Padosan : Song : Bhai Battur Bhai Battur – Saira Banu and Panchanda become the TWO OYESTER of Indian Silver screen
The story could be new but the facts are old This story
dates back to 1967 when the production of the film Padosan was to start . At
that time the selection of the heroines for the cast for a film was very
different than what it is today.The screen appearance and the screen test as
well to pass for the cast and for the character that one ought to play in the
film was a difficult task for everybody to pass and the directors as well as
the producers were such that they would never compromise for the quality and
the exact characters that they needed for the films
Saira- Dilip Kumar
marriage, Saira’s carrer was on tenterhook
Saira Banu was one of the OUT-OF-THE-WORLD-BULIT kind of a
very natural beauty who had was the daughter of
Madam Naseem Banu who herself was a screen idol but not in a big way .Having
studies at Switzerland along with tanuja at that time she had a charishma and a
kind of a characteristic which was such that she could characterize the
Europena/Americans with so much of ease and comfort .What was more- she looked
absolutely a BEAUTY in all the sense and sence when she potrayed and played
thgose character. Her accent also was such that the JUICE of the EUROPEAN
accent fell so naturally, it seem then, when she spoke in their language .
Refined culture and a sophisticated look of a CLASSY-TOMMY personnelk simply
flowed out of her words , behavior and accents.
Her first film JUNGLEE
with Shammi Kapoor went a long way for her to make the world of the FILMDON
that there had arrived a STAR in all the way . Just before her
marriage to Dilip Kumar she acted in a film Pyaar-Mohabbat with Dev Anand in
which the screen name of Dev Anand was DILIP and she very soon went on the
marry the KUMAR of Indian film- DILEEP
Will Saira ever act in FILMS :: Dilip Kumar provided the
answer
In Indian film industry it becomes very hard and something
of an unbelievable task for any lady to continue in the films Quite a few did
it but without any success Some had to leave the acting for ever and for good Madam Devika Rani was one such example
. In her PRIME of her career she had to leave her career in the film industry Some like Daisy Irani, Minu Mumtaz to name a
few also followed the suit In the mod sixties it was Rajyashree who was at her prime of her career but her marriage
took her awy to USA and out of the films
With this background when Saira Banu married Dilip Kumar the
entire film industry was at a loss of words Saira was just 22 years of age then
The beauty that she carried was just beyond description . Her films like “ AAYEE MILAN KII BELA “ and “ JHUK GAYA AASAMAAN “ with Rajendra
Kumar and her outfits and the outlook just was too much for every
Producers-Directirs to even think of making a film without her. She was a TOWERING STAR in the female category to
be left out for the films. But this marriage with Dilip Kumar was too much for
the film industry to swallow. For Madam Saira Banu was their BLANK CHEQUE written “SELF ” on it . That was the value of
Saira Banu then. The marriage made one and subdry that Saira Banu would never
act in films anymore and that the SELF-BLANK-CHEQUE
for the film industry ws f gone for ever
After the marriage, it was Dilip Kumar who spoke to Saira to
continue in the films . Actually Dilip Kumar was 44 when he married Saira who
was 22 then. Dilip Kumar had a HUGE BIG family and many a responsibility to
shoulder. His responsibilities were over by 85% when he married Saira Banu but
that remaining 15% was to be taken care of. In that context he said to his
wife- CONTINUE TO ACT IN FILMS PLEASE .His
explanation was simple. If you do not wish to act in films not that I cannot
take care of you.But if you kep on acting, you would be able to spend your life
in a most accomplished manner and also would be able to fulfil most of your unfulfilled
dreams .
Moreover the space left after the exit of Rajyashree had
fallen vacant and Saira banu was the one who could fill that spot exactly . She
was a MODERN BABY who could have played so many a modern characters so
brilliantly felt Dilip Kumar that he never wanted to destroy that element of
Saira Banu and destruct the film industry With these thoughts Dilip Kumar requested Saira to continue to act in the
films and the lady agreed
Padosan : Kishore
Kumar suggest Mehmood to cast Saira Banu
The film script of Padosan was complete adding some twist to
it It was a story based on a Bengali story wriiten by Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyay “ PASHER BAADIR MEYE “ which means the Neighbour’s Girl
It was a story based on the BREATHE of Bengal which is MUSIC
and with two different house or the GHARANA of music at its WAR-CUM-LOGGERHEAD with the lady
sandwiched in between as to which side to go and choose her LIFE for the MUSIC and the MUSIC for her LIFE. The character
was such that the era was changing in India. The house hidden ladies were
coming out of their house and the woman’s liberty was moving out as well from
the laid back trapped house. Dev Anand made Waheeda Rehman to play that sort of
a character in his directed movie GUIDE
in which Madam Waheeda Rehman was simply OUTSTANDING with exemplary acting That
film was released in 1967
Based on that the unit of Padosan needed a character who
could display the role of a MODERN-
EDUCATED - LIBERATED –AND-A-FORWARD thinking
lady who was very SOFT in her heart
but very VOLSATILE in her behavior That was the character needed. It was very
hard to find that kind of a character. Madam
Sadhana and Mala Sinha were the first two choices but their age removed
them from the line of thinking of the cast. After many a combination and filteration
and many an addition and substraction it was Kishoreda who suggested the name
of Saira Banu to Mehmood and Saira Banu after a small
screen test which was taken to see if
her characteristic fits into that role was chosen ultimately for that role in
the film She was “ BINDUJI “ of “ MAHA-BHOLA” of that film and she was
the bone of contention between “PILLAI
MASTER “ and the “ NAUTANKI-TOLI”
led by “ PANDIT VIDYAPATI “ the GREAT KISHORE KUMAR who played that
role in that film
Portrayal of Madam
Saira Banu : JELLY amidst the SUNDAE and the SWEET DISH after dinner in the
film
The THEME of the film was the EXPERTISE in the music but the SOUL of
the music was the LADY who was in such a position that she was in LOVE with the
music. Her CHILDHOOD was to turn into YOUTH which would be full of LOVE,
ELECTRICITY, and the EXUBERANCE of the youth that would bring about the
FRAGRANCE of the beautiful music making it feel so young and beautiful with her
TOMBOYISH yet SIMPLE manner filled with flamboyany characteristic
That was what is all was,
and in this kind of a role a SKY
in term of a song is generally needed which would lift the character playing
that role to its seventh sky in
terms of the output of acting . A song that was needed to put Saira Banu to
that place and the song was Bhai Battur Bhai Battur
Bhai Battur, Bhai
Battur Ab Jaengay Kitni Dur : The Song takes Madam Saira Banu from 1968 to 1985
This film which was released on Novenmber 29th
1968, had four lyrist Jyoti
Swaroop · Pasher Bari · Rajendra Krishan · Dulari who wrote those songs for the films .However
that song Bhai Battur Bhai Battur was written by Ms Dulari and sung by the
INDIAN NIGHTINGLE madam Lata mangeshkar known as Latadi to the entire Indian
Film industry
Latadi saw Saira Banu
for the Ist time with an open eye , was STRUCKED by her beauty
It may be noted here
that the music composer of the film were R D Burman and Kishore Kumar. Both in
tandem composed the music. Panchanda was making his way into the top echelon in
the field of music. He had his first stint in a film “ BHOOT-BANGLA” directed
by Mehmood .In this film on his insistence and on the demand of the music
that required extra ordinary sense of MUSIC-THROW,
it was Kishore Kumar who was helping him to compose the music and thus how the MASTERPIECE of the MUSIC was composed in this FILM
Latadi was told both by Kishoreda and Mehmood Bhai all about
the song that Sairaji was to act on the song as mentioned above.The entire
characteristic of saira Banu was very thoroughly explained to latadi by
Kishoreda amd Mehmood . However Latadi just wanted to see Saira Banu in front
of her eye and that too in a simple manner When Saira Banuji was introduced to
Latadi HER MOUTH WAS FULL WITH UNBELIEVABLE EXCITEMENT . OH
!!!!! she said to Kishreda- WHAT A
BEAUTY SHE IS !!!!!!!!!
When Kishoreda again explained the kind of an INNOSENCE that she would be portrayed
in the song and would transform herself in to full grown INNOCENT beauty with all kind of ELECTRICITY in terms of her expectations for LOVE it was CLEAR to
Latadi as to how to THROW the SONG and how to CHANGE the GEAR to
completely HIGHLIGHT and SHOWCASE Sairaji so that she represents
the EPITOME of the BEAUTY not only in this film but always in
the films thereafter
Hmm …….. The HMmn of the SONG was the HEAD,
BODY & THE SOUL OF THE SONG
This song is ONE
of the BEST song sung by Latadi in
any films which had the Hmms to begin with as a THROW to the song . The HUMS
and the HMmn’s of the SONG was
something which really was what Madam Saira Banu was when she was into the
films then and what was the inner saying of her mind was to say for herself in
the world of the films that is connected with the BEAUTY. Latadi just gave the perfect start of the song by the way
of the throw and Sairaji acted just the way which she was as far as the state
of her mind was during that time amidst the actings .She really portrayed
actually what was the ADOLESCENE in terms of the THOUGHTS and the way it was moving to
the ADULTHOOD with all the thoughts
and concept of LOVE being injected in it in the film . A picture of SERENITY and EVENNESS coupled
with ELECTRICITY was all Saira Banu in the film and THIS WAS THE SONG WHICH WAS A UNIQUE PIECE OF SUPERFLOUS ACTING BY SAIRA BANU IN THE FILM
THE ENTIRE CREDIT GOES TO MADAM LATA MANGESHKAR ALIAS LATADI FOR THE
SONG TO BRING OUT THE SUPERB OF MADAM SAIRA BANU
Kishore Kumar's character
in the film was inspired by the personality of his uncle, Dhananjay Banerjee (a
classical singer) and music director Khemchand
Prakash . The song Ek Chatur Naar
was originally sung in the movie Jhoola by Ashok Kumar. It is known fact that Kishore Kumar did not learn any classical music,
while Manna Dey was considered as one of the greatest learner of classical
music. Despite of that, it was greatness of Manna Dey, that he opted to get
defeated by Kishore Kumar. And that victory got BINDU to Mr BHOLA in the film
However it was Latadi
whose song on Saira Banu in this film and that one- BHAI BATTUR BHAI BATTUR which made Madam Saira Banu to last from
1968 to about 1988 in the Hindi films ultimately deciding to do away with the
films after she was diagnosed with BLOOD
CANCER .
Regards
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
Fantastic
ReplyDelete