Chasme Buddor!


The 1981, phenomenal saga tailored by one of the greatest Woman Film Makers of India, Sai Paranjpe...

The particular point to be mentioned is, Sai was way ahead of her times & a Woman in a Man's world as compared to today's Farah Khan or Meera Nair or others, where liberalization is second nature bagged by Western influence & technology. No woman in India dared to make movies in those days. Sai Paranjpe for first, never made movies for women. Her stories themed around a collective set of characters irrespective of gender. The fairer sex always had fair share.

Amongst Sai's many movies such as, (ref Wikipedia...)
  • The Little Tea Shop (TV 1972)
  • Jadu Ka Shankh (1974)
  • Begaar (1975)
  • Sikander (1976)
  • Dabcherry Milk Project (1976)
  • Captain Laxmi (1977)
  • Freedom From Fear (1978)
  • Sparsh (1980)
  • Chasme Buddoor (1981)
  • Books That Talk (1981)
  • Katha (1983)
  • Ados Pados (TV 1984)
  • Chote Bade (TV 1985)
  • Angootha Chhaap (1988)
  • Disha (1990)
  • Papeeha 1993)
  • Chooriyan (1993)
  • Saaz (1997)
  • Bhago Bhoot (2000)
  • Chaka Chak (2005)
  • Suee (2009)
Chasme Buddoor has a touch of so called young age love (not teen age) set in the Delhi's perimeter. Three bachelors, educated, unemployed, sharing a pad have a chance encounter with a girl who apparently is induced for the nice-guy-finishing-last type, Sid (Farukh Shaikh). The other two friends, Omi (Rakesh Bedi) and Jomo (Ravi aswani) plan to destroy this budding relation though not so in a real villainous way as Hindi Cinema of those days were. The crux of the story now aims in ending the tale in a happy note as all cinemas are ought to be. I bet except this notion, Sai never managed to do anything what Chopras, Anands, Ghai or Sippys of the time did. Perhaps there is always a social obligation to any recital that it has to end in a happy note.

I admired it then, though I was a fan of dishum-dishum genre like all kids, but Shaikh had a charm that makes you believe that 'this could be me'! Not only Shaikh, Amol Palekar who in true sense represents common man like me or Naseeruddin Shah who always shows us common man's struggles (that until he switched to Commercial Cinema heavily) are actors who can never leave minds of an active movie goer like me.

After many years when I saw the movie again on CD and now on Satellite Channel, what particularly strikes me is Lallan Miyan (Saeed Jafrey), local shopkeeper who sells Cigarettes to Omi and Jomo on credit. But as students, they don't clear his debts, Lallan Miyan tries to follow up with them to get their dues. Lallan reminds me of my college days' local grocery storekeeper, Prabhakar. Away from family, with dreams in our eyes, but facing perils of studies & often the wrath of Professors, having habits that seem to be trivial in that age, our ups & downs in our thoughts and actions had only one REGULATOR, Prabhakar. We literally shared our heart individually with him. Often Prabhakar took the role of guardian to solve disputes. His shop turned as our storage area of Xeroxes or Bags. Letters from family were sent to him. He obviously had a PCO booth, so our contact to family & even our crushes were in his spectrum. Watching Lallan Miyan reminded me of Prabhakar.

The movie's songs show a bad taste of director, but Sai was never about song & dances around trees. The number "baat hai kuch kehne ki" is the most silliest. Sung when Sid bags job. Again as a spectator if only we could think, "this could be me". We often sing silly lyrics, when we are happy. Sai depicts that possibilities. Kudos for that eye of the director.

Entertainment value to such movies comes when we are already enjoying our lives & when our most habits or idiosyncrasies are depicted on Cinema. If you do not observe your own life, then commercial cinemas like Happy New Year or Bang Bang are for you, which titillate your senses. I am the former kind.

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