Synopsis
The
film is centered around a stubborn, badly
behaved rich boy, Ajay (Raj Kumar Gupta).
Though doted upon by his mother and grandfather
he is a problem child. The grandfather sends
Ajay to a boarding school. Ajay refuses
to reform constantly getting into trouble
with the authorities including the kindly
new superintendent Shekhar (Abhi Bhattacharya).
He also befriends a cripple boy Shakti (Rattan
Kumar) who urges him to become good. Shekhar
wins the children and teachers over with
his unorthodox methods as he teaches the
boys about life and about our great country’s
heritage but Ajay stubbornly refuses to
toe the line. Finally he attempts to leave
the hostel. Shakti attempts to stop him
and is run over in a horrific accident.
Ajay realizing that he is to blame for Shakti’s
death, reforms and comes first in academics
and sports. Shekhar whose methods have won
approval by the education board leaves to
spread his message elsewhere…
The film
A
good film doesn’t need stars. If the
content of the film is rich it overrides
everything. Nothing proved this idiom better
than Filmistan’s Jagriti,
a small little film with no stars and set
predominantly in a hostel of a boy’s
school. However such was the impact of this
little gem that not only did it take the
box-office by storm but also went on to
win the Filmfare Award for Best film and
Best Supporting Actor for Abhi Bhattacharya.
 Jagriti
is a reworking of Satyen Bose’s earlier
Bengali film Paribartan made in
1949 and works on a simple humane level
and is at once simplistic, sensitive, thought-provoking,
humorous and engrossing. Bose recreates
a Bengali ambiance, paying attention to
detail and filling the film with small emotional
touches that make for rich viewing.
The
film is a throwback to the idealistic 1950s
following the euphoria of Indian Independence
as it invokes gratitude to Gandhiji, Nehru,
Subash Chandra Bose and the Indian freedom
struggle. More importantly, the film looks
at juvenile delinquency and is perhaps one
of the earliest Hindi films to do so. The
track of the unorthodox teacher winning
over his ‘problematic’ students
is more in the mould of Hollywood classics
such as Goodbye Mr. Chips and The
Blackboard Jungle and has always proved
popular even in later versions such as To
Sir with Love or in Hindi films itself
with Imtihan (1974).
In
Jagriti Bose reaffirms the flair
he has in dealing with children as what
really strikes one is the naturalness in
the performances of the children of the
hostel at times reminding one of Jean Vigo’s
brilliant Zero for Conduct. The
two central performances of the boys give
Jagriti much of its innate strength. Raj
Kumar Gupta ably carries the film on his
slender shoulders with a smoldering performance
as the ‘angry young boy’. Perhaps
it is no coincidence that the angry young
boy’s screen name was ‘Ajay’
and the angry young man of the 1970s was
mostly called ‘Vijay’, both
to do with notions of victory. Gupta is
perfectly complimented by Rattan Kumar playing
the cripple Shakti. But then Rattan Kumar
was already an established child star known
best for his role in Bimal
Roy’s Do
Bigha Zameen (1953) and Raj
Kapoor’s Boot Polish (1954).
Ajay and Shakti’s scenes together
at the school swing are warm and enduring.
And later on in the film when Ajay comes
to the swing following Shakti’s death
one cannot help but be moved by him as he
misses his friend. Incidentally, Rattan
Kumar later migrated to Pakistan where he
enjoyed a career as leading man! Besides
Jagriti, Satyen Bose also had much
success dealing with children in films like
Bandish, Masoom and Mere
Lal even if he is remembered more for
one of Indian Cinema’s finest comedies
Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) starring
the three Ganguly Brothers – Ashok
Kumar, Kishore
Kumar and Anoop Kumar with Madhubala.
Coming
back to the performances in Jagriti,
Abhi Bhattacharya perfectly fits the character
of the kindly new superintendent, playing
his part faultlessly never trying to upstage
the children at any stage but rather complimenting
them with understanding, compassion and
yes even punishment if need be. He is also
well aided by well-written dialogues, which
get their point across without appearing
too preachy. Thus you listen with interest
to what he says which is a major strength
for the film to get its message across to
the viewer. Pronoti Ghosh does full justice
to her little cameo as Shakti’s mother.
The music of Jagriti was extremely
well integrated into the film and is in
fact a highlight of the film. The film thankfully
concentrates on the story and doesn’t
let the music intrude. In fact the film
has just 4 songs, which for the 1950s was
a major risk since songs were essential
to the Bollywood film idiom. But then Jagriti
is a classic example of quality over quantity.
Each of the songs is a minor masterpiece
- Chalo Chalein Ma, Dedi Humein
Azaadi , Hum Layein Hain Toofaan
and that evergreen song by Pandit Pradeep
– Aao Bachon Tumhein Dikhayein
Jhanki Hindustan ki. Jagriti
represents one of the best scores of Hemant
Kumar’s career but then remember it
was Filmistan that gave Hemant Kumar a break
as music director with Anandmath (1952)
and it was for Filmistan that Hemant Kumar
composed his most popular score - Nagin
(1954).
It
is indeed to Filmistan’s credit to
produce a strong purposeful film like Jagriti
considering they were known more for their
frothy, formulaic films where you mix romance,
villany, violence, sex appeal with popular
stars and catchy music. And today when one
critically analyses their repertoire of
work it is films like Jagriti that
stand out rather than Munimjee (1955)
and Paying Guest (1957), popular
though they were.
Jagriti
released in 1954 and proved to be the sleeper
hit of the year. Today when the nation has
all but lost its values it is films like
Jagriti, which need to be made
and seen to waken the good inside us that
seems to have got lost.
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