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.

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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.