The Star and the Everyman in Basu Chatterjee's Films

1. The Star and the Everyman in Basu Chatterjee's Films Na jaane kyon hota hai ye zindagi ke sath / achanak ye man, kisike jaane ke baad / kare fir uski yaad, chhoti chhoti si baat For more information, visit: https://www.cinemaazi.com/ These evergreen lines from the 1976 hit Chhoti Si Baat wonderfully encapsulate the new idiom of stardom that Basu Chatterjee introduced in Hindi cinema. A mild-mannered soft spoken individual who doused fires by sprinkling wit than raining fists. Someone who appears completely unremarkable, yet their sensitivity and amiability keep pulling us back. Someone who learns to take small confident steps rather than giant leaps. And yet this character appeared in the decade most associated with the fiery rage of the ‘angry young man’. While the brooding charisma of Amitabh Bachchan provided the most compelling canvas for the latter, the reserved charm of an Amol Palekar is usually associated with the former. But we are not concerned with these conventional groupings, but with the overlap between the two. Na jaane kyon hota hai ye zindagi ke sath / achanak ye man, kisike jaane ke baad / kare fir uski yaad, These evergreen lines from the 1976 hit Chhoti Si Baat wonderfully encapsulate the new idiom of stardom that Basu Chatterjee introduced in Hindi cinema. A mild-mannered soft spoken individual who doused fires by sprinkling wit than raining fists. chhoti chhoti si baat The films that Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee made are usually attributed the tag of ‘middle cinema’. Madhava Prasad has commented on the significant new developments in the cinema of the 70’s. There was the ‘cinema of mobilization’ centered on the righteous rage of the marginalized against a system which appeared apathetic to their concerns – namely the ‘angry young man’ films. On the other hand were the sparse narratives and formal experimentations of the

2. Indian New Wave which espoused a radical take on art and politics. In both forms a growing unease with prevalent norms was palpable. The angry young man far outstripped the New Wave in terms of popular acceptance. But the New Wave’s commitment to changing the way we see films was far more influential than their sparse box office returns suggest. A fallout of their efforts was the emergence of a group of filmmakers who admired the realist aesthetic and the focus on ordinary characters, but wished to do so within a modified milieu of the popular film. These films concerned themselves primarily with interpersonal relationships, usually resolving the issues with an affirmation of the traditional values of the middle class family. The journey of realism in Indian cinema thus split into two paths. In one the Naxalite enters the upper middle class home (Mrinal Sen’s Padatik, 1973), while in the other the film star enacts the same entrance albeit with very different results (Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Guddi, 1971). The New Wave’s commitment to changing the way we see films was far more influential than their sparse box office returns suggest. A fallout of their efforts was the emergence of a group of filmmakers who admired the realist aesthetic and the focus on ordinary characters, but wished to do so within a modified milieu of the popular film. Basu Chatterjee began his film career as an assistant to Basu Bhattacharya when he made Teesri Kasam (1966). His directorial debut Sara Akash (1969), one of the first films funded by the Film Finance Corporation, is regarded as a milestone in the history of the New Wave. Although beginning within the contours of the realist drama, he would go on to attain recognition as the maker of quaint comedies like Rajnigandha (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chitchor (1976) and Baton Baton Mein (1979). The surprise success of Rajnigandha and Chhoti Si Baat made Amol Palekar the face of the ordinary middle class man on screen. Yet he was not the only one to step into the shoes of the middle class struggler in Chatterjee’s films. He directed the likes of Jeetendra (Priyatama, 1977), Dharmendra (Dillagi, 1978), Amitabh Bachchan (Manzil, 1979), Rajesh Khanna (Chakravyuha, 1979), Dev Anand (Man Pasand, 1980) and Hema Malini (Dillagi and Ratnadeep, 1979). While his contemporary Hrishikesh Mukherjee achieved great success directing stars in similar films in the first half of the 70’s, the same accomplishment was not accorded to these films. All the more perplexing was the continued success of the formula when anchored by the likes of Amol Palekar and Bindiya Goswami. The answer to this conundrum lies in the particular relationship between the star and the everyman that emerged in the 70’s.