Musafir (1957)

Directed by: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Music by: Salil Choudhary

Starring: David, Suchitra Sen, Sekhar, Bipin Gupta, Durga Khote, Mohan Chhoti, Nirupa Roy, 

Nasir Hussain, Kishore Kumar, Usha Kiron, Paul Mahendra, Daisy Irani and Dilip Kumar

Encouraged by Dilip Kumar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, erstwhile film editor and one-time assistant to Bimal Roy, turned independent producer / director with this film.  He chose a rather unusual subject for his maiden venture. Like the other 40 films in his long and prolific career, Musafir too dealt with the joys and sorrows of the ordinary lives of the ordinary man and woman.

 

Lakh lakh makaan aur in mein rehnewala karodan insaan… Musafir teen kirayedaron ke jeevan chakron ki kahani hai jo ki ek ke baad ek is makaan mein rehne aate hai intones the narrator (Balraj Sahni), as the camera pans to an ordinary looking house in an ordinary suburb.

A landlord (David) brings a prospective tenant to inspect the house; the landlord is given two weeks’ rent in advance and the young man Ajay (Sekhar), is given the keys. It is night Ajay, brings his 'wife' home; in the light of a candle (Ajay forgets to buy bulbs), we see a woman dressed in bridal finery. From their conversation, we soon learn that the couple are not married. 

Shakuntala (Suchitra Sen) has run away with Ajay; her uncle had fixed her marriage with an old man, and she is afraid that he would be searching for her. Ajay and she go to sleep in separate rooms, but he is soon woken up by the sound of a violin. He gets up to investigate and finds Shakuntala crying softly on the balcony. She is worried about what will happen if his parents do not accept her. He promises her that he will write to his parents once they are married.

The next morning, he is woken up by a boy (Mohan Chhoti) who brings them tea from the nearby teashop. From him, Ajay learns that the violin was played by a man called Raja, whom they affectionately call pagla babu. After drinking the tea, Ajay goes off to get a priest to solemnise their wedding.

Soon after, Shakuntala begs Ajay to take her to his parents; he refuses. If they were to reject her, he wouldn't be able to bear it. She has waited so long, surely she can wait for a few more days? 

The next morning, she sows a seed in the garden; it had been given to her by a neighbour in her home town. The day the seed sprouts, her wishes will be granted. Ajay asks her to be realistic - it's not as if one's every wish is fulfilled. Shakuntala has only one wish - that she set up a happy home with Ajay. They have, he avers, but Shakuntala is sure that a home that is set up on the destruction of another is not a home at all.

She waits for a letter and for the seed to sprout with equal eagerness. Soon, Ajay's parents come; it is clear that they have not come to affect a rapprochement. He's come to disown his son, though the mother clearly wishes otherwise. But even he melts when he hears Shakuntala singing a bhajan inside the house (though he tries hard to hide it).
 

Shakuntala mistakes him for the landlord, and asks them to wait until her husband comes home from the market. The more they see of her, the more the father thaws, though he still pretends otherwise. It is only when Ajay comes back that Shakuntala realises they are his parents; despite his father's blustering, it is evident that he wants to take his son and daughter-in-law home. Shakuntala's dreams are realised; as she leaves for her real home, the seed she planted some days ago has just begun to sprout.  

The house is on the market again, and this time, it is a whole family - an old man (Nasir Hussain), his widowed and pregnant daughter-in-law (Nirupa Roy), and his younger son, Bhanu (Kishore Kumar). 

The household, which subsisted on the elder son's salary, is now dependent on Bhanu getting a job after graduation. That night, Bhanu is woken up by the sound of a violin playing. The morning tea is brought by the boy from the nearby tea stall, and from him, Bhanu too hears about the pagla babu. Bhanu works at keeping his bhabhi  in good spirits, even singing her silly songs to make her forget her grief for a while.  

Bhanu passes his examinations much to his father's relief. Now, all he needs is a job. He has applied for one, and is soon called for an interview. For the next couple of weeks, Bhanu assiduously appears for one interview after another. His bhabhi's small savings are soon depleted paying for his travel, yet there is no response from any company. Happy-go-lucky Bhanu is also beginning to fall into dark despair. 

When his father sees a cinema ticket in Bhanu's pocket, all his anger comes to the fore; Bhanu, at his wits' end leaves home, and his father is too angry to stop him.

The next morning brings them a telegram - it is Bhanu's appointment. He has to join immediately. At the same time that his father is reading it, the bhabhi is reading a letter; Bhanu's letter.

Just as they are mourning his death, he sits up bewildered. The poison he imbibed the previous night was adulterated. Soon they have two events to celebrate - the bhabhi gives birth.  And the seed that Shakuntala had planted bursts into bloom. 

As soon as they are able to travel, they too leave the house. However, the house doesn’t stand empty for long.

This, the third, and the longest episode of all, involves a young widow, her brother, her disabled son, and her unexpected encounter with her first lover. A lawyer, Suresh (Paul Mahendra), rents the house for a month. He moves in with his sister, Uma (Usha Kiron), and nephew, Raja (Daisy Irani). The little boy cannot walk, but he is remarkably cheerful. 

They have come so that Suresh’s friend, a doctor, can take a look at Raja’s legs. The next morning, Suresh has to leave for Ahmedabad on a case. Like the other tenants before them, they too hear the violin playing its mournful tune in the night. Unlike the other tenants, however, Raja insists on meeting pagla babu. He makes friends with the teashop boy who promises to bring the mystery man to the house.

The doctor’s report is not very hopeful, and Uma is hard put to control herself; in fact, Raja knows that he will never be able to walk, but takes it in his stride. And then, pagla babu does come to the house. Uma recognises him as Raja (Dilip Kumar), the man she loved, and sends him away in distress, but little Raja calls him back. 

The little boy’s affection and his innocent statements bind the older Raja, but he is a little taken aback when he hears the child’s name.

Then next day, Uma asks Mohan (we hear the tea stall boy’s name for the first time in this episode) all about pagla babu. She is distressed when she hears that Raja is destitute, having no source of income, except his violin which he plays only when the mood suits him.  

When Raja comes back to pick up his violin, she persuades him to stay with them. He is hesitant, but finally agrees. That night, Uma is woken up by the strains of a familiar tune. It brings back memories and though she is initially upset, Raja and she remember the days when they were in love with each other.

The two Rajas spend all their time together; the older Raja is always playing the violin for the younger one, filling his life with love and laughter.

It does not last long. Raja is suffering from a debilitating illness, and soon, Suresh is back. He is livid when he hears that Uma has let Raja stay with them. After all, Raja had left her on the eve of her marriage, and the family had had to bear the resultant infamy.

She is distraught when Raja finally shows up, drunk. Afraid of what her brother would say, she manages to get Raja into his room. But as is his wont, Raja begins to play his violin. This wakes up Suresh, who breaks Raja’s violin in anger. Raja leaves the same night, walking out into the storm, leaving Uma behind again.

The next morning Uma goes in search of Raja, only to find him partially unconscious in a tin shed. She brings him back home but the doctor she gets to see Raja has no words of solace. All he can offer is that she make Raja comfortable. When Suresh returns with their tickets and finds Raja back, he warns Uma that if she doesn’t return with him, then their relationship must perforce be at an end. Raja overhears everything; leaving a letter for Uma, and bidding goodbye to little Raja who is sleeping, he leaves the house once again.

The seed that Shakuntala planted, once full of blossoms, now stands stark and denuded of even its leaves in the storm that lashed the night. 

Musafir  is a lovely, meandering film that takes us through the lives of three disparate sets of characters. Hrishida chose to shoot an episodic narrative, anchored - unusually -  by the house in which a marriage, a birth, and a death occur. Characters like the landlord (David), the gossipy neighbour, her daughter (Baby Naaz), the postman, the boy at the teashop (Mohan Chhoti), and last but not the least, the drunk violinist (as the unseen player in the first two episodes, and one of the protagonists in the third), waltz in and out of the three stories, giving them a foundation on which to rest. Certain dialogues (the landlord’s to each tenant) and certain scenes are replicated, heightening the commonalities between each episode.

 

Salil Choudhary provided the music, and Dilip Kumar lent his voice for the duet with Lata Mangeshkar. This is one of the films where a couple of the songs became well known, but the film itself did dismally at the box-office. But fortunately for us, the audience, Raj Kapoor, impressed with the film, insisted that Anari be given to Hrishida to direct. Anari won both critical and commercial acclaim, and Hrishida continued to woo us with simple stories about ordinary people.  

You can watch a clean print of this movie on Tom Daniel's YouTube Channel here.