Tansen (1943) :
Brief Review -
Indian Cinema's First Magical Experience in a Musical Blockbuster. Fascinating Magnum Opus At Its Best! By 2022, we hardly have a few films that can be tagged as Musical magnum opuses, ahead of their time in terms of larger-than-life filmmaking. I only remember "Katyar Kaljat Ghusali" from the last decade because it had a great script and music. Taking things back to B & W cinema, we had "Baiju Bawra" (1952, somewhat of a Tansen story itself), "Anarkali" (1953), "Mirza Ghalib" (1954), " Mayabazar" (1957) and then came a full stop with "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960). But did we have any such examples in the 40s? The only two arguments are "Chitralekha" (1941) and "Anmol Ghadi" (1946)-the latter one being more like a romantic tragedy. So all this is just to prove my point that Tansen was the greatest musical magnum opus we had in the 40s. Just FYI, if you are concerned about the box office, Tansen was a blockbuster - the second biggest after classic "Kismet" in 1943. Do you remember that "Pain and heartbreak create better music" thing in Ranbir Kapoor's modern musical Rockstar (2011)? Let me tell you, Tansen used it 7 decades ago. Dear Jayant Desai, what have you made and how did you make it? Tansen is so great as a musical drama even though it lacks authenticity from the historical data (he gave clarification in the beginning only). How fascinating and magical the film was. I just can't explain. Hollywood had been doing great in the musical genre ever since the early 30s and they reached new heights in the 40s, while Indian cinema wasn't even present in the league. Tansen just came in like a storm and surpassed the contemporary musicals. Saigal ji and Bano ji, I don't have words to thank you for the memorable experience. From hereon, I will always take Tansen's name as a pride of Indian cinema in the 1940s. In Akbar's style, "Mein shayad 40s ki 50 classics bhul jau, but Tansen ko hamesha yaad rakhunga".
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
