Aandhi

They say Aandhi is based on the life of India's first woman Prime Minister, India's Iron Lady - Indira Gandhi. Maybe it is true, maybe it is not. If it is, then Indira Gandhi should have been happy about the way she has been presented.

Indira Priyadarshani Gandhi was daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Nehru. She fell in love with Feroze Gandhi (a young politician born as Feroze Sopariwala) and they had two children (the younger of which went on the become the third Prime minister from the family). Their married life was not very successful, was it because of Indira's father's political ambitions (that Feroze a respected and righteous politicians interfered with) or because of some personal reasons is hard to guess, though several speculations do exist (especially from pro RSS historians who use any means to tarnish the name of the politically influential Gandhi family), and Feroze & Indira started living separately. Before he died Feroze had a heart attack, and Indira and he were re-united till his death a short time later.

There are parallels with Indira Gandhi's life in Aandhi. But mostly the story is very different. It is hard to imagine how Gulzar came out with a movie like Aandhi when Indira Gandhi had imposed an emergency in India during that time. If my memory serves me right I even heard it was banned for sometime.

The female protagonist Aarti Devi (Suchitrra Sen) is daughter of a politician and she falls in love with a Hotel Manager (Sanjeev Kumar). She does have a strong personality. There marriage is broken but that is about it (with respect to similarities).

I love the movie because of the strong performances by Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen and the direction of Gulzar. Gulzar's recent movies have been very politically opinionated but Aandhi even though it is set in a political setting is not much about about politics itself. Primarily it is about re-discovery of love in a broken marriage.

We travel back and forth in time to find about the past and present of the couple, we even find that they still have feeling for each other but it is the dirty political games and the interventionist attitude of the public and the press that forces them to face and brings out the truth about there lives.

I generally avoid films about politics, because I find that most of them are stereotypical and one-sided, but this one is directed by Gulzar so it can be nothing but excellent. I followed this belief of mine, and I was not disappointed. Aandhi is not at all a film about politics. Politics is just a part of the story, it's just a profession of a woman in this film, which is used to show her power and to show how a profession of this kind may trouble a woman's personal life. This is a film about love, marriage, romance, human nature, pride, separation, ego, forgiveness and reconciliation (in chronological order).

Aandhi is about Aarti, a woman of strong character who has ambitions to become a politician like her dad. She falls for a common hotel manager named JK, and decides to tie the knot with him, much to the displeasure of her father. After marriage, Aarti tries her best to balance between her political work and responsibility as a wife/mother. However, as time goes by JK feels he becomes inferior to her even at home. Differences lead to intense arguments and subsequently to a break up. Many years later they meet again when she is already a big political leader. And a new relationship begins as they reminisce their life together.

I was completely engaged by Gulzar's superb direction, his extraordinary story-telling, and his realistic portrayal of human relationships. We see neither bitterness nor anger between Aarti and JK, but only a renewed and mature relationship based on understanding and fond memories. The film is extremely well-written, so are the characters. The story unfolds interestingly through flashbacks and the connection between the past and the present is brilliantly displayed in the film. There is a very impressive attention the director pays to details. Gulzar's dialogues are exceptional, and he writes beautiful lyrics to the songs.

Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar give two powerful performances. Sen is astonishing as Aarti. We see so many sides of her personality, and this difficult role is played with complete ease and precision by this phenomenal actress, including dialogue delivery and body language. This is a performance with a great mix of toughness and vulnerability. Sen displays both coolness and a pinch of arrogance while playing the strong politician, yet convincingly switches it with warmth and cordiality when she becomes a suffering woman or a wife. The ever-great Sanjeev Kumar is (unsurprisingly) nothing short of excellent. This is another outstanding performance this unforgettable actor added to his vast repertoire.

The film is both a drama and a romance, and one aspect that significantly contributes to this is RD Bruman's fantastic soundtrack. "Is Mod Pe Jaate Hain", "Tum Aa Gaye Ho" are wonderful songs, but the one that makes the greatest impact is "Tere Bina Zindagi Se Joi", for its melodious tunes, fantastic lyrics, but most importantly for the amazing scenes it carries. I consider the sequences shown through this song the best scenes of the film. They show moments of interaction and painful feelings of missing. These are poignant and memorable moments, and the same can be said about the film itself. Aandhi is a gem. That's it.

One of the best movie ever made on politics and romance together, Sanjeev Kumar acted so maturely as he do always in his movies. Suchitra Sen hindi accent was in bangali but because of the intense in the movie it's hides the other things.

Aandhi is a classic. A movie based on human emotions - and the struggle of two individuals who meet, fall in love and then drift apart only to meet again after many years. If my memory serves me well, I even believe that the female lead has elements of Indira Gandhi in her. A must-watch in order to understand Indian traditions and politics. Suchitra Sen is a rich politician's daughter who falls in love with a hotel manager, and marries him, against her father's wishes. They start a new life until Suchitra decides to follow her father and join politics, much against her husband's better judgement. The toils and troubles of a hectic political lifestyle results in their daughter's death and their divorce - leading them to pursue different directions in life for many odd years. Finally, the two meet again, after many years. A very sensitive movie - with well crafted lyrics and beautiful performances. I give it a 9.5 due to Sanjay Kumar's performance, the music and the trouble the movie had as it was released during the emergency.

If not anything, every time I manage to catch a song or a glimpse from "Aandhi"on telly, it makes me stop doing everything and take notice. Every frame of "Aandhi" deserves the "Bible" for acting status. It is next to impossible to judge who was outdoing whom - Sanjeev Kumar or Suchitra Sen. Safe to say, both neatly complimented each other.

Amongst all the movies Gulzar held the reigns of direction "Aandhi" gets the top position. The narrative in the form of flashbacks keeps it crisp and the audience intrigued. I seriously doubt if "Aandhi" deserved the due recognition it deserved when it was released. I surely have read about the reference to Indira Gandhi's political career leading to the ban, but I wonder if fuelled the fire to speculation or worked against it I am not too sure. And another thing, political themes haven't worked quite well owing to the dry subject and the lack of succulence, however Gulzar manages to calibrate it to perfection for the audience without going over-board.

Gulzar/ Hari Bhai/ R D Burman was a winning combination every time they huddled up and "Aandhi" is no exception. Lyrics penned by Gulzar, mystical as usual were elevated to great heights by the music to R D Burman. The composition are still fresh as they were two decades ago.

Noteworthy is the couple's daughter "Munna" who is never shown in the audience and is restricted to a reference in big scheme of things, which in my opinion is the art of fine film-making.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is reserved fiery delivery in the last frames by Suchitra. Sen. Noteworthy is the ending which cannot be more apt.