Balraj Sahni on his Early Years - Film History

1. Balraj Sahni on his Early Years - Film History The truth is, as in the case of the earlier Hum Log. Do Bigha Zamin too did not exactly improve my financial position. I remained as 'broke' as ever. I was jobless for the following six months. Whenever I went to a studio in search of work, I would be subjected to curious stares. Thanks to the dysentery I had contracted in jail, my health had already deteriorated; it now became worse as a result of sitting idle at home. To add to my woes, I fell victim to eczema also. I would get nervous at the thought that it was perhaps the epithet 'communist' which was tagged on to my name, that was scaring the producers! At long last, I managed to get a role in a film. It was called Baju Bandh, which Ramanand Sagar was making. Though it was the lead role I was going to play, it called for a lot of villainy. I was supposed to play a waster, excessively fond of wine and women, who neglects his pious wife and becomes her despair. One day Bimal Roy walked on to the set unannounced, as he had once done while I was on the Hum Log set. The Baju Bandh set showed a prostitute's house, where I, in my cups, was watching a dance of a nautch girl. When I saw Bimal Da there, I felt flustered. He came over to me and whispered into my ears, 'That's a fine role indeed you have chosen, after Do Bigha Zamin!' One day Bimal Roy walked on to the set unannounced, as he had once done while I was on the Hum Log set. The Baju Bandh set showed a prostitute's house, where I, in my cups, was watching a dance of a nautch girl. When I saw Bimal Da there, I felt flustered. He came over to me and whispered into my ears, 'That's a fine role indeed you have chosen, after Do Bigha Zamin!' I was nonplussed and tongue-tied. I also could not help feeling bitter. After all, it is the easiest thing in the world to criticise others. Every man expects the other fellow to make

2. sacrifices! It was with great difficulty that I was able to get work again and earn my bread- and-butter. At that moment Baju Bandh was in my eyes worth much more than Do Bigha Zamin. It was Baju Bandh which was enabling me to feed my children. Was it then fair for Bimal Da to comment so sarcastically on my role? Or was it perhaps, that he had not meant to ridicule me? It was probable that in his view he, the maker of Do Bigha Zamin, had become the harbinger of revolution! A decade ago, Hemen Gupta had made a film, based on Bankim Chandra's novel Anand Math, which dealt with the activities of revolutionaries. Hemen Gupta himself had been an armed revolutionary in the heyday of the British Raj. Before coming to Bombay, he had made classics like 1942 and Bhuli Nai. I wondered whether I too had not become a 'sacrificial goat' in the eyes of Bimal Roy, following my role in Do Bigha Zamin, The country had already hailed him as the guru of realistic cinema. What right then had I to keep myself aloof from him? The above is an exceprt from Balraj Sahni: an autobiography. written by Balraj Sahni and translated by Ramesh Deshpande, published by Hind Pocket Books in 1979. the copyright belongs to Balraj Sahni Sahitya Prakashan,