Tapan Sinha, Kabuliwala and the poetry of life
“Sometimes you have to go places with characters and emotions within yourself you don’t want to do, but you have a duty to the story and as a storyteller to do it.”-Hugh Jackman
And rarely does a filmmaker achieve the feat of going in places so dark no one would want to go, looking down at the darkest of caves with a smile and realizing the real story that lies embedded within it’s hear and emerging triumphant. Precisely at that moment a master is born.
Its more than just, to claim, Tapan Sinha went down that road more often than most filmmakers in Bengal would ever dare and came out re-discovering humanity and in the process moving Indian cinema forward.
Equipped with a Masters in physics, Sinha started out working as a sound engineer at New Theaters in Calcutta at the age of 22. In 1950 he was invited to the Pinewood Studios in London where he worked for the next couple of years, returning home Sinha diverted his attention towards filmmaking, his debut film ANKUSH was adapted from Narayan Gangopadhyay’s ’sainik’ based on an elephant as the central character.
His craft was inspired by several American and British directors including John Ford, Carol Reed and Billy Wilder but the one who probably left the most lasting impression on his films remain Ronald Coleman, whose 1935 film “A tale of two cities” had several influences on his later works. Sinha later paid his tribute to the legendary actor in his film Jhinder Bandi, a remake of an earlier Coleman film called “The Prisoner of Zenda”.
Through the 40 odd years of his career, Sinha directed a varied roster of film including, “Louho Kopat”, “Apanjan”, “Safed Hathi”, “Sabuj Dwiper Raja”, “Khoniker Atithi”, “Galpa Haleo Satyi”. But the one film of his that remain distinct in my memory as with so many of you is Kabuliwala, Sinha’s first volume in his trilogy of Tagore adaptations.
To explain the beauty and greatness of the film, allow me to go back a little in time, reminisce something rather personal. The earliest memories of cinema which lasted in my memory are those with my uncle, it was with him I discovered a whole new world of Billy Wilder, Marx brothers, Hitchcock and so many others.Summer holidays have always been special in my life, I had the liberty of watching any and as many films I wanted. That time at the age of 4 or 5 my favorites were usually formed of old Hollywood comedies, Marx and Chaplin, I could hardly speak any Bengali and needless to say was unfamiliar with Bengali Cinema. Those of you who lived in Calcutta during the late 90’s might be aware of a Bengali summer holiday program called ” Chuti Chuti”. It was during the course of this show that I reluctantly sat down with my uncle to watch what might turn to be one of the most influential film of my life.
For those not familiar with Tagore’s short story or the film, the story involves Rehmat an Afghanistan fruit seller who came to Calcutta in search of a living and befriended a small Bengali girl called Minnie, who reminded him of his own daughter back in Afghanistan.
He puts up at a boarding house along with his countrymen, which is owned by a rude landlord. One day receiving news of his daughter’s illness through a letter from his country, he decides to leave for his country. When the landlord demands rent from him an argument ensues and Rehmat stabs the man. He is arrested and put behind bars for 8 years. On the day of his release he goes to meet Minnie but discovers that she has grown up to a 14-year old girl and is about to get married, no longer is she the little kid whom he could bribe with his gifts of nuts and fruits. When She fails to recognize, realization dawns on him of a past gone by and the future of his own daughter, whom he left back home…he yarns to go back as thoughts of not being recognized by even her own fills his mind…….
Loose garments, turban and a large sack, a sense of fear and loathing even discrimination, the image of a Kabuliwala doesn’t make for a pleasant cinematic hero, but yet the centre of Tagore’s story turned into one of the most endearing figures of Bengali cinema at the hand of this young director. The film revolves around the relationship of Minnie and her new found friend as the director presents us with slices of their various meetings ultimately resulting in the tragic incident of Kabuliwala being put behind bars, refusing to part himself with the Five Rupee note he received from her. Reading this if you think the film is melodramatic then you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, Sinha’s treatment is emotional manipulation at its very cinematic best, and what results it yields!! Even more than a decade after I saw it for the first time, it doesn’t take much to make me realize the tears by the end of it.
The film as itself is also one of the most commendable efforts in screen writing. The story like most of Tagore’s work told in first person; focus mostly on narrative structure than on plot. Sinha brilliantly breaks up the structure and adapting it into screen whereby adding various subplots and tying them together in masterly strokes of brilliance.
On release, Kabuliwala received tremendous commercial success in Bengal; it was invited to the Berlin International Film Festival where Sinha was nominated for the Golden Bear. It also got recognition there for Ravi Shankar’s music. Back home it was honored with the President’s Gold Medal for the best film of the year 1956.
Looking back the film does have few flaws in Art Direction and a global audience might often find it to be a tad bit too sentimental, possibly some of the subplots could have been reduced but what stays is Sinha’s honesty and understanding of Tagore’s story, his fluidity of story telling, the courage he showed in bringing out the nuances of society that was missing in even Tagore’s short.
There are films that one loves, they affect us, our thoughts. We visit them time and again, each time searching out certain unknown we missed the last time around…..and then there are films, when you watch them you don’t know how deeply they are affecting you and your choice. They get lost amongst the Ray’s and Ghatak’s until one beautiful day you wake up to them, you discover even decades later it still stayed with you and probably had affected more than anything else. Today morning when I heard of Sinha’s death, I was instantly transferred to that summer day and Kabuliwala more than 10 years back, it brewed in me for so long without even making me realize its presence…….overcome by nostalgia I shuffled through my DVD’s for the film, but alas couldn’t find it .
Someone somewhere once said, death brings out life. Let us all hope for this once it brings out his Cinema.
Tags: "bengali cinema", bengal, Kabuliwala, Tapan Sinha
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Truly a great director, and a wonderful tribute, that reminded of that classic movie. When as a child I first read kabuliwallah, the images that got formed were exactly similar to the movie version! Tapan Sinha was great!
very well written Rick……I am glad somebody bothered to pay a tribute……
just wish this post had more traffic
Ditto Sulakshana.
Writchik, one point: Coleman apart, didn’t Jhinder Bandi actually root back to Saradindu Bandopadhyay’s novel by the same name?