From
Howrah Bridge to Kahaani: Changes in the cinematic representation of the city
of Calcutta in two Bollywood films (1958 -2012)
A
careful revisiting of the two films Howrah Bridge and Kahaani seems to reveal
that certain tropes are used in both the films (despite them being separated by
so many years and hence embodying so many changes) albeit imbued with different
set of meanings. Stereotypes, both colonial and post colonial, surrounding the city
have been subverted through the genre of mystery. This is presumably seen here
in the unabashed acceptance of the so called tag of being an ‘unplanned city’
by the British and that of an urban squalor feeding off a cultural heritage as
commented upon by various writers, politicians who left the city in the face of
economic decline and better prospects elsewhere.
Below I have delineated certain key points
around which I shall compare the two films and their representations of the
city.
- Mysterious
City
In both Howrah Bridge (1958) and in Kahaani
(2012), the city of Calcutta is seen as mysterious.
A dialogue from the former between Prem Kumar
and Edna is a case in point. On being asked by Edna, “Apko kaisa laga
Calcutta”, Prem says, “Pasand aya par bahut bada hai, aur kuch ajeeb,
mysterious, tumhare mafik….Par mujhe seher se koi umeed nahin, par tumse hai”
Again in Kahaani (2012) the song goes on to describe
Calcutta as “Dil ka bazar hai, par thoda sa bizarre hai/…..Aisa sheher hai
jiska double role ha/Chalte rehta phir bhi jata kahin nahin/ are baba kuch to
gondogol hai”. Vidya Bagchi, says that every person has two names, two faces,
just like the city. Yet again Bob Biswas
performs a hysterical act in a public place to scare Vidya by saying, “Madam,
Kolkata dangerous city. Yahan kabhi bhi kisi ko bhi kuch bhi ho sakta hai. Bojhaan,
bhlaor jonne. Laut jaiye”. This accentuation of the city mysterious, almost to
the point of seeming ludicrous, is a trope to subvert the dominant image to one’s
own advantage. In this case to literally force a perceived enemy to pack their
bags and flee the city.
Moreover, right at the outset, both the films
have been described as belonging to mystery-suspense/thriller genre
- First
Contact:
In Howrah Bridge, an immigrant businessman Madan
Kumar from Rangoon gets killed in Calcutta. Prem Kumar, his brother goes to
Calcutta for business (but in reality to search for his brother’s killers). His
first encounter with the city shows him being pushed into a luxurious Calcutta
hotel, with a beautiful dancing girl seducing him. As if the city was
personified as the seductive dancing girl.
In Kahaani too the protagonist of the film,
Vidya Bagchi, is a Bengali residing in London. On arriving at the Calcutta airport
(again a transit space like the hotel) she is surrounded by taxi drivers and
rental car drivers with the hope of catching a ‘prospective buyer/passenger’.
Vidya is bewildered and finally agrees to be with a person whom she seems to
connect with intuitively. The city is here being shown as one that still has
her heart in place, despite degeneration on other levels.
- Spatial
Politics
In Howrah Bridge, all the action takes place in
the north of the city where the Chang Hotel is situated in Chinabazar and
Barabazar is spoken of as the hub of jewelery making and buying. Only the first
scene begins with the Dock near the Writers Building.
In Kahaani, the south of the city like Kalighat,
Triangular Park, Park Street, Camac Street, Monalisa Guest House (although
imbued with a certain class politics in the film) is under the spotlight. These
are the areas where the upholders and makers of law, order and culture reside.
Whereas as soon as the question of the secret hideout of Milan Damji ( the
killer ) arrives, the images shift to the North of the city with its Nakhoda Masjid, the teeming millions jostling
with each other on the busy, cramped streets, teasing us into the small bylanes
of Barabazar and Iqbalpur.
Besides, Satyaki (Parambrata) who is a police
officer, is shown to work and not live in South Calcutta Kalighat, making his
trips across his workplace and home using the tram (a hint possibly to the
bari/basha dichotomy of 19th century). So the south of the city, is
seen as a workplace and not residence for certain sections of the service
class.
These spatial references besides taking into
account the particular historical moment also reek of the colonial division of
the city into black and white towns which again were contained within certain
power relationships. In the films, though the division remains, it is however
imbued with new kinds of meanings. Moreover the spatial expansion of the city
and its growth into suburban areas is also reflected in the new areas/localities
included in Kahaani that were not so present in Howrah Bridge.
- Using
the songs in the films to understand streets and culture of Calcutta
A song from Howrah
Bridge reveals not just the streets and their social function but also the
people who reside in it
“ it ki dukki paan kaa
ikkaa, kahi jokar kahi sattaa hai
suno ji ye kalakattaa
hai
taali gaj ki jhil pe
baabu aae rup ke daas, jhil kinaare badhati jaae matavaalo ki pyaas
naa pocket me maal hai
baabu, naa kapadaa naa lattaa hai
suno ji ye kalakattaa
hai
chauragi ke chauk me
dekho matavaale bangaali, rasagulle si mithi baate inaki shaan niraali
kahi benarji kahi
mukarji, kahi ghosh kahi dattaa hai
suno ji ye kalakattaa
ye basti hai aag kaa
dariyaa isame howrah pul hai, apani jaan bachaa lo baabu varanaa dibbaa gul hai
sar par paanv rakh kar
bhaago katane vaalaa pattaa hai
suno ji ye kalakattaa
hai”
Again the streets are described in the 1984
movie Tinmurti in the following ways, revealing the mystery of the city (though
this film does not form part of my comparison, I decided to include a song from
it, to reveal the continuity of the idea of the city mysterious even in an 1984
bollywood film, marking a continuity with the two films already spoken of)
“ Emon Majar shohor, Bujhli Bondhu
Kolkata ek bodo Golokdhandha
Bhul korbe boubazar e, bou kinte gele
Dekbe na to ekta seyal , sealdah e ele
Hatibagan e nei to hathi
Bagbazar e rosogolla jogotjora naam
Phoolbagan ne nei to bagan, o phool
Shyambazar e baje na to shyamer bashi bhai
Ballygunge e bali nei
Tallygunge e tali
Sudhu thaken kalighat e ma kali….”
In
Kahani (2012) the songs ascribe certain traits to the city, instead of
describing it only in terms of its streets and material culture. A mixture of both Bengali, hindi and
English is used in the song to make it relatable as a city to different groups
of people and different parts of the country who consume and who imagine the
city.
“Kolkata khwaishon
armaano ka achaar hai
Jitne bhi door jaao, Dil se na far hai
Kolkata dekho toh baaqi duniya bekaar hai
Strong hai powerful hai phir bhi lachar hai
Bilkul naya hai
Phir bhi Beete kal mein ye raftaar hai
Aami shotti bolchi….”
- Dopplegangers?
In both the films, nearing their climax, the
maze of streets of Calcutta and its labyrinth like nature is being used as a
tool to show the chase between two opposing forces (Bob Biswas/ Shreekanth vs
Police or Vidya vs Milan Damji in case of Kahaani ; and between Edna and
Chang’s men in howrah Bridge) The confusing bylanes of the city and its so called
imagery of lack of any planning is being subverted in this game of good versus
evil which takes centre stage in literary and cultural concerns of the times.
It is uncanny that both have a certain shot of
the river right below the Howrah Bridge, dividing the river and the ghats into
two halves. The similarities in the scenes around the Reception desk in both
the movies lingers like a ‘spectre’.
The climax in both is also eerily similar.
Deception is used to reveal the truth. However, the implied meanings in both
seems to be of a different kind.
- Changes
in the Image of Calcutta as the embodiment of feminine virtue and of
progress
In Howrah there is a sense of optimism to what
the city’s future might be. The city is also yet not so sure of itself. It has
multi communities and classes of people residing within it from the Sikhs to
the Chinese to immigrants from Rangoon. Each of them flirts with the ‘female’
personified city in their own ways (city personified as the figure of
Madhubala/Edna ). Some bribe it with money, some with love. Ultimately the city
chooses love but has also learnt the tricks of deception to reach the truth.
The city is shown to be young, full of possibilities, rich in economic
activities, trade networks with Singapore, Hong Kong albeit in illegal goods
like Opium, stolen dragon masks etc. The city pulls people into its vortex. Yet
at the same time deception is taken as natural and used as a tool to fool
people for rightful means. Crime and violence are corollaries to prosperous
places and the city of Calcutta is no exception to this, in the film. Cultural
representations like the song “Mera Nam Chin Chin Chu” with Helen dressed as a
Chinese young lady, and the Sikh taxi drivers celebrating their workplace
through Punjabi dance/songs shows the variety of cultural practices co-existing
in the city.
In Kahaani however, a sense of disappointment
with what the city has become is evident in the fact that the city is trying to
speak through a voice of understanding its limits but also positing a
replacement to its economic-political displacement by seeking a uniqueness in
its emotional rhetoric of city with a heart, a place where truth still resides.
Here again the city is personified as a woman, albeit one which is fairly
strong in her position and can fight for and win her rights despite being
vulnerable. (As against in Howrah Bridge where the city personified as a woman
was not so sure of her position and weighing her options).
Moreover, culturally the city in Kahaani is
representing itself through the festival of Durga Puja. The city has taken a
definite economic and its corresponding cultural position. It has created this
homogenous cultural symbol that would subsume and incorporate all the varying
cultural strands, unlike in Howrah Bridge where the economic variety and
activities replicates itself in representation of the cultural diversity of the
city.
- Deception,
selfishness, class, gender in the urban Calcutta
There are layers of deception and truth in both
the films, where one is left wondering till the end what is what and who is who
and for what and for whom. This game of hide and seek to describe the city and
its people is a trope in both the films.
In both the films, the protagonist seeking
justice is seen to get help from the so called dregs of society. A dancer in a
hotel, a ‘tanga’ driver in the case of Howarah Bridge and the young policeman
and the child in the case of Kahani. They seem to find solidarity with the so
called ‘other’ protagonist, both seeking justice in a mysterious/selfish city.
The movie starts with a person of the lower
class using the Howrah Bridge as a resting point to smoke up ‘chillam’ whereas
it is used as a point to throw a murdered individual by the upper classes.
There is also this sense of aspiration to acquire the status higher than
oneself through the acquisition of money, goods by the rural folk in the film,
however this aspiration is constantly questioning the idea of morality and loss
of innocence in the face of it. One of the film’s characters is unabashedly
selfish and asks for his commission in every job that he facilitates. Money is
seen as a ‘masculine’ space constantly teaching and being overpowered by the
‘feminine’ essence of the city which is pure, innocent, vulnerable yet moral.
Immigrants like Chinese do not have allegiance
to the city, they are just there for making money and leave the second they
feel threatened. Class boundaries are self constituted as a device to one’s
ends in Howrah Bridge, undergirded by class solidarities. The image of the
Howrah Bridge as one where 10,000 people travel to and fro the bridge is seen
as a powerful symbol of its prosperity.
- Commodity
Festishism and aural-visual culture
In Kahaani ‘power ridden symbols’ are questioned
through humor - Vidya Bagchi, for example, questions her husband “Lal
par shada sari – Kolkata mein sab log pehente hain. Sab? Mard bhi?” Again the “lal pad sada sari” is used to
confuse the police in the end. Wherein the lal pad is politically imbued with
different meanings, subverting its essence and reinstating the voice of the
subaltern.
Songs used in the film, like those of, Sob koro
prem koro na, Amaro porano jaha chay, jane kahan mera jigar gaya ji’s Bengali
version, uses the very trope of Calcutta as a city of art, dance and music, to
entertain and to commercialise the film to reach a wider audience.
The city is made to come alive through the
sounds such as those of hawkers shouting, chants of pandits, food cooked, bus
honks along with the visual images of lassi, puri, tea, chow cooked in the
bazar and streets. This emphasizes, the informal nature of the city.
The typical tea glasses with embossed vertical
lines – again a familiar image to
describe the city is being used in the film as a clue in the plot to finally
find the whereabouts of the killer.
LIC officer also a part time killer, a pregnant woman but
actually a seeker of justice, creation of the myth of similar identities of
Milan and Arnab, are used as plot tools, playing upon the idea of the city that
deceives and also revealing Marxist idea that the apparent can be deceptive.
The very tools to unravel the plot seems a practical extension of the apparent
as fiction in Marx.
Further the very lanes of the city (which define
the city) and where Durga Puja comes alive, is used for a very different
purpose in the movie - for the purpose of tracking down deceptive people. The
streets almost stand for a ritual cleansing of the soul and a removal of
evil/rotten people from the city and the world.
- Material
Reality
The material reality and the
historical context of the period in which Howrah Bridge and Kahaani were made
also guided their production, reception and ideological positions: Through the
1950s and 1960s, Calcutta was arguably India’s most important city, ahead of
Bombay and Delhi. In
1950, the city had a population of over 4.5 million. Bombay’s population stood
at 2.6 million and Delhi’s at 1.4 million. Bangalore had just 0.8 million
people. The population growth of a city is a reasonable indicator of its
standing –as human capital flows to cities that deliver economic opportunity. Those who lived through those decades recall the cleanliness—all
streets were washed every morning—and the efficiency of the civic
administration. Calcutta was the base of India’s largest business groups, and
had thriving heavy industry nearby.
In 2012, Calcutta Calcutta’s
population had reduced beyond belief, residents were migrating outside of it rather
than inside as a result of lack of economic activities and a lack of industrial
growth. Issues of globalization, terrorism, IT became issues conjoining the
global with the local. In pop culture the global fetish of certain images to
describe Calcutta such as those of Durga Puja, intellectualism, scrumptious food,
a city still with a soul have established their presence.
- The
title of the films
The city is represented through its
infrastructural and transport facilities in the form of Howrah Bridge. In Kahani,
the city is seen as a site of appropriating individual likes and dislikes,
where questions of identities and communities takes centre stage.
Through the above key images and tropes of
Calcutta as a mysterious city, bewildering one in the first instance, with a
hierarchy between the north and south of the city, certain aural-visual
representation, the personification of the city as female and the gender, race,
culture, class politics surrounding it, commodity fetishism, I have tried to
unpack the changing politics of the representation/location of the city of
Calcutta in the two films Howrah Bridge and Kahani.
- DEVINA GUPTA
