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Gulzar’s Aandhi celebrates 40 years of its existence this year. Mired in controversies, slapped with a ban for some time, Aandhi stepped on the fragile ground of featuring a woman political leader as the protagonist. This was perhaps path-breaking within the scheme of Hindi cinema dominated by patriarchal modes of story-telling, character exposition and treatment.
The strange contradiction that sustains in the scheme of filial politics that brings the woman from her inner domain to be part of the public sphere is that, though family stability is an essential prerequisite of a woman's political success, once she attains a height no one seemed possible, the very stability of the family that formed her support structure begins to collapse. Families by and large, appear supportive of their women joining the "political battlefield". But, they feel threatened when the same women assume larger-than-life proportions by virtue of their fame and power earned through electoral triumph and personal grit. The very entry of a married woman into politics involves a re-negotiation of duties and responsibilities among members, even in countries as culturally disparate as Australia and Malaysia.
This has come across lucidly in Aandhi through Kamaleshwar’s story, Gulzar’s script, dialogue and direction and Suchitra Sen’s portrayal ideally complemented by Sanjeev Kumar who plays her estranged husband, Om Prakash her political advisor and guide, Hangal as the family loyal and Rahman as her father, each actor firmly rooted in his/her outstanding talent in histrionics.
A.K.Hangal and Suchitra Sen in Aandhi
Arti Devi (Suchitra Sen)’s political career is carefully and diplomatically built brick by small brick by her influential industrialist-cum-politician father who hopes to use his daughter’s education and talent to further his own ‘business interests.’ At one point, Arti tells him, “Please do not use me as your business interest” when her father tries to dissuade her from marrying an ordinary man. Politics is a career she has been cleverly coerced into but slowly over time she begins to enjoy it.
When the duties of being a homemaker, wife and mother begin to burden her down, she gets lured by the fame and power a political career can give her. Her husband forces her to choose between home and career. An argument heats up and becomes a fierce quarrel and she chooses to leave –home, husband and daughter to become a political leader in the capital. The script does not spell out her position within the party or even the party which carries the symbol of a pigeon in flight but the people she is surrounded by suggests her importance.
Arti Devi’s political career is meshed into her past and her present so much that it is a ‘part’ of the narrative and not the narrative itself. It emerges from the story-telling and not vice versa. She is a Gandhian in belief and in practice and hates violence of any kind. Though she depends a lot on her political advisor she keeps control so far as no violence is indulged in even when she is a victim of violence herself. “Violence is bad politics,” she says at a press conference in response to the question, “violence is a part of politics, isn’t it?”
Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar in Aandhi
When she finds herself suddenly confronted by her past, she is both happy and sad. Happy because she discovers that people she was close to – the faithful family loyal Binda (A.K. Hangal) remembers that she loved kheer. She is happy that someone has placed sandalwood incense and a surai for water in her room knowing her liking for these things. “Someone here seems to know what I like,” she says more than once. The receptionist brings her a bouquet of yellow roses, her favourite. She is sad to discover that all these years, she had been missing these soft, emotional touches and did not even know it! She is said that their daughter is now ten years old and she has never seen her for nine long years.
All this is brought out in a restrained, low-key performance by Suchitra Sen who, once she knows where she is staying and who she is surrounded by, her remarkable confidence in body language, posture, gait and speech gets a bit dented and one sees this merging into feelings of uncertainty and guilt. These finer nuances of facial expression captured in mid-close-ups and mid-long shots, contrary to the use of huge close-ups Suchitra Sen’s Bengali films are known for, added both depth and perspective to her performance. The streaks of gray in her long hair adds an air of class and dignity enriching the performance and demonstrating how much and how importantly an actress’ ‘look’ created for a given character goes a long way in impacting on the performance. This is a significant quality at a time when ‘looks’ tests were not as significant as they are today.
Her husband however, is the ideal picture of balance, cool and stability. He understands and respects her need to keep their relationship a secret so once, when he comes out and addresses her by her first name and her political advisor is surprised, he tries to save the situation though it is too late. He really begins to enjoy her company especially during the night-time outings in the architectural site that gives her a bad cold. Small touches like his removing his coat to cover her with when she has forgotten to carry her shawl, or, gently pulling her head to his shoulder to rest on. These subtle touches bring out that love is not really lost but had taken a backseat for all these years and the sudden meeting brought it all rushing back.
In the beginning of a song sequence, the husband and wife are distanced and divided by the pillars of the ruins. Gradually, they skirt the pillars and get close to each, touching, embracing in the manner a mellow couple would. Extending the same logic, when Arti Devi comes out in the open on the public platform to tell the audience who the secret man in her life really is, he walks slowly from the audience up to the podium and lends support by pulling her to himself. Looking back, this is melodramatic. At the same time, one is tempted to ask – could it have been any different? Arti goes back to her career without any suggestion that she might be united with her husband in future or not. Do the schisms remain, or have they faded away after the reunion or is it too late for both of them to mend bridges? No one knows so at the end of the story, Arti Devi remains a working woman with a vertical career she looks forward to. Suchitra Sen’s masterful performance complemented by her co-actor Sanjeev Kumar remains perhaps one of her most outstanding in her career.
