Silsila — A film that treads cautiously on the utmost complexity of Human Relationships and Delicate Emotions ❤️🔥
The Climax & the outcome-
Looking back at the Classics that Indian Hindi Cinema ( Bollywood ) has churned out for over a century now , it became a way of life for every movie buff to sit back to take a look at some super ending climaxes; those that made them the life time epics and cult classics ; setting them apart from the run of the mill stories .Be it any genre — mystery , romance, action, suspense, comedy or drama it was always the edge of the seat end that got the box office registers ticking. The history of movie making in India has seen some beautifully crafted masterpieces that have left their impeccable mark on the psyche of Hindi Cinema (Movie) lovers.
Some Relatable Anecdotes
A case in point is the iconic movie Sholay . Both Sholay and QSQT (Qayamat se Qayamat Tak ) opened to a lukewarm response .The directors even contemplated on changing their end & reshoot the climax scene. A wait and watch approach helped in case of Sholay wherein the production unit had almost made up their mind to reshoot the ending sequence with Amitabh’s character to be brought back to life . The earlier movie Deewar had showcased Amitabh’s character coming to a tragic end .A back to back tragedy could have proved to be a disaster & the audiences would reject it — was an afterthought by the film crew. The idea to change the end scene was eventually put to rest as the film started to respond well and picked up the steam after the initial sluggish collections .
The Conservative end of Silsila
Reflecting back at another classic , one of my most likeable movie Silsila , it makes me wonder whether Silsila would have been made slightly different towards the end and the plot considered to be taken upto to the next level to further enhance its cinematic value of expression and redefine the trends.
As it is, the director had already embarked upon a highly bold & controversial theme considered untouchable during those times . Yash Chopra scored a 8 out of 10 when he chose an extra marital affair as his central theme along with the biggest casting coup of that time — Amitabh , Rekha and Jaya together as the central characters for the storyline. This was nothing short of a great feat akin to playing with a live wire and get the film completed on time .The film failed fared miserably & failed to make a mark at the box office .Though it was very popular on the VCR circuit (Video cassette recorders were in Vogue to cater to the audiences watching at homes) and during its reruns.
The Social setup and the Dilemma
Perhaps Yash — The director of the movie , did his best given the existent societal constraints and boundaries that he had to operate within ; after all movie making was not an easy business in those times — with exhibitors, distributors , financiers and other stakeholders all having their major say in the scheme of things.
Besides, the ideological gap between the classes and masses was huge then. The addressable market size had audiences majorly representing the interiors & heartland of India with only a handful from a cosmopolitan & urbane background adding to the dilemma for the noteworthy banners. Also , Multiplexes audience and OTT platforms were yet to arrive at that time.
Today thanks to social media , everyone seems to be on the same footing in terms of how collectively one can relate to a particular subject. Social media & the new genre of film making has shattered the fences separating the classes and the masses. In the current age , irrespective of the educational background , economic status and the strata of society that various sections of the society represent , there is an openness and more wider acceptance for the diverse range of scripts and narrative that can be presented to the audiences.
The writers perspective
Perhaps Yash as the cowriter of the movie realized that the man not returning back to his legally wedded wife would be seen as brutally unhumanitarian and unfair to the female protagonist played by Jaya ; whom the audiences would repeatedly see as a cruel victim of destiny & fate — not once but multiple times in the story line . The sympathy factor for Shobha ( Jaya) had a strong bearing on the writers mind.
Audience Taste & Preference
Those were the times when the reel life and real life boundaries were not distinctly separate — Audiences actually brought back their screen idols inside their homes beyond the three hours of darkness within the four walls of the Single Screen movie halls . Our heroes were seen as the shining knights with their armors , infallible and averse to any kind of mistakes or wrong doing both onscreen and offscreen .
The Boundaries between Art and Mainstream Cinema
Sensitive themes were only confined to and a forte for the parallel cinema to deal with. ( Slotted as Art / Experimental Cinema then ) . It was around the same time when Mahesh Bhatt Directed Arth had got released . The subject was entirely different but Shabana’s character came out as a head strong woman ( in terms of decision making ) and was lapped up by critics and the intellectual class together.
But the same yardstick could not get applied in case of Amit Malhotra’s portrayal — with regards to speaking for himself while being confronted with a dilemma
The Actors Cult Status- A Deterrent for fair play and screenplay
For the Indian Cine Goers Amitabh had already become a God by then and highly revered across all sections of the society .The onus of carrying an ideal man’s image lay too much on his persona and shoulders. Showing Amitabh to prioritize romance outside of marriage would mean compromising over the ideals , values and virtues for his larger than life image that had got built in that era. The perils of his stardom was an obvious factor for any director to deal with, as no one in common life would have liked him to be seen as a mean , selfish and self centered character .
The race to finish
The end of the movie comes across like a hasty wind up of the story and we see the social stereotypes that eventually get over human emotions and feelings. On one hand Yash wanted to show how societal norms make people unhappy but towards the climax Amitabh does end up following moral norms and going back to his wife instead of lover.
How it had been today
Whether Yash could have a made a different Silsila in todays age & have Amit & Chandni unite with each other ; is quite difficult to comprehend — but the overall environment in the 21st Century seems more conducive as the audience is more open, mature, receptive & inclusive to accept various ideas and possibilities.
At least 40 years down the line from Silsila’s release ; Yash the director would certainly not been constrained by the options which were not available to him then.By and large it was a self censored movie keeping in mind the norms of what got slotted as societal stigmas .
Passing Thoughts
Well, despite all this , Silsila still remains the most beautifully crafted film, that proved to be way ahead of its times. A stellar cast, nuanced performances with unmatched cinematography and dialogues , the most melodious music and songs and some beautifully aspects of faith and infidelity make Silsila one of the greatest films of Yash Chopra & for followers of quality & good Cinema.
वहमों गुमान से दूर दूर…यकीन के हद के पास पास , दिल को भरम ये हो गया..कि उनको हम से प्यार है.
Far away from illusions, far away… near the limits of faith, The heart is under illusion.. that they love us !!