SHYAM BENEGAL
Shyam benegal, one name in the Indian film industry who achieved the heights which very few film-makers can imagine. Popular Indian cinema always tries to give different names to meaningful cinema. It was called parallel cinema in the times of Shyam Benegal, now it is called DARK in the era of Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerji and others in the same league. “Art movies”, this term sounds like an abuse and sends this hidden message that these kind of movies do not deserve a commercial success. The fact is that there are only two kinds of cinema, one is intelligent and other is stupid. Though, there could be many sub-categories into them like highly intelligent or most stupid.
Well , before I get distracted completely, I should come to the point. This post is about the movie “Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda” a highly intelligent movie by Shyam Bengal where one of the best actor in Indian cinema “Rajit Kapur” played the lead role. Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda is based on a novel of the same name written by the prestigious scholar of Hindi literature ‘Dharamvir Bharati’ ji.
This is the story of unfulfilled love of Manek Mulla ( played by Rajit Kapur), a genius who is a source of inspiration and knowledge to his fellow companions. All his life, he is searching for the meaning of love in his own life and life of others but unfortunately this search ends in a black hole. A black hole of social restrictions, economic compulsions, pressure from peers and a life of compromises. This movie transports you in a real world of the real characters of real circumstances. Most of the time, circumstances are playing the real villain, mostly out of the control.
Director Shyam Benegal deserves highest honor, specially for this movie ( he already got all of them ) because his treatment to this story is rather brilliant. Dharamvir Bharati’s novel already has a high reputation for its unique narration and treatment of characters. Touching a subject like that and making a movie on it is no lesser than any challenge. But , Shyam Benegal not only accepts the challenge but sometimes seems on an undeclared war to outdo the novel with his technical brilliance and mastery on the medium called cinema.
Manek Mulla ( Rajit Kapur) who narrates the story of three leading ladies of the movie is an observer, as well as a participant in the stories. He is a detached man, has complete control on his emotions, more like a silent observer. And, how brilliantly Rajit Kapur played this complex character. He is just superb!!!
Jamuna (Rajeshwari Sachdev) is a free spirited girl who believes in fairy- tale love- stories but she had to face the harsh realities of life. Because of social and economic compulsions and more than that, the lack of courage of her love ( Tanna) to rise above his circumstances, she had to marry a man much older than her age but she never gives up and finally finds the new meaning of her life with her own means.
Tanna is the regular good guy in a bad bad world. He has a dominating father Maheshwar Dalaal ( played brilliantly by Amrish Puri) who is also a womanizer. Tanna never changes himself and his world gets from bad to worst and finally Tanna gives up. Well , he gets what he deserves! What more you can expect from a man who can not stand for himself. Perhaps, losing legs was just a metaphor before he dies.
Lilly (Pallavi Joshi) is another love interest of Manek Mulla who also gets married to a boy not of his choice, again because of social and economic compulsions and she finally leaves her husband ( Tanna).
The story is so brilliantly woven that every character seems to connected with other in not one but from many angles. It looks like a game where one can not live without affecting others. The movie has seven distinctly different stories and in all these stories, same characters come in and play their roles without changing their characteristics. Brilliant! The more I think about the movie, the more I get immersed into it. I am overwhelmed, completely mesmerized and amazed. Why don’t we see more movies like that?
Neena Gupta
Third love interest of Manek Mulla is Satti ( Played by Neena Gupta), a girl of lower cast who works for a man who owns a small soap factory. When the girl needed Manek’s protection and support most, he betrayed her and left her in the hand of a person who already raped her once. Again Maheshwar Dalaal (Amrish Puri) plays a villain. Maheshwar Dalaal exists in all these stories and plays a villain in one way or other. Or, I should say only in one way, his weakness for women was the cause of miseries in the life of all the characters in the movie.
You will be amazed to see the editing and observation of technical details in the movie. There are many scenes which are repeated from the different angles which gives you feeling that all stories are interconnected , yet separated. Wow! Magic!……….!!!
The end of the movie is unexpected, horrible and literally dark! The bright and genius Manek Mulla with complete control on his emotions who played only an observer or narrator until now, suddenly meets his past in the form of Satti, the girl whom he betrayed. This time he couldn’t control his emotions and for the first time he stops moving forward. He leaves his journey, leaves his friends , starts following his past and finally became disappeared. Manek Mulla who had talent to make instant stories on the objects he saw, was an inspiration and guide for Shyam ( played by Raghubir Yadav) who was not as bright as his friends but ended up becoming a famous writer.
Raghubir Yadav
Now the question is why the movie and novel is given this title ” Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda”? Can’t say for sure! In fact , if you observe the story minutely , there are many characters who rose above their circumstances. May be, the writer was thinking about them when he was giving the book this title.
I still feel that more than a love story of Maanek Mulla, it was the story of lost friends who inspire us, teach us and help us to make our personality on the cups of tea in a corner of small city. The unforgettable days….
And now if you are confused after reading this blog , don’t blame me. I am not a genius like Dharamvir Bharati or Shyam benegal. But, if you really want to experience the meaning of cinema, don’t miss ” Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda”.
Long live Cine-Maa!
Amen!
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Link for the original post published @ passionforcinema.com http://passionforcinema.com/suraj-ka-satvan-ghoda-a-timeless-classic-by-shyam-benegal/
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Because, one can not stop to exist 
Yes this movie is outstanding..it also requires a stage in life to understand..it is not a movie i got when i was 18 but at 38 having lived life more, the layers of the movie speaks to me. The ability to take time and transform it the way Shyam babu has is quite something..