WAITING FOR ANARKALI

By R N Dash

Legends live for ever, but garnished and modified from time to time. Thanks to Karimuddin Asif (14 June 1922 to 9 March 1972), the legend now remains open-ended so that Anarkali may return.

Anarkali has been a darling of the Film fraternity, apart from story-writers and the dramatists. Imtiaz Ali portrayed her as a virgin slave in his theatrical presentation in 1922.As many as eight Films have been made and released on the subject thereafter and at least four more have been attempted, but not completed, including a sequel envisioning a storyline nowhere in the original legend. The earliest known, Loves of a Moghul Prince was a silent film made in 1928,the 2nd production of the Great Eastern Corporation of Delhi, directed by Prafulla Roy and Charu Roy, with Sita Devi(Renee Smith renamed) in the role. Ardeshir Irani, the pioneer of Talkies in India, had made two, the first a silent movie in the same year,1928,named Monument of Tears, and the other, a talkie in 1935, both directed by Rama Shankar Choudhury, both with Sulochana (Ruby Meyers renamed) and C. Dinshaw Bilimoria playing the lead, remembered for the passionate kissing scene between the duo .Filmstan’s Anarkali, released in 1953,directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal with unforgettable melodies by C Ramachandra (ignoring Basant Prakash, brother of Khemchand Prakash, although Basant had already composed a song for the film),catapulted Bina Rai (who had then debuted in Kishore Sahu’s Kalighata in 1951) into fame, along with Pradeep Kumar and Mubarak in the other major roles. Sulochana, the Anarkali of yester-years, played the role of the mother in this Film. Tamil and Telegu versions followed in 1955, and also a Malayali edition in 1966.

Much earlier, K Asif had planned the magnum-opus in 1944 with music by Anil Biswas, a project which got inordinately delayed. The fiery Chandramohan, selected to play Emperor Akbar expired in 1946. On partition of India in 1947, the producer migrated to Pakistan, The lead actors, Nargis and A K Sapru had to bear with uncertainty. Once Nutan was also offered the role, which she considered unsuitable for her. Ultimately Mughal-e-Azam was released on 5th August 1960 (after large headlines blared in the previous day’s newspapers : “Tomorrow is the day”) with music by Naushad, giving the glory to Madhubala, Dilip Kumar and Prithviraj Kapoor in the leading roles.

When the film was released, initially with the as-per-legend ending of Anarkali engraved alive, obvious questions were raised : Why the title “Mughal-e-Azam”? During those days when Kings and Emperors (including Mohammed Jalaluddin Akbar) were freely acquiring unlimited supply of damsels, used to maintain large harems and also closed their eyes to similar activities of their nobility including their amorous sahajades, why could’nt the Emperor tolerate the affairs of the prince with a mere courtesan ? Where was the greatness of the Emperor ? The question was never answered, but the legend was mutiliated. The film was revised, and the end-part was modified, ending it with unknown magnanimity of the Emperor in allowing Anarkali to escape in a secret passage to a distant land to live in anonymity, after justifying his earlier rage with memorable dialogues : Mein mohabbat ka dushman nahin hoon, lekin asool ka ghulam hoon.(The same revised version was also released in colour later on 12th November 2004,although two sequences in the initial and also the revised versions were in colour.) The legend was modified, the title got justified, but the question was not answered, because the cause of annoyance of Emperor Akbar had to be kept as a closely guarded secret.

Chetan Anand was also once determined to film a version, offering the glory to his favourite, Priya Rajvansh, but the project did not materialise. Lata Mangeshkar had been selected to sing the songs for her in this film.

Still earlier, Kamal Amrohi did not want to lag behind, and announced to re-create the legend with his then favourite Meena Kumari in the lead role. But presumably, Pakeeza got the preference, although completed and released as late as in 1971.

An ambitious project was also planned by Rajshri Productions with Ranjita as Kali Anar Ki with eleven songs, and Sulakshna Pandit was selected to sing the songs for the “Kali”. But this project also did not materialise.

Was the Anarkali story a mere legend, or a part of history? Unfortunately, there is no dependable record or evidence as to what exactly happened, although rumours were perpetuated by generations, and various versions were casually mentioned by various writers much later. During those days Akbar had not settled down in Agra Fort which he re-constructed after his mis-adventure to establish his capital in Fatehpur-Sikri and his camp used to shuttle between Lahore, Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur-Sikri. presently house the Secretariat of the Province of West Punjab of Pakistan. Many do not believe that such an incident happened at all, since the memoirs of Jehangir does not even mention her. A question would also arise, if the incident took place in 1599 AD and Prince Salim became the Emperor in 1604, why did he wait till 1615 to construct the tomb, as claimed by many, that too five years after his infatuation and marriage with Mehr-un-Nissa ?

How could the Emperor tolerate an affair by his son with a concubine of his father? Hence Anarkali had to die. But the film-makers would not disclose the truth, which would be contrary to the Iconism in Indian cinema, that the young and beautiful heroine must be depicted to be a virgin, pure and untouched. She must not be shown as already used and ravished by the Emperor, in interest of the box-office prospects of the film. So the truth had to be suppressed as a closely guarded secret. K Asif, while suppressing the truth, presented the Emperor as most cruel to the lovers in the public, but compassionate to the girl in private, to justify the greatness of the Emperor.

Once the legend got modified by K Asif, doors were left wide open for Anarkali to return in a sequel, perpetuating the legend further. In fact such a sequel was planned by Sultan Ahmed to be titled Sahebzadi Anarkali. But such an attempt is still awaited.

Who says Anarkali is no more? She is waiting at the wings to re-appear on the golden screen, when an unknown drama will unfold, perhaps recreating the Dushyant-Shakuntala episode. Prince Salim, now Emperor Jehangir, infatuated with the already married (and mother of a girl) Mehr-un-nissa, will refuse to remember or recognize Anarkali, till it would be too late, by when he would have made Mehr-un-nissa. We will be waiting for Anarkali to return.

Profile of Shri R N Dash, a Socio-cultural Activist (compiled and inserted by an admirer)

 Shri Rajendra Narayan Dash, presently a prominent Socio-cultural Activist, is a retired IAS officer, born and educated in Orissa but served and settled down in Bihar. After a brilliant academic career in Orissa, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1962, served in Bihar during its most turbulent days, during which he held many important jobs and assignments such as the District Magistrate of Gaya and Patna Districts, Commissioner, Patna Division, Home secretary, Finance Secretary etc, and received many awards and commendations for his distinguished achievements before he retired in 1996 in the rank of a Secretary to Government of India / Chief Secretary . He has all along been taking active interest in all major social issues including Environment, Human Rights, problems of the Consumers, has formed or remained closely associated with most prominent social organisations, has anchored numerous training sessions of senior officers and also of students, and has organized, chaired, presented papers, delivered lectures and participated in a large number of Conferences, Seminars and Workshops in India and abroad on various issues affecting contemporary society such as management of disasters, stress and strain, security and safety etc. He has all along devoted himself to promotion of educational, social and cultural activities individually and also through various institutions, has taken leading role in creating and establishing or helping many organisations in these fields, such as the Bihar Arts Theatre,  The Cine Society, Patna Book Fair, Indira Gandhi Planetarium, The Youth Hostel at Patna, a Film Appreciation Centre, Rang Mati etc and helped development and functioning of many such other institutions such as the Bharatiya Nrityakala Mandir, Rabindra Parishad, Sangeet Natak Academy, Patna Arts College, Navrang Kala Kendra etc. He pioneered the earliest drive in the State for awareness and concern about environment through Save International, created and headed by him, perhaps the first such organisation in our country that organised the earliest large scale public exhibition relating to Environment, gave the “Save Earth” call which became an International slogan, and also took lead in creating awareness of vehicular pollution and need for its control through the Automobile Association of Eastern India, Patna Branch, of which he is continuing as the Chairman; fortunately the matter was later followed up by Government. He has also been providing valuable suggestions for streamlining the unwieldy traffic management in the State capital, through the Automobile Association of Eastern India. It was due to his persistent efforts that dedicated super-fast daily trains were introduced starting from the State capital and connecting the National capital and also to Calcutta, the nearest Metro when there were no such trains starting from the State capital. He is also known as a Consumer Activist and a leading participant in the Human Rights activities. He is associated with diverse categories of educational, social and cultural organisations of the State in managerial or advisory positions, as Chairman, President, Patron, Advisor, Vice-President, Trustee,  Member of Governing Body etc, such as Chairman, State level programme implementation committee on celebration of 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore; Patron, Navrang Kala Kendra; Patron, Dussera Celebration Committee;  Prisident, Rang Mati cultural organisation, President, Cine Society; President, Chitrankan; Vice-President, Patna Book Fair; Vice-President, Bihar Arts Theatre; Trustee, Maharaja Roopnarayan Trust; Trustee, Hardinge Park Fund; Member, Governing Body of the Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir and also of Gyan Niketan. He is also a Life-Member of many other socially useful organisations, such as The Indian Institute of Public Administration, Youth Hostels Association of India; Young Mens’ Cultural Association; Samaj Kalyan Samiti; Heart Care Foundation; Human Rights Association;  Rabindra Parishad and many more.     

He has been a most versatile Cultural Activist of the State, with immense knowledge, expertise and interest in almost all Art forms, visual and performing; associated with most of the prominent social and cultural organisations of Patna and elsewhere in various managerial and advisory capacities. He has been an enthusiast in dramatics and other art-forms since his students days, has formed or helped in formation of many groups on the arts, cinema and theatre, and has been a guiding force for the students and young artists for whom he also provides space in his own premises for meetings and rehearsals. He is considered as the most knowledgeable personality of the State relating to Cinematic Art forms, a regular participant in prominent Film Festivals of the country, and is frequently consulted for various purposes by young film makers, film artists, teachers and students of cinema and mass media, journalists and critics, film related organisations, and also by the State Government. He has headed almost all film related Committees and organisations of Government of Bihar, and has been the only unofficial member of the State Film Development Corporation. Almost all Film Festivals and both the Film related exhibitions organised at Patna have been with his initiative and guidance. He has been the pioneer of Film Appreciation activities in the State, conducts workshops and takes classes on the subject, persuaded Government of Bihar to establish a Film Appreciation Centre at Patna, and has been designated as the Chief Coordinator of the Film Appreciation Workshops being organised by the Government.

He is a voracious reader, having a family library of more than 50000 books on various subjects including rare books on Cinema and other Arts. He has contributed many articles on varied subjects many of which have been published in well-known newspapers and magazines of the country, and has also been associated with editorial activities of many magazines. He has established the Oriental Academy of Arts and Letters at Bhubaneswar along with a collection of more than 50,000 books, about 3000 films of all varieties, art-pieces and audio-visual archaics of different categories and with a versatile agenda; he continues as the Founder-Chairman of the Academy. He has been honoured and felicitated from time to time by many organisations inside and outside the State for his social, philanthropic and cultural activities.

His assistance is always available for various activists and organisations working for benefit of the society, and he has always been helping and guiding students and youngsters in preparing them for various examinations or for building their careers,  most of whom have been benefited in the process.  He believes in the motto live and let live, and believes that the only principle common of all religions that must be followed by mankind is the one that preaches humans to help others to the extent possible, which he follows earnestly in real life. He is liked by all for his low profile, simple lifestyle and ever helpful attitude. He is a much sought-after socio-cultural leader in the world of academics, arts and culture.           

R.N.Dash: "सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः "

R.N.Dash: "सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ": "सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः "