As the debate on gender equality gains traction in popular culture, one goes back to Basu Chatterjee’s “Jeena Yahan”, which pushes the case of women as independent and thinking beings without any chest thumping. Based on a story of renowned Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari, the film juxtaposes life in a metro with human relationships in small town India.
Bhandari is known as one of the pioneers of ‘nayi kahani’ movement and it was not the first time that Chatterjee adapted a Bhandari story. “Rajnigandha” was also based on her work. “Jeena Yahan” didn’t get as much popular acclaim but critics still remember it for its message and realistic portrayal of two points of view presented by mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. No wonder the film won the Critics’ Award at the 27th Filmfare Awards.
Old timers and distributors keep reminding that the phase of so-called heroine-oriented films keeps coming and going. “Jeena Yahan” is also a product of one such phase. A year before, “Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki” and “Ghar” were making news with Nutan and Rekha headlining them. Here it is Shabana Azmi taking the role of a modern, self-reliant bahu, Lekha, who goes to her husband’s place for a break from bustling metropolis, which sucks as much energy as the freedom it provides, but discovers that under open skies and amidst green fields, the world of a woman is claustrophobic. She has no agency to make choices for herself. And interestingly, it is not the man (Arvind Deshpande) of the house who is protecting the feudal values, it is the mother (Dina Pathak), who is holding on to the crumbling patriarchy and the superstitions that come with it.
Pathak is the villain of the piece but Chatterjee doesn’t turn her into a Lalita Pawar of “Sau Din Saas Ke” mould. He shapes her as product of her times where she doesn’t have money to spend on her young son’s spectacles but she is ready to splurge on her spiritual guru and an amulet so that her bahu could conceive. Lekha understands her and perhaps that’s why doesn’t take her head on. There is hardly a shrill note between the two.
Made in an era, when angry young men or chocolate heroes were calling the shots, here Chatterjee sets the stage for the new woman, who is not only financially independent but also has the intellectual capacity to take on the world. It is Lekha who travels to Shekhar’s native place, grapples with the social reality to take his sister Gauri (Kiran Vairale) out of a marriage which is being forced on her.
Here men provide the supporting role. In a scene where both Lekha and Shekhar return tired from work, and Lekha suggests that they should go to bed without eating anything, Shekhar takes the initiative to cook and soon we find both of them peeling potatoes. It unravels the changing value systems in urban spaces without underlining it.
The film also indicates that not every man has the capacity to take charge of his love. For every Shekhar, there is a Devendra. A man’s decision should not hold a woman in her tracks. When Devendra could not muster courage to hold Gauri’s hand, she still breaks free and runs away to Bombay with Lekha. It is very much like what “Queen” managed to achieve many years later.
The film came at a time when the chemistry of Shekhar Kapur and Shabana Azmi was making news. Coming on the heels of “Toote Khilone”, Kapur shaped one of his less stilted performances before he shifted to the other side of camera and directed Azmi in “Masoom”.
The film brings together some of Chatterjee’s favourite actors in cameos. As Sushma and Dinesh, Zarina Wahab and Amol Palekar provide a counterpoint to Shekhar and Lekha’s story that love is not a smooth ride for everybody in the city. Sushma’s father is as much against Dinesh, as Shekhar’s mother is against Devendra. In fact, at one point Dinesh wonders what makes youngsters stick to a city which provides no relief, no space. Then there is Vidya Sinha adding her understated charm to the proceedings in a small role. As Gauri, the film also marked the debut of Kiran Vairale, one of the most spontaneous actors of her time, who could not make it big. Salil Chowdhury’s music provides lilt and Yesduas and Lata Mangeshkar add grace to Yogesh’s poetry. There is no element of staging in the way celebrated cinematographer K.K. Mahajan shot the film. He captures the chaotic pulse of Mumbai, where getting into a Local (train) is a task and trade union protests and strikes add to the complexity of the everyday life, as it is. And when the scene shifts to small town life, he doesn’t try to paint everything green. You could smell the city elbowing into the serene space with the garbage mounds in the vicinity. It is this feeling of inbetweenness, the joys and sorrows of everydayness that make Basu Chatterjee’s cinema live on.
Genre: Social drama
Director: Basu Chatterjee
Cast: Shekhar Kapur, Shabana Azmi, Dina Pathak, Kiran Vairale, Amol Palekar, Zarina Wahab, Vidya Sinha
Lyrics: Yogesh
Music: Salil Choudhury
Box office status: Average
