Synopsis
Neeta (Nargis) is saved by Dilip (Dilip
Kumar) when her horse veers off control.
A friendship develops between the two with
Dilip falling in love with Neeta and as
it appears her with him. Her father warns
her against this friendship with Dilip and
her 'modern' ways but Neeta brushes his
warning aside. In fact she turns to Dilip's
shoulder when her father passes away and
even makes him a partner in the family business
that she inherits. However it turns out
that Neeta is in love with and engaged to
Rajan (Raj Kapoor) and marries him once
he returns from abroad. When Dilip declares
his love for her on her wedding night, she
tells him that she has always looked upon
him as a friend and nothing more. Rajan
soon begins to suspect Neeta's infidelity
keeping her away from their little daughter
even as Dilip starts getting more and more
frustrated under the pressure of his thwarted
desire. Things come to a head as there is
a violent clash between the two men and
Rajan beats Dilip silly. Going out of his
mind Dilip turns on Neeta telling her she
really loves him and not Rajan. Neeta shoots
down the advancing Dilip and is tried for
his murder. Rajan comes to know that Neeta
has always loved him and no one else but
it is too late by now as he himself had
testified against her behaviour with Dilip
in court. Neeta is sentenced to life imprisonment
and when Rajan comes to meet her in jail
she implores him to bring her up peoperly
and not to let her daughter make the same
mistakes she did. If she had only listened
to her father's warnings about her 'errant
and modern' ways, events would not have
come to such an end...
The film
Andaaz is till date regarded as the
mother of all triangles (love triangles
were made frequently even before Andaaz
but such is it's impact on Indian Cinema
that whenever the genre of love triangles
in Indian Cinema is discussed, the first
film that comes to mind is Andaaz!)
of Hindi Cinema. The film had everything
going for it right from its sensational
star cast of
Nargis, Dilip
Kumar and Raj
Kapoor. Though Andaaz is talked
about its unique casting coup of bringing
together the superstars Dilip Kumar and
Raj Kapoor, it must be admitted that at
the time of Andaaz's making, both
were just beginning to become stars and
hence their coming together is today regarded
as a coup and not then when the film was
made.
 In
Andaaz, Mehboob
targets the youth of the 1940s whom he felt
were wrongly aping western culture, behaviour
and fashion and addresses to them the greatness
of indian tradition. However this aspect
of the film ends up dramatising the contradictory
proposition that new, independent India
should value capitalist modernization while
retaining feudal family and moral values.
What really makes this film (regarded as
independent India's first 'modern film'
looking at its affluent urban class) work
is its high production value, technical
gloss hitherto unseen in Bollywood (superbly
photographed by Faredoon Irani) and of course
its highly charged and engrossing dramatic
content and lead performances that elevate
the film several, several notches above
the commonplace.
In
fact central to the film are the three superb lead perfomences.
Andaaz took Nargis right to the top and established
her without doubt as India's finest dramatic actress. Andaaz
was one in a series of films where she played a heroine caught
in the dilemma of the heart leading to tragic results, the
kind of roles played by Patience
Cooper in the 1920s. Dilip Kumar too consolidated on his
image of paying the tragic lover as he handles the author-backed
role of the doomed lover with ease. Raj Kapoor in the more
difficult role of the husband suspecting his wife's infidelity
more than manages to match strides with Dilip Kumar. Developing
an individialistic set of mannerisms overdone for effect,
his performance is a total contrast to Dilip Kumar's subtle
underplaying and goes extremely extremely well with the flow
of the film. The support by Cuckoo, Murad and V.H. Desai is
adequate although the comedy sequences with Desai seem to
go on and on and add nothing to the film.
The film is a musical triumph for Naushad.
Each and every song in the film was a raging
hit - Tu Kahe Agar, Jhoom Jhoom
ke Nacho Aaj, Tootena Dil Tootena,
Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Bhaithe, Uthaye
Ja Unke Situm, Tod Diya Dil Mera
are among the finest songs that Naushad
has composed. The last two sung by Lata
Mangeshkar represent her early singing
work in the year when she finally broke
through to become India's leading playback
artist and it is interesting to see her
initial singing style highly reminiscent
of the great Noorjehan.
Further, Naushad uses Mohd.
Rafi to sing for Raj Kapoor and Mukesh
for Dilip Kumar in a total reversal
of singing roles. But again at this state
of their careers the Raj-Mukesh and Dilip-Rafi
were yet to be solidly established and in
fact Mukesh had scored heavily under Naushad's
baton singing for Dilip Kumar in Mela
(1948), just the previous year.
However
what gives Andaaz it's cult status and timelessness
is that the film remains startlingly modern even in today's
times though propagating traditionalism. And not just due
to its Hollywood like gloss and high technical standards.
Even as Mehboob on the surface propagates traditional Indian
values and questions whether friendship between members of
the opposite sex can ever be platonic, somewhere the film
aquires an additional depth and layer through the playing
of the centre character by Nargis, maybe unintentionally,
because Mehboob never spoke on this aspect of the film ever.
Though Nargis claims that she was just friends with Dilip
Kumar and clearly loves Raj Kapoor whom she has married, she
has in fact responded to Dilip Kumar's love for her deep in
her heart in Raj's absence. One cannot blame Dilip Kumar.
Even the audience feels that she is indeed in love with him.
When her father dies, she turns to him rather than Raj and
makes him her partner. It is only later that Raj's existence
is revealed thus surprising the audience. Mehboob cleverly
develops the 'romance' between Dilip Kumar and Nargis. Remember
it was 1949 and audiences would not have accepted a woman's
friendship with a man when she is already engaged to another.
So Mehboob brings in Raj Kapoor as a surprise element. Just
when you think the love story is developing between Dilip
Kumar and Nargis, she tells him of Raj's arrival and immeditely
picks up the threads of her love story with Raj Kapoor. If
one knew that Nargis was bethrothed to Raj Kapoor and she
was this open with Dilip Kumar, she would have been labelled
a slut but bringing him in later not only brings a twist in
the tale but heightens the drama of the film. In fact to further
push this point home, when Dilip Kumar declares his love for
Nargis on her wedding day, her reaction is not one of shock
that how could he think my friendship was love but one that
only confirms her worst fears thought best unsaid as she finds
herself torn between two men. Consequently what comes out
is a highly charged and volatile love triangle rising to great
levels of Greek tragedy. Thus rather then a film of simply
pitting 'Western Modernity' v/s 'Indian Tradition' Andaaz
emerges as a timeless classic - a rich, complex journey into
the very depth of the human heart.
It is perhaps Mehboob's finest film, even Mother
India (1957) notwithstanding.
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