N A Ansari and the Beauty of Incoherence

1. N A Ansari and the Beauty of Incoherence Back in the 1970s, books were very common wedding presents amongst Bengalis in Calcutta. Popularly known as biyer boi (wedding books), they were sold at a very reasonable price in College Street. My parents received a large number of them when they got married. After I was born and managed to get somewhat literate, Dad opened his box of those wedding books and read them with me. The covers were always very attractive. They would either be classic 1960s pulp art or a lithography of an attractive woman or a picturesque European village. The books started like a typical novel, where the protagonist named Bina was worried about her prospective groom, Rajat, who seemed like an unkind man to her. This went on for about six pages and, as we were about to find out a scandal about Rajat, we discovered the next page was straight out of Wren and Martin. It was beckoning Dad and me to analyse the grammatical structure of ‘still water runs deep’. Right after that there was a recipe of swadisht doodh pua banane ki vidhi (pancakes soaked in milk), followed by pedology lesson on black soil, and ending with messages from the Bible. Every book was full of wonderful, eclectic content. We were mesmerized. And this is exactly how Nisar Ahmed Ansari approached his films. For more information, Visit: https://www.cinemaazi.com/features Today, many consider Ansari to be a film-maker with a cult following, admired amongst cinephiles. However, in all probability, this kind of fandom comes from a place of ambivalence. On one hand, there is appreciation of his unique content; on the other, his shoddy production and directorial skills are mocked at. Shriram Iyengar (cinestaan.com) calls him the Ed Wood of Bollywood. Now, the reason Ed Wood

2. captures the imagination of cinema lovers is largely because of Tim Burton’s compassionate depiction of him in the film titled Ed Wood (1994). While Bollywood cinephiles certainly enjoy Ansari’s films, there is very little attempt to locate his films in a broader milieu and appreciate the distinguishing features of his movies. Ansari is an actor, director and producer. My interest primarily lies in his directorial work. I want to begin by talking about his quasi-Gothic settings. He was very fond of haunted houses, castles, forests and towers. He often liked to begin his stories in a Gothic setting. For example, Tower House (1962) gets going with a spectral suicide from a tower that is repeated every night. Black Cat (1959) starts in a gothic house with men in black coats and hats, and gunshots. Zara Bachke (Be Careful, 1959) revolves around a princess who falls in love with an ordinary man. There is also the villainous gang, led by Ansari himself who wants to marry the princess for her money and use her resources to carry on his nefarious activities. The whole set-up is Gothic, including a fake séance in the climax that reveals the real culprit behind the murder of a watchman. Even his espionage thrillers like Zindagi Aur Maut (Life and Death, 1965) and Wahan ke Log (People from Mars, 1967) have Gothic subplots. Ansari knew that a Gothic setting usually worked well in capturing the attention of the audience.