Razia Sultan(1983)- Did Kamal Amrohi really mean it?
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Long before Fire, there was Razia Sultan? For long, I had wondered, “Is this true or is it just my perverted mind reading too much into one song picturization?”. I wanted to write this post for quite some time but the video of this song wasn’t available on You Tube. If you do click the link, read all the comments at the bottom, it seems I wasn’t the only one seeing the lesbianism portrayed in the song.
Watch the song carefully. It starts off as a normal, yet beautifully picturized song, Parveen Babi playing the trusted friend to Hema Malini whispering in her ear about the prince of her dreams etc. etc. Suddenly, and without warning, the song shows them becoming intimate, to the extent of course that Hindi cinema of the days allowed it. Parveen gets too close to Hema Malini, their faces hide behind the prop. The best evidence that the director meant it, is the expression on the faces of the two maids, rowing the boat. The younger maid almost giggles at what she sees while the senior, more experienced one, admonishes her and warns her to keep her mouth shut or get killed.
So, was Razia Sultan the first Hindi film showing a lesbian relationship or the song just happened by an accident? Did Kamal Amrohi really mean it? Did the director, known for his meticulous research find something that wasn’t taught in history books? Was Razia Sultan gay?
It’s not completely unimaginable. After all, we are referring to our first woman ruler in thirteenth century Islamic India. These times must have been full of strife and turbulence. Most of the kings and kingdoms in India in general, and the Islamic ones in particular were known for constant conspiracies, regime changes, rebellions, murders of the kings and queens by their very own. In such a time, in a traditionally ultra male and mullah dominated society, Razia was appointed the Sultan or Sultana, as she is referred to in Hindi/Urdu. It must have been nearly impossible for her to find a mate and if she did, express her feeling towards him without risking the life of that individual. In that environment, under that kind of pressure, if she had a friend who was her only trusted ally and who was around her 24 hours, that could explain the relationship. So my disbelief is not whether Razia Sultan was gay or not, its’ in the fact that Kamal Amrohi dared to show that in a film released in 1983 and in the fact that Hema Malini and Parveen Babi agreed to do the scene.
I am a sucker for films made on historical characters, particularly about characters that I loved reading about in our school history books. Razia Sultan was one such fascinating character. So, I wanted to see this film for a long time, but got discouraged by friends who had seen it and called it a slow grind. I had owned the music cassette, one of the earliest pieces after I started buying music for myself. The music is mesmerizing, no doubt, one of the best by Khayyam and has some of the best slow songs of Lataji. Ae Dil-e Nadan and Jalta hai badan are the most popular but rest of the songs are equally deserving.
Finally I did get to watch the film. I admit, it was a difficult act and took me multiple sittings. But I did finish it and then watched it again as I started to like it. The film is superb in parts and mediocre and rushed job in other parts. The film must have been in making for multiple years and it shows. Some of the sets are amazing; the opening set and the one where above mentioned song is picturized. The pace is languid throughout, the drama doesn’t quite build up. Some of the side characters are not fleshed out. The character of Razia’s half brother, an important character in the story is only half explored; he is hardly given any dialogs. Villas aren’t quite allowed the villainy and the intrigues and conspiracies in the palace don’t quite add up.
I had read somewhere that the film was written for Meena Kumari and that makes complete sense watching the film. The character of Razia seems a full-on Meena Kumari character, filled with melancholy and sadness. Unfortunately Hema Malini does complete injustice to the role. She looks out of shape (maybe the costumes make her look fat) and sleep walks through the role. I have seen this problem in many of Hema Mailini’s later films. She killed another great film for me – Kudrat by Vijay Anand. But more on that some other day. Dharmendra is cast as the black slave, literally by applying black paint on his body and face. It’s so weird and surprising that they didn’t hire a black actor for the role. That too in a film clearly ahead of its times that ventured into showing lesbian relationship. But after few initial scenes, Dharmendra’s character grows on you and he delivers a great performance. You completely get Yakut’s character.
Another character you complete get is that of Iltumish, the slave king, played by Pradeep Kumar. Iltumish was another character I used to like in history books and was looking forward to see him on screen. I actually liked Pradeep Kumar in this film; he brings the right level of intensity to the role. The films made on historical characters work for me when the script takes the tidbits you had read in school books and either explains the tidbits or builds further on them. An example is the very first war scene in Jodha Akbar, the second war of Panipat, if I remember correctly, between the forces of Akbar, the boy king, and King Hemchand or Hemu. This war was supposedly decisive in defeat of Hindu India and domination of Islam for next two or three centuries. The battle was almost impossible to win for Mughals, Hemu’s forces outnumbered theirs by a big margin. And then you read that Hemu was hit in the eye, his forces got scattered and they lost the war. In the film, they had a scene where Bairam Khan asks his archers to target Hemu’s eye. I loved that scene and the schoolboy in me watched it with childlike wonder. Anyway, I am getting distracted.
Pradeep Kumar’s Iltumish was relatable in a similar manner. The scenes show his modesty and how he is always aware of his slave roots and the script uses it to explain his liking for Yakut. The woman playing the empress and the heart broken mother of aiyyash prince and step mother of Razia does a decent job. Vijayendra Ghatge and Ajit didn’t have any memorable lines or scenes for me. Parveen Babi is her usual sparkling best in a side role and brings more energy to her role than Hema does to hers.
From whatever little I have read, Kamal Amrohi appears a cross between Zafar and Prem Kumar from the film Khoya Khoya Chand. There are some books written by people close to Meena Kumari who paint him as the villain while others write that whatever his flaws may be, Meena Kumari was truly in love with this guy. Their love life and married life wasn’t happy, that’s known to the world. But whatever the reality of their personal life may be, all the write-ups appear constant about Kamal Amrohi’s dedication to his craft. They do show in parts of KKC where Zafar is shown with a big ego and always wanting to make a magnum opus, bigger and better than anything and everything made before. That trait was clearly Kamal Amrohi, who was known for spending multiple years and sometimes locked in his house in Mahabaleshwar, writing his script. In the end, people like Kamal Amrohi or Meen Kumari are different from you and me and need to judged by a different yard stick altogether. These people were born, lived and died for the art and film world and everything else in their life was probably secondary.
But sometimes you wish Amrohi sahib would have been a bit more disciplined and finished the script on time. You wish he had made the film on time while Meena Kumari was still alive. The entire film misses her and could have been a fitting swan song for her. It has everything Pakeezaish about it, sweeping, larger than life story, grand sets, superb music, Lataji’s voice and even some of the people who were closest to Meena Kumari in real life such as Pradeep Kumar and Dharmendra. In the end, the film lacks soul and you can only wonder if Meena Kumari would have provided the soul that Razia Sultan lacks.
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Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Sachin Kundalkar
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Satish Kasetty
Havent seen the film. The youtube song is the first glimpse I saw of the film. Its pretty evident in the song itself, that it showed lesbianism. Its amazing that Hema Malini and Parveen Babi agreed to do that scene. And equally amazing that no one observed this aspect. Maybe everyone chose to ignore it.
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On a side note, medieval India’s history offers huge potential for film stories, scripts and fascinating characters. Especially the lesser explored period between the rule of Aurangzeb and Bahadur Shah Jafar. There were some 15 mughal rulers between them and each one’s story is full of deciet, revenge, love and human emotions. I hope if they can be brought out on silver screen.
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Yeah, i agree. My favorite characters would always be Kabir, Asok and Gautam Buddha. Not sure, why we don’t make movies on these great heroes.
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great post. I clearly remember this movie. It bombed big time and vanished from the screens in no time. I wanted to make sure that I don’t miss it as I had read a lot about the movie as well as I was (and am) a hardcore Dharam fan. When I got a chance to see this (I was in class 11 then) it was only playing in the morning show in Maratha Mandir in Bombay. I travelled from Chembur in the morning to catch this movie. The hall was nearly empty and the movie was kind of slow and arty type. But surely enough it was majestic – the sets, the sound system and the big screen at Maratha Mandir did have me mesmerised. Hema was a disappointment but Dharam rocked in a diff role. You are right, Pradeep Kumar did have a very good role. Ae dil-e-nadan was brilliantly picturised in the desert. And the then famous radio presenter Kaban Mirza sang “Aayee zanjeer ki jhankaar khuda khair kare…” and “Tera hijr mera naseeb hai…”picturised on Yakut.
I had read that Kamal Amrohi had plans to add sensory dimension to the movie at Maratha Mandir. He had thought of getting roasted chicken and placing them near the fans in the cinema hall during the scene where the same was shown in the movie so that the audience get the aroma and get in the scene. I don’t know if this is true but understand that since the movie bombed big time this couldn’t be implemented.
Lastly, PFC is a great site. I was looking for a good movie website and I have come across this wonder site which has trivia posted regularly and the best part is that the members aren’t influenced by the run of the mill success stories of bollywood. Great going team. Yeh dil mange more….
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Thanks for sharing the anecdote. It took me back in time. Welcome to PFC!
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I remember I came across this movie on TV a year or so ago and since I loved the songs & cast, I had to watch it (in spite of all the negative reviews). This song came on and I definitely got a very lesbian vibe. A vibe so strong I googled “Razia Sultan Lesbian” to see if it were true. The results only showed articles like this. Anyway, I’m pretty sure Amrohi intentionally portrayed the relationship like that. I still wonder how Hema-Parveen agreed, but hey all the power to them.
“The entire film misses her and could have been a fitting swan song for her.” Completely agree, but I do wonder if that’d be enough to carry the film.
p.s. I’m madly in love with this site and ashamed I didn’t find it earlier than I did. I like that it’s just about films, no glitzy-glamor strings attached.
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Welcome to PFC! It’s addictive for sure. Try writing something here and your experience will be even better.
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Awesome Post!! Actually takes you back to that era…
And thanks for sharing such a wonderful insight. I guess, had it been released in today’s times, the makers would have actually used this scene to sensationalise the movie…like the way most of Madhur Bhandarkar or Rahul Bose’s movies are. But then Amrohi was a class apart…and one who respected the intelligence of his audience. Some things are better conveyed when subtely implied in undertones rather than killing the moment by unnecessary hype.
Once again – phenomenal post!!
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Himanshu, I am glad you liked the post. Yes, they would have built their entire marketing campaign around this issue. How times have changed. Kamal Amrohi, showed what he wanted to show and remained silent on it.
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yes, it is obvious that Kamal Amrohi really meant it. Btw, its great that you sared the video along with a nice article. Really liked reading it. Not only this partcilular scene but also the lyrics of the songs and the other gem – ‘Jalta hai badan’ hinges on the border of erotic undertones. Perhaps, in a bid to capture the feminine side of Razia Sultan.
Btw, Hema has been made some off-beat career choices. Apart from this song, she portrayed the role of an oppressed woman in ‘Rihaee’, a movie became popular for its bold theme. There was another movie in which Kamal Hasan was shown to be in love with her and she played the role of an elder woman. That came way before ‘Dil Chatha hai’ and tried to depict the nuances of the relationship between a young man and an elderly lady. Parveen Babi has always been an oddity in Bollywood along with Zeenat Aman. So it was not that intriguing as to how the two leading ladies agreed to the lesbian act.
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@Manish: the movie you are referring to [There was another movie in which Kamal Hasan was shown to be in love with her and she played the role of an elder woman] was ‘ek nai paheli’ starring raj kumar, kamal hasan, padmini kolhapuri and hema malini. it had a cross-generation storyline where raj kumar falls in love with hema malini’s daughter padmini and raj kumar’s son falls in love with padmini’s mom hema malini. so, if they were to get married, who would be taking who’s blessings??? interesting concept but was not executed well. the movie was made by k.balachander, same director who made ‘sadma’ and ‘ek duje ke liye’
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Its ‘Apporva Raagangal’ in Tamil made in 1975 by K.Balachander. Way too contemporary for its time. The film starred Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan.
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Yes, the point about lesbian relationships wouldn’t work unless you see the video. Some of Hema’s off -beat choices weren’t bad, example Ek Chadar Maili si, where she was brilliant. But it’s performances like Razia Sultan that make me wonder why she did the movie if she wasn’t interested. It could also be because Amrohi took too long to finish his film and that killed any interest Hema had.
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Ofcourse the song depicted lesbianism. This, and in fact the whole film was Amrohi’s way of getting back at Dharmender for having had an affair with his wife Meena Kumari.
Not only did Amrohi have Dharmender act with his face painted black (muh kala kar diya), but also showed his lover to be a lesbian, ie. he wasn’t man enough to satisfy her.
Only a lame brain like Dharmender could have fallen for it.
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Now, that’s a completely different perspective I don’t agree with.
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First of all thank you for providing me the opportunity to voice my perspective on Amrohi’s sneakiness.
So what don’t you agree with – the point about Amrohi’s intentions, or Dharam’s stupidity in falling for them?
In so far as lesbianism is concerned, at various festivals that I have attended, this clip has been used as a prime example of how homosexuality is surreptitiously introduced into Bombay films.
Regarding Dharam, maybe he just isn’t man enough to take on another man, his manliness is limited to beating up female journalists like Devyani Chaubal.
Thanks again A. for this X’Mas present.
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Calling the He-Man not enough Man.
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Very interesting insight A.Singh.In fact I watched the video muted.I did wiki about Razia Sultan.Interesting post.
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Hi,
The Razia Sultan song was a well known discussion since the time the movie was released. Many believe that it intentionally shows the relation between Razia and her maid.
Though, it was not the only exception from other main-stream Indian movies. I remember watching Silsila which had a similar homosexual tone. Though Silsila became more popular because of the Amitabh Bachchan – Rekha controversy, there is a scene in Silsila where Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan are bathing and the soap falls down. Both are not ready to pick it up. If I remember right, Amitabh says “I won’t pick it up. I will bend to pick up the soap and you will…” or something like that. I probably dont remember it right but it still meant something like that. And this was a Yash Chopra movie.
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WOW. Lets just keep this to Razia Sultan, shall we. A. Singh- It was a pleasure reading your post; and I share your passion for movies based on historic characters. If you haven’t already, you might enjoy the movie Amrapali (Sunil Dutt, Vijantimala)… I was a kid when Razia Sultan was released in India- but was smitten by the music even then. I have yet to see the movie, here in CA, no grocery store seems to have it. I have been surfing for this movie the last few days and came across this site today and was totally thrilled by the find. Its going to be a favored bookmark. Keep a good thing going…
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