Manzil (1979)

Directed by: Basu Chatterjee
Music: RD Burman
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Moushumi Chatterjee, 
Rakesh Pandey, AK Hangal, Lalita Pawar, 
Satyen Kapoo, Urmila Bhat, Dr Shreeram Lagoo

I saw this movie when Doordarshan showed it on TV as part of their Sunday evening entertainment. I remember seeing the announcement and thinking why I would want to watch Amitabh in a churidar kurta and a Nehru jacket (yeah, snob, me.). And Moushumi had never been one of my favourite heroines (though I did like her eventually – I thought she was a scream in Angoor, but that’s a tale for another day.), because I’d only seen her in those South tearjerkers until then. The usual sacrificing wife roles.

But Sunday evenings were reserved for sitting in front of the television, and that Sunday was no different. Unlike today, there weren’t a thousand channels vying for your attention. (Idle comment no.1: I find that when I had *only* Doordarshan, I saw most of the programmes and found quite a few very nice; today, with over I-do-not-know-how-many-channels, I find myself flipping through and then turning the TV off. Strange!) So, for want of anything better, and because it was Amitabh Bachchan, I sat and watched, and before I knew it, I was pulled into the story of a man who is aiming higher than his arms can reach. A man like you and me; with hopes, dreams and ambitions, and very limited means of making them all come true. 

A young woman decides to get down and walk to her friend’s house when her car breaks down. As she strolls along, she is perturbed to hear footsteps behind her on the deserted suburban road. She walks faster only to see that the young man is walking rather fast too. More than a little worried, she begins to walk even faster, almost breaking into a run and then is left feeling very foolish when the man walks right past her without breaking his stride.

Relieved, she makes her way to her friend's house, only to find the same young man at the party – and he is singing.

She is both impressed and embarrassed at the same time. As he is leaving, her friend ensures she meets Ajay (Amitabh Bachchan). As they talk, Ajay launches into his usual spiel.

His mother (Lalita Pawar) is fed up of his wandering here and there, but Ajay is nonchalant. A mechanic, Anokhi Lal (AK Hangal) come to meet Ajay with news of raw material that can be acquired cheaply. He also feeds Ajay’s dreams of making money hand over fist.

Meanwhile, the young woman, Aruna (Moushumi Chatterjee) is falling head over heels in love with Ajay. She even invites him home to meet her mother. Ajay is impressed with their home and obvious wealth, contrasting it with his reality. In turn, he is impressing Aruna’s mother (Urmila Bhatt).

One lie soon leads to another – he is forced to tell them that his car is in the garage. Aruna offers to drop him home. He demurs, and ends up having to take a cab.

Ajay’s mother is annoyed – why can’t he just get a job? After all, he is a graduate. Ajay goes to to Prakash, and tells both him and his servant Shankar (Sunder) that from that moment on, Prakash’s flat, car, clothes, telephone all belong to him.

Aruna is weaving her own dreams. Ajay thinks nothing about calling Aruna, and faking about his business appointments. Then, he lies some more more about how much time and energy his business takes out of him. And while Anokhi Lal is taking Ajay along on a sweet ride, Ajay’s romance with Aruna is going on full swing. (And I’m suddenly homesick for Bombay during the rains.)

Prakash is astringent about Ajay’s schemes – he’s heard them before. Ajay is sure that this time things will be different. He is beginning a business in scientific precision instruments. It’s Prakash’s money that is funding Ajay’s ventures. Prakash is supportive but cautious. Ajay has no such doubts. It’s been raining orders and he has full trust in Anokhi Lal.

Aruna finally succeeds in dragging Ajay home to meet her father (Satyen Kapoo) who is also impressed by the self-made (self-professed) youth.

For the first time Ajay’s conscience is beginning to trouble him. Aruna’s belief in everything he says makes him feel conscious of the lies he is telling her every time they meet. He assuages his guilt by promising himself that once his business takes off, she won't have to know the truth. 

But his business isn’t taking off the way he expected. Consignments have been returned. Anokhi Lal is no longer available when Ajay calls. When he is available, there is only talk of how he needs more money. Ajay is at his wits’ end, but is not willing to pay attention when Prakash cautions him about Anokhi Lal. Finally, he coerces his mother into giving him the money he needs.

Ajay still has the hope that he will be able to tide things over. He has even invited Aruna and her parents to Prakash’s flat – which he tells them is his. Her parents are impressed with his flat and his obvious wealth – and since their daughter loves him, they are all for getting the two of them married.

Despite Prakash offering to get him a job, Ajay still feels that his troubles will disappear once his business gets off the ground. Only, Anokhi Lal has disappeared, and with him, Ajay’s investment. When he does reappear, it is to disclaim all responsibility for the returned consignments. Ajay is finally beginning to see his true colours.

What will happen when Ajay’s feet hit the ground? Will he ever have the courage to tell Aruna the truth? Will he repent in time? Can he prove his basic innocence? What about Aruna's parents? Can things get any worse?

One would think that after a stupendous year filled with blockbusters that reinforced his ‘Angry Young Man’ image, Amitabh Bachchan would have stuck to his comfort zone. But, defying the naysayers and marking yet another feather in his acting cap Amitabh donned the role of a young man who is educated, has big dreams of social mobility (upwards) and ambitions of striking it rich, and learns that determination and hard work trump shortcuts when it comes to success. It is interesting that this film is also made by a middle-of-the-road film maker, Basu Chatterjee, who takes such care of tiny details - which may not be important in themselves, but when you see it, you think to yourself "I'm glad they showed that!" (I *loved* the scene where Ajay, a BA, decides to make scientific instruments himself and spends nights mugging up old Physics textbooks.) 

Manzil is full of little vignettes from ordinary life; how many of us have walked on lonely streets and quickened our steps because we felt that the man walking behind us was actually following us? How many of us have tried to impress the person we love? Aren’t there those among us who have placed ambition before anything else, only to realise (too late some times), what has been lost on the way to realising them? How many of us have tripped and fallen on our faces and then been picked up and supported by the people we love? 

Manzil is a simple story about simple people – no one is deliberately evil; they are flawed, sure, but that merely makes them human. It is the story of Ajay who falls in love and pretends to be something he is not so he can impress his lady love. And of Aruna, who, upon hearing how she was deceived can still forgive her man; not because she is a doormat, but because she knows that whatever else was a mirage, his love was true.

Add Ajay's mother, who doesn’t think the sun rises and sets on her son. Like any other mother in real life, she chivvies him into getting a secure job; berates him for his fly-by-night schemes; is saddened by his despair, and finally, when push comes to shove, comes through for her son. Take Aruna's mother who is willing to listen to her daughter and give the young man another chance instead of tarring and feathering him; she even voices her displeasure of her husband’s views. Openly and without equivocation.

It is also the story of Aruna's father who takes his daughter’s boyfriend to court, but steps back and forgives the young man once he learns that he has truly repented. Which means: they are all human. And so, somewhere it calls to something deep inside you. Mistakes can be, and are, made, and rectified; mistakes can also be, and are, forgiven; anger is a momentary passion; love does triumph, not with a clash of the cymbals of rebellion, but with the quietness of faith and trust. 

It’s a simple tale. Simply told.