Cine bites: Movie - Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (JJPB)

When I first watched the movie, I was a little kid who was fascinated by Sandhya’s peacock costume and eyebrow gestures in the song “Suno Suno Jee”. When I watched the movie again last weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed the simple yet modern, slow yet flowing performances by Gopi Krishna and Sandhya and appreciated them for their talent.

The story is about the struggles in the love life of Girdhar and his dance partner Neela as they both rehearse to win the coveted title of “Bharat Natraj” through a national dance contest.  Giridhar’s father, Mangal Maharaj is a dance teacher and a previous winner of the Bharat Natraj title.  Mangal Maharaj considers Girdhar’s love for Neela as a distraction and has the support of a local merchant with an evil eye to Neela’s beauty; together they cause grief to the love birds.

The story would have been an ordinary love story but for its music, choreography, the sets and costumes and not to miss out the chemistry between Gopi Krishna and Sandhya which makes it totally unique, not just in 1955 but also in 2014. The movie is a musical feast from the get-go with the songs composed in different classical ragas. The song “Saiyyan Jao” was composed in Raag Des with a flavor of natyasangeet, the sad song “ Mere Ae Dil Bata” was composed in Raag Bhairavi and the song “Nain so Nain” in Raag Malgunji . The song “Ruth Basant Ayi ban upvan” sung in different ragas and the title track sung by Ustad Amir Khan in Raag Adana is still a treat to my ears.  The music also marks its uniqueness by introducing Santoor in Indian cinema and by using some western steps in some smaller sequences in 1955.

The movie begins with its credits splashing over rangoli colors and designs, kathak footwork, and Ustad Amir Khan’s stunning voice! Each song that follows depicts a phase in the love life.  The song “Murali Manohar” adopts a narrative style in between traditional music, successfully depicting the mythological story of Radha-Krishna and the blossoming love between Girdhar- Neela. One of the few movies in technocolor from that era, the blue Girdhar, the man made lake, the entire backdrop in this song gives it a very theatrical look.  My fairy tale song however, is “Nain so nain”, a slow moving evergreen song in the divine voice of Hemant Kumar and Lata ji. And as Girdhar and Neela dance to the roles of Kama and Rati around colorful fountains in the Brindavan, I catch myself walking into a musical fairy tale.  The movie concludes with an energetic “tandav”; one that will always be the best one ever performed in Bollywood.  The movie won a lot of awards that year, including best film award but the music that gave the movie its success never won an award. To me this movie is a terrific tribute to the world of dance and music.

Naushad was the master of classical music in that era. When approached for the opportunity to compose for JJPB, he not only gave up the opportunity but also assured V Shantaram that Vasant Desai could compose classical based music. This support within the music fraternity was perhaps another aspect that was unique only to the golden era.