Tango

Chhalia (1960)

Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Pran and Shobana Samarth

Manmohan Desai was barely 24 when he made his directorial debut with this film produced by younger brother Subhash Desai. Based on a judicious mix of a real life incident, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “White Nights”, the taut, emotionally gripping narrative by Inder Raj Anand (father of actor-director Tinnu Anand, and grandfather of director Siddharth Raj Anand of “Bachna Ae Haseeno” fame), this post-Partition story has suspicion on the one hand which nearly destroys a husband-wife relationship, and the rivalry between a Hindu and a Pathan crook respectively. Music by Kalyanji-Anandji, with Laxmikant-Pyarelal as assistants, played a part in making this emotional drama a box office success.

Also amongst the first of the lost-and-found-formula films that Desai went on to chisel to perfection (except perhaps his last two “Ganga Jamuna Saraswati” and “Toofan” – depression from which might have led to his suicide as some in the industry speculate), “Chalia” was also first amongst his 13 star-studded films out of a total of 20, that Desai churned out in a career spanning 29 years.

The real protagonist of “Chhalia” is Shanti (Nutan) who is married off to Kewal (Rehman) on the eve of Partition. But while the two families move away to Delhi from Lahore, she inadvertently is left behind, and is forced to share roof with Abdul Rehman (Pran) who has a sister of Shanti’s age in India. When she returns to India five years later with her son, she is first welcomed by the husband with open arms but disowned when the child identifies himself as Anwar, and his father as Abdul Rehman. Even her own father refuses to give her shelter, though in the years she had lived with Abdul Rehman she hadn’t even seen his face.

Physically and emotionally shattered, Shanti tries to commit suicide after leaving Anwar in a remand home, but is rescued by an outlaw, Chhalia (Raj Kapoor) who as time and events progress, flips for the lady. Liberty can always lead to licence, especially in Hindi cinema. Rehman lands in Delhi to settle old scores with Chhalia, and threatens to kidnap Shanti. The bloody fight that ensues between the two adversaries eventually ends in a truce. The hurried climax, set amidst Dusshera festivities, has Chhalia bringing about a rapprochement between the estranged couple, and himself walking into the infinity, while Rehman is reunited with his sister on the return train. Characteristically, Nutan lived the role of an emotionally-torn woman caught between the cross-currents of necessity and compulsion. For much of the footage, Raj Kapoor wore his poker faced expression he had reserved for non-RK films; Rehman had little to do and offer; Pran played the Pathan in his usual style with exuberance while Nutan’s real life mother was wasted in an insignificant role.

The title song, “Chhalia mera naam” (Mukesh), became a common lore on the streets, as some of the other Qamar Jalalabadi songs are “Teri rahon mein”, “Dum dum diga diga”, “Mere tute hue dil se” (Mukesh), “Teri rahon mein” (Lata Mangeskar), “Baje payal cham cham” (Lata), “Meri jaan kuch bhi kijiye” (Lata-Mukesh), and the climatic “Gali gali seta roye” (Mohammed Rafi) set to music by Kalyanji-Anandji. The 112-minute black and white movie had competent cinematography by N. Satyen (who eventually moved to the Prakash Mehra camp).