Chhaayaageet #218 - "I am a man who believes that for a good song, there is always a good situation."
There are many ways to express your love for films. Through discussions with friends, at evening parties, but nothing quite matches the pride of boasting about how many times you've watched a favorite film. The young director has watched this particular film at least 14 times. But then, who can blame him? The film is a legend with a legendary actor and director. The young director has his eyes fixated on the legend. “He has to be the lead actor in my directorial debut film.”
His elder brother walks in. He has been producing films for some time, taking over from his producer father. “I am planning to produce a film around the partition and have a script ready to go. Do you want to try out your directorial skills?” The young director is excited to hear that. “Yes, brother. This is my dream. But I want the legend to be the lead actor.” The producer rolls his eyes. He knows that's not going to be easy.
The producer reaches the legend’s house. They exchange pleasantries and get right to the script. The script is close to the legend’s heart. Having been born in pre-partition India on the Pakistan side, he has memories he can relate to. His excitement is quite palpable. “When are we starting to shoot? We need an experienced director for this.”
The producer tries to hide his face as he delivers the news. “My younger brother will be directing this. This will be his debut film.”
The legend feels like he hit an anti-climax. “That 20-something-year-old brother of yours. Such a powerful script, and you want to risk it with a rookie director. It is your call in the end. I think it is a big risk.” The producer acknowledges and takes his leave.
The young director gets moving on the film. The shooting schedule is progressing well. The theme of the film is complicated since it deals with partition and kidnapping. Communities in both India and Pakistan are quite sensitive to this topic, and anything that hurts their sentiments could ignite riots and pretty much shelve the film. Another interesting self-observation for the young director. He realizes that scripting is not his dominant forte, but on the other hand, he excels in action scenes, especially the unplanned ones, and of course, music. Where to place a song without getting guidance from anyone comes naturally to him.
The shooting is going as scheduled. They are wrapping up a shot. The legend who has the main role is not really the guy opposite the lead actress, but a trickster. The lead actress is married to another man. She is kidnapped and later released. Everyone shuns her except the trickster. She starts developing an interest in him. The music lover inside the young director is screaming loudly for a song here.
The young director summons the scriptwriter. “This situation is quite powerful. This is the first time the trickster feels that the girl may have some feelings for him. This is a big thing in his life and has to be expressed through a song. What do you think?”
The script writer looks at him with a slight attitude. How dare this young director question his script and ask for alterations? He doesn’t say anything aloud, but his expressions speak for themselves. Finally, he gathers himself and blurts, “There is no song situation for this.”
The young director does not want to take no for an answer. He feels he can read the audience much better, and they all want a song here. “Hold on. I am a man who believes that for a good song, there is always a good situation. Give me just one day, and I will bring back a good song situation.”
The next day, the young director comes back with the song situation, talks to the entire music production team, and the song gets recorded in the next few days.
Chhalia was directed by Manmohan Desai as his directorial debut film. It was produced by his elder brother, Subhash Desai, and the story was written by Inder Raj Anand. The song introduced by Manmohan Desai, which was not in the original script, was Dum Dum Diga Diga. The song was composed by Kalyanji Anandji, written by Qamar Jalabadi, and playback was provided by Mukesh. The song was picturized on the legendary Raj Kapoor.
Manmohan Desai was 22 when he got his first break in directing films. His father was a film producer, and when his elder brother came of age, Subhash Desai also jumped into film production. For Chhalia, Subhash Desai decided to use his younger brother Manmohan Desai as a director. The script was quite complex with partition, family separation, and how a woman is treated once she is back home from a kidnapping. Very similar to the epic Ramayana. The people are very unforgiving in these circumstances, and that's where the story revolves around Raj Kapoor as Chhalia. Initially, Raj Kapoor was very skeptical of Manmohan Desai directing the film. He wanted to be careful signing films that were not under his production.
The Chhalia character is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s "Tramp" character. He entertains children, interacts cheerfully with strangers, and lightens the mood even in difficult circumstances. Rather than playing tricks for personal gain, Chhalia uses his cleverness to help others, especially the female protagonist played by Nutan. He becomes a catalyst for reuniting her with her estranged husband and child, employing his social skills to resolve misunderstandings and conflicts.
Manmohan Desai was a master of Bollywood masala cinema, possessing an extraordinary grip on the broader public’s imagination. Later in his film career, he unabashedly inserted scenes that defied logic or were even cringeworthy, often to the skepticism of the actors involved. Whether it was there brothers simultaneously donating blood through a web of tubes, all feeding into a single bottle and then to their mother in Amar Akbar Anthony or a character tying an airplane to a pole to prevent it from taking off in Mard, the audience always rewarded these scenes with a standing ovation and whistles. In Chhalia, we can see the start of that behavior with a much more benign move of inserting a song where it wasn’t planned to be in the first place.
Music: Kalyanji Anandji
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
Singer: Mukesh
*ing: Raj Kapoor
Director: Manmohan Desai
Producer: Subhash Desai
Film: Chhalia (1960)