career, giving Zeenat Aman a run for her money , at times and teaming up with all big stars in multistarrers. Her romatic involvements were also well-publicised and it is said that after the screening of Mahesh Bhatt's Arth, she suffered a bout of mental breakdown, as the character of the other woman was resembling her to a great extent. 

In later years, when out of work, she gave ludicrous interviews alleging foul play indicating her erstwhile co-stars ( including Amitabh Bachchan ). She was found dead in her apartment, after three days , having died of starvation. 

It is really difficult to comprehend what happens in the personal lives of celebrity which make them take their own lives. Singer and columnist Varsha Bhonsle was the daughter of Asha Bhonsle and sister of Hemant, a music director. A well-educated lady, she wrote for Sunday Observer and Times of India. She sang for films, mostly Marathi. She was known to have attempted suicide by popping an overdose of prescribed medicine  and was saved in time. Her second attempt was however fatal, as she shot herself in her house. A loss to the world of music and journalism, alike.

 The last ( thankfully, as writing about sordid events on a sunny Sunday morning is itself an anathema !) celebrity to have committed suicide was Jiah Khan, when she hung herself ( or was it staged?). She had acted in three films , all well-known  ( Nishabd, Ghajini and Housefull) and had a successful career lined up. However, she was also in a live-in relationship with Sooraj Pancholi and the relationship was a controversial one, too. Her death is still said to be under investigation.