KHAARTOUM SINGS and RE-ORCHESTRATES: 'JHANAK JHANAK PAYEL BAAJE' with ENGLISH SUBTITLES and CULTURAL NOTATIONS. I would like to OPEN a DISCUSSION with TWO NEWSPAPER COMMENTS: "IT HAS TAKEN THE WEST LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS TO DESTROY THE WORLD'S CULTURE" and "EVEN AT THE TIME OF THE BLACK AND WHITE BOMBAY FILMS, THE CULTURE SHOWN IN THE CINEMA HAD LONG GONE FROM INDIA" These are my PREMISE for my OBSERVATIONS of V.SHANTARAM'S 1955 BOMBAY CINEMA CLASSIC. Some INTERESTING QUESTIONS to DISCUSS that I would LOVE YOUR INPUT ON TOO in the COMMENTS!
1. WAS 'JHANAK JHANAK PAYAL BAAJE' a 'CLARION CALL' WARNING of the COMING DESTRUCTION of INDIA'S CULTURE, DANCE, CLOTHING et. all from OVER-EMBRACING WESTERNISM?
In my opinion [may be wong!] it can be read from the STYLING and THEMES of 'JJPB' COMMENT on INDIAN CULTURE:
- RICH but FRAGILE
- COMPLEX and needs EDUCATION and DEDICATION
- ELDERS CARRY the KNOWLEDGE to PASS DOWN
- INNER LIFE and SPIRITUALITY is PARAMOUNT
- Many MEANINGS and INTERPRETATIONS EXIST
However, the FILM itself is a very SUPERFICIAL WATERED-DOWN SIMPLIFICATION of INDIA, DANCE and FAITH. So even in 1955, it appears that FEW PEOPLE could ACCESS INDIA. The YOUTH and LOWER CLASSES are PORTRAYED as NOT UNDERSTANDING the COMPLEXITY and being LAZY to LEARN plus GRAVITATING to WESTERNISM and CAPITALIST EXTERNALISED LIFE? The MUSIC of the FILM is GENERALLY 'DISJOINTED' with ILL-FITTING VIOLIN PASSAGES BADLY LINKING plus use of UN-IDIOMATIC 'CALYPSO' etc. The 1950s was still a time of BOMBAY'S HEROIC PIONEERING EXPERIMENTS to SHAPE ORIENTAL MELODIC MUSIC into a FORM to FIT PRECISE CINEMA and ENGAGE a WIDE VARIETY of EDUCATIONAL LEVELS across the POPULATION. The HINDI SONG FORMAT is USED ACROSS the MIDDLE EAST and SUBCONTINENT to this day. The MUSIC and STYLING of 1950s INDIAN FILMS like 1990s to PRESENT is very SUBSERVIENT to WESTERN MEDIA. HINDI SCREEN only 'FOUND ITS STYLE' in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s during the INSULAR NATIONALISTIC CLOSED MARKET days.
2. IN the song with HINDU ANGEL: MENAKA coming to SEDUCE the GREAT SAGE: VISHVAMITRA - Is MENAKA then SYMBOLIC of THE BRITISH EMPIRE and thus VISHVAMITRA representing a SEDUCED INDIA in a 'STOCKHOLM SYNDROME' [A situation where a victim falls in love with their aggressor]?
MENAKA and VISHVAMITRA is an UNFORTUNATE IMAGE as the ANGEL aims to CORRUPT and DESTROY the FAITH and CULTURE of the SAGE so he LOSES HIS WAY. BRITISH EMPIRE, apart from RAILWAYS and other INFRASTRUCTURE, was a DISASTER in BREAKING UP of THE UNITED STATES OF INDIA through the HORROR of the PARTITION using BRITISH EMPIRE 'DIVIDE and RULE' usual CONTROL TOOL to ROB the COUNTRY. However, the HINDU SCRIPTURE does PREDICT that VISHVAMITRA IS, indeed, SEDUCED by MENAKA. BUT, eventually, he REALISES his MISTAKE and BANISHES MENAKA and NEVER SEES her AGAIN. The INDIANS were, and some still are, VERY INTOXICATED with THE BRITISH EMPIRE [AMERICA and WEST included here] The HINDUS were GIVEN HIGH JOBS and LEARNED ENGLISH that they still CANNOT STOP 'TOOTY POOTY'-ing into HINDI CONVERSATION [that many people FIND AWFUL!]...The MUSLIMS..."Refused to learn the language of their enemies", I read. The DIVIDE and RULE was SET between HIGH HINDU INDIANS and LOW MUSLIM INDIANS by this. The INDIANS went further by DRESSING in CITIES as BRITISH. If we go back to crowd scenes in HINDI FILM: 'GUIDE' 1965, all men are wearing WESTERN clothes : ( In PAKISTAN, even in big cities and PAKISTANIS LIVING ABROAD, they often WEAR TRADITIONAL CLOTHES with A MISSION! However, MUSLIM YOUTH are starting to LOSE this CULTURE and BLONDING their HAIR etc. in a LATER 'STOCKHOLM SYNDROME' with BRITISH EMPIRE...Let us SEE if THE UPANISHADS are RIGHT and the SAGE BANISHES MENAKA!
3. The 'DILUTE' and HORRIBLY HOLLYWOOD-ISED version of INDIAN DANCE in 'JJPB'...WAS this an EFFECTIVE WAY to BRING CLASSICAL HINDUISM/BUDDHISM to THE MASSES. Or, did the FILM CHEAPEN the CULTURE and TURN KATHAK into CABARET?
'JJPB' is NOT a FILM that is VALUED by INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCERS in INDIA or ABROAD. Although the TITLE NUMBER and a COUPLE of more AUTHENTIC SONGS/DANCES are IMPRESSIVE in ACTOR: GOPI KRISHNA'S ENERGY, if not TECHNIQUE. HAD the DANCES been less CABARET-STYLE would it have been a MORE VALUABLE DOCUMENT on INDIA and HINDUISM/BUDDHISM? However, many COMMENTATORS say, "JJPB was a huge risky dance theme film that paid off and it brought Indian classical dance to the masses". The film is a TRAVESTY of DANCE in one way, but made a 'DIGESTABLE TASTER' of the DANCE FORMS that may have LEAD to START YOUTH LEARNING DANCE? Remember that 19th Century BRITISH EMPIRE FORBADE and DISCOURAGED BHARATA NATYAM as 'PRIMITIVE', 'DEVIL WORSHIP', 'PROSTITUTION' and did as much as possible to DESTROY INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE. A lone 1900s INDIAN MAN TAUGHT BHARATA NATYAM around INDIA to REVIVE it. In 1930 an AMERICAN: ESTHER SHERMAN moved to INDIA to LEARN and TEACH CLASSICAL DANCE after BRITISH EMPIRE near DESTRUCTION.
