Bawarchi (1972):: A Charming cook steals our heart!
95% film is picturized in a simple house and it contains a simple narration, simple story and non glamorous characters and yet film binds the audience and its difficult to leave the film in between. Emotions, comedy, tears, teasing, sweet lies, complexities of a joint family and misunderstandings between the family members, bad habits like alcoholism, generation gap, step feelings towards an orphan, biased approach and little suspense, all is there in the Bawarchi. Film is a classic and even after 35 years, it has not lost its charm and appeal. Its amazing feeling to see how Hrishikesh Mukherjee could make such fine films with his low budget financial capacities and his films can be a lesson to directors who take resort of extravaganza even if their characters are working class.
Bawarchi: Sharma family, headed by Shiv Nath Sharma, lives in a house called, Shanti Niwas”. Family has 8 elder members and a small boy. 6 members of the family have so different habits and they are so demanding that no servant and cook is able to stay in their house for long. They have just lost a cook and now its up to Krishna, to give bed tea in the morning to everybody in the family. She is alone who takes interest in the household works and rest all just try to escape from any kind of household work. Quarrel among family members start since early in the morning on the petty questions like who would use toilet first or who would get tea first or who would wash the utensils and clothes. The oldest member of the family, Shiv Nath Sharma is neglected in this clash between family members and he has to shout to get things like food and tea. His two sons, Ram Nath Sharma and Meeta Sharma, cant reach their offices at time and thus get warning from their respective bosses. Ram Nath works in Pvt. Co and Meeta is a teacher. When they come back in the evening they forgot to bring vegetable, though Ram Nath does not forget to buy his daily quota of alcohol. Meeta objects his drinking habit as his son can take bad inspiration and there is a quarrel between two brothers and they both wished to be separated but their financial limitations stop them. Their wives also don’t like each other. Third and youngest son of Shiv Nath Sharma is Vishwa Nath Sharma, who has keen interest in music and he thinks he is brilliant in music and though his family thinks he is a useless fellow who cant do anything, he thinks he is an artist and thus he has perfect excuse not to waste his time and energy in any useless household job. Daughter of Ram Nath Sharma is a college going young girl and she also does not take any interest in any work and after coming back from the college she starts her dance practise and a tutor, Guru Ji comes to teach her dance. In this scenario, its only Krishna who has to do all the works in the family. She is the daughter of dead son of Shiv Nath Sharma. Her parents were died when she was a kid. Only her Dada ji, Shiv Nath keeps sympathy for her and talks sweetly and shows love else everybody in family treats her like a servant.
But Saviour has to come in such situation and a cook rings the bell of the house and when Krishna opens the door and the person says, I am Raghu and I have come to know, that this house needs a cook, she is so happy and relieved that shouts to call everybody in the family. Cook is interviewed by all members of the family and they become astonished when he says that he would not charge much salary because cost is increasing in the market and its difficult to run a big family like this and as he is alone he can manage in less salary also. Sharma family though finds it strange but they desperately need a cook and so Raghu is given the job of Cook.
Raghu starts his work and wins the heart of everybody in the family with his delicious dishes. He takes care of Shiv Nath Sharma and this pleases the old man a lot. Raghu gives him tea at 4 AM in the morning so that he can go on a morning walk. He gives him massage and cooks healthy things for him. Everybody is so happy with the new cook. When daughter in laws try to wash the utencils and clothes he stops them and says that he would do this job also. Ladies says but this is not his job, he is a cook and not a simple servant. Raghu smilingly says,” its fine and easy to perform our own work but when we do and help others in their work only then we get real happiness”.
Family members like his philosophy. He does magic with everyone. He sees that family members have problems with each other and he tries to solve misunderstandings lie between them. He goes to Ram Nath and says that his younger brother Meeta was saying that its not age of Ram Nath to work but I being younger brother is so stupid and inefficient that cant ask him to stop working. Raghu brings things for Ram Nath so that he can enjoy his daily drinks. Raghu does not start with criticism and he starts with winning the confidence of each family members and then slowly strike on their shortcomings and change their bad habits.
Soon there is perfect bonhomie between Ram Nath and Meeta. Raghu becomes trouble shooter in the family. Krishna feels difficulty in the mathematics and Raghu solve her questions. When people ask him how he knows the mathematics he says he has been cook with a famous professor of mathematics and he taught him the mathematics. Vishwanath is disturbed because he is unable to compose a song and Raghu tells him the right tune and again reveals that he has been cook at the home of a famous musician.
Once daughter of Ram Nath is doing her dance practise with her Guru ji and Krishna is watching from the window and Guru Ji takes the notice and window is closed on her face. Raghu also sees the whole episode and he goes to Krishna and pacifies her emotions. He teaches her the dance as well and takes permission of her grand father Shiv Nath. Krishna also participates in the dance competition and she wins the first prize. Everybody in the family likes this except daughter of Ram Nath, who feels insulted. She insults Krishna. Raghu interferes and makes her understand and says he would teach her also. His charming manners win.
Things take turn when Krishna’s college friend comes at home and they both go to roof and start practise of the drama they have to do in their college. Ladies in the family think that Krishna and the boy are involved in an affair and boy is shown the exit and Krishna is beaten.
Raghu sees all this and goes to Shiv Nath who comes to rescue his grand daughter Krishna and scolds his daughter in laws. Both the ladies go to their rooms and start weeping and in the evening tell their husbands that their father has insulted them.
Raghu stops Ram Nath and Meeta and preaches them that if their children talk with them in anger how would they feel and he tells them that it was the mistake of their wives. Things settle but ultimately Krishna’s friend is given a bad name and Raghu knows that Krishna likes the boy.
One night when everybody is sleeping, we see Raghu, covering his face goes to room of Shiv Nath and steals the box of jewellery box kept under his bed. In the morning everybody is stunned to know that their favourite cook is disappeared and jewellery box is also lost. Vishwanath says that he always had doubt over Raghu as the man like him never can be a cook. He knew English, mathematics, classical music and dancing and so many other things. He came here on purpose to steal the jewellery.
But is it the truth? Why a profound man like Raghu would work as a cook when he could become rich by pursuing any of the profession as he is skilled in various fields. What are his motives?
Bawarchi suggest that a lie is not a lie if its said to fulfil a nice and genuine cause. Film supports the sweet talking and moral and family values.
Title role of Bawarchi (Raghu) is played by Rajesh Khanna and he is the true winner in the film. He presents completely the shades of his character. His personal charm is befitting the demand of the role. Seeing him, its easy to believe that nobody could do the role with that fineness as he did. And what he wears, a khaki shirt, half pant and a khaki Gandhi shaped cap, this is the glamorous dress he has put on in the film! He is simply great in the film . His synchronisation in such roles where he has to play a hero having winsome image is praise worthy. He has done it in many films of that era like Safar, Anand, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Namak Haram, Maryada, Mehboob ki Menhdi etc and he does his best in Bawarchi. He was nominated for filmfare award in best actor category but lost it to Manoj Kumar who won it for a very ordinary film Beiman. Hard luck for Rajesh Khanna!
Harendra Nath Chattopadhyay (brother of Sarojini Naidu) plays the Shiv Nath Sharma and he is just adorable in a role where he has to sit most of the time on his bed in his room and has to comment on the activities going on in his house. He commands the house from his room whenever it is needed and he comes out of the room also when he has no other choice. He has got very fine dialogues from Gulzaar Saab’s writings and he utilizes the opportunity. A nice performance by him though his all the roles have been quite good in hindi films but this can be his best role. And he sings so well and adds his valuable input with Kishor Kumar, Manna De, Laxmi Shankar and Nirmala Devi (yes mother of actor Govinda) in the song “ Bhort Aya gaya Andhiyara ….”.
A.K Hangal plays the role of Ram Nath and he brings joy to audience. His body language is amazing. In one scene his father Shiv Nath calls him early in the morning and he is sleeping in the bed. He says to his wife, Seeta (Durga Khote), Babu Ji bula rahe hain” he thinks she will go to attend his calling but she says, tumhare babu ji hain tumhe bula rahe hain. He goes there reluctantly and hears Munna Munaa ( his nickname in the home) in the corridor and becomes little irritated and enters in the room of his father and says,” kya hua Babu ji kyon subah subah mujhe bula rahe hain”. Father complains he has not got tea by now. A. K. Hangal’s eyes are on the jewellery box lying beneath the bed of his father and he is unable to remove his eyes from the box and yet he has to reply to his father. His hands are folded behind him and he says,” Babu ji kab se keh raha hun, ye jewellery bank mein locker mein rakhwa dijiye, kabhi koi chor le gaya to”.
Father says,” Beta jewaron kee chinta chhoro, pehle apne burhe baap kee chai kee chinta karo”. A. K Hangal is back on earth. A.K.Hangal is a very fine character artist and always gives fantastic performances which suit his characters very well. In Bawarchi also he is very good.
Jaya Bachchan (Bhaduri then) plays the role of Krishna and she is able to live every emotions of her character with a fine balance of emotions and expressions on her face. She has played roles of ordinary girl next door with such an élan in her films that her old films have been very appealing and has secured a place for her in hindi cinema forever. She can’t be termed as strikingly beautiful like her predecessors or successors and yet she cherishes a strong place in the hindi cine history just on the basis of her acting ability. This will always be said that if she did not leave films for her life after married then perhaps she could have given many great films.
Asrani plays the role of Vishwanath and he is fine in eccentric music lover who thinks he is a great artist.
Durga Khote and Usha Kiran play very well the roles of daughter in laws of the Sharma family.
Paintal plays the role of Guru ji- the dance teacher and his body language is just perfect for this role. His body has dance in it and it shows when he dances on “Kanha kahe karat barjori”.
Gulzaar provides fine and funny dialogues to a simple story written by Tapa Sinha and Screen play of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Madan Mohan composes the music and brings us nice semi classical songs like
Tum Bin Jeevan kaisa jeevan ( Manna De)
Mast Pawan Dole re ( Lata)
Mere Naina bahaye neer ( Lata)
Kahe kanha karat barjori ( lakshmi shankar)
Bhor Ayee gaya andhiyara ( Manne De, Kishor Kumar, Lakshmi Shankar, Harendra Nath chattopadhyaya and Firmala Devi).
Kaifee Azami as usual writes wonderful lyrics to match with the music of Madan Mohan.
Gopi Krishna provides the choreography and he is a Master, who always brought classical touch to the otherwise normal dancing in hindi films.
Characters in the film are introduced by a narration by Amitabh Bachchan.
Million thanks to Hrishikesh Mukherjee to make this wonderful film.
A masterpiece from a Master!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
RK, thanks for showcasing another gem from the memory lane. Couldn’t resist sharing a trivia
that Bawarchi was a hindi remake of Tapan Sinha’s Bengali movie called “Golpo Holeo Sotyi”.
Rajesh Khanna really excelled in this movie without his usual romantic antics. With the success
of “Khosla Ka Ghosla” I’m hopeful that this genre of movie-making will have a re-run in Bollywood.
Bishu: Thanks for info. abt. Tapan Sinha’s Bangali film. Thanks to Hrishikesh Mukherjee
that he made it in Hindi also.
In Anand also, Rajesh Khanna had no heroine to display romance and yet he excelled in
that film also. That was simply his time between 1969 to 1973 before Bobby and Zanzeer
happened. Though after also he gave many good films.
Hope low budget films again become the flavour of the present time. But perhapos we
have reached till now up to 1980’s condtions, still 10 more years to cover.
RK/Bishu, no doubt Rajesh Khanna did a marvellous job of Bawarchi but I think Robi Ghosh was dazzling brilliant in the original “Golpo Holeo Shotti”. Do give a dekko if you find a version with subtitles
Amby: Thanks for info abt original. will definitely attend a dekho sesion whenever I come across this film of Robi Ghosh:)