Unmatched ties (Amar Prem)

My friend summed it well. Three people who share no umbilical attachment are tied by the bonds of love, trust, faith and understanding. A relation that has no name, a love that is illegitimate to society; yet, these bonds are so cordial and endearing. Heartmelting emotions and relations that cannot be put down on paper make Amar Prem a cathartic experience. I say cathartic because after watching this Shakti Samanta 1971 classic, you will be so overwhelmed by the string of emotions displayed here, so overwrought by the delicacies and intricacies of human bondings that you will find a your eyes swell on occasions more than one. A feeling of satisfaction and an empathy for the warm characters will absolutely occupy your soul...

Pushpa, a grief-stricken and desolate young woman from Madhopur, is glibed into a brothel in Calcutta by a so-called trustworthy native uncle. Courtesy her ravishing looks, her mild charm and her mellifluous singing ability, she becomes a prized possession in this household of questionable character. Pushpa's surroundings change but the intrinsic goodness in her is not tarnished. Though slighted by Mahesh (Sujit Kumar) for her scandalous occupation now, she bears no ill feelings towards her village folk. It is her destiny she blames. So, even when she realises that the cheeky Nepal chacha (Madan Puri) has been regularly gulling money out of her to take back to her already deceased mother in Madhopur, she weeps silently on her ill fate. Never does she harangue him for cheating her. Such is Pushpa's fortune, or the lack of it. A woman who is stigmatised and traumatised for no fault of hers. Fate has just bad things in store for her. Barren and craving for a child, she is beaten and driven out of home by her wicked husband and his new wife. Pushpa does not even get a second chance at her mother's who is more eager to slander her own daughter believing the malicious gossip of the petty neighbours. Pushpa, alone and heartbroken, choses death as her saviour, only to be rescued by Nepal chacha just in time. Surely she is not aware of the darker recesses that he will lead her to. Neither is she remotely conscious of his ulterior motives... Ill fated, for sure...

Acknowledging her new life (despite the stigma attached to it) she thrives in the praise she garners for classical prowess. Anand, the man who is a loner at heart, revels in her music and company. Her devotion floors him and he is right when he says that her name should have been Meera. Who would even say that the soulful and ethereal Raina beetee jay (such a marvellous bhajan) is emanating from a place as infamous as a brothel. The song has the whiff of Pushpa's devotion towards her art and bears testimony to the goodness in her soul...

Anand and Pushpa's ties are forged by an acute comprehension of each other's thoughts, beliefs and woes. A woman subject to the drudgeries of life, a man cheated off conjugal bliss, form a bond that belies any definition of social ties. Anand is married but is far away from marital satisfaction. His wife, an ultra modern woman, busy with her parlours and parties, wastes no time looking after or loving her husband. So who does he go to? Pushpa, even though is not his legal wife, fulfils all the responsibilities of a loving and doting wife. When Anand craves for puri, aloo sabji and halwa, it is Pushpa who rushes to fetch the food so that Anand does not go hungry. Anand saves her from the sticky Nepal chacha and wipes her silent tears whenever a storm of pain ravages her heart. A thoroughly benevolent man, Anand is the man, you feel every moment, who should have been Pushpa's husband. In the last scene when she touches his feet out of love as well as reverence, your heart aches for what could have been... A man who does everything for everybody but is never acknowledged enough, Samanta's Anand, or rather Rajesh Khanna as Anand, will always occupy a high pedestal in my heart...

The sweetest relation is shared by Pushpa and Nandu, her tiny neighbour who is suffering. Craving for a mother who will understand and care for him, Nandu rushes to Pushpa because she is the mother he does not have. A mother who loves him, dotes on him, laughs with him and cries for him. Nandu is the son she never had out of her own womb. But the attachment she has with this innocent lad is stronger than any blood ties. Agitated when his stepmother (Bindu) is beating him up, Pushpa does not think twice to rush to his rescue even though she knows that she will be insulted and rebuked for her sullied status. She envelops Nandu with her exceptional and unconditional love and expects no return. A magnanimous soul, she leaves no stone unturned to get him a doctor even when he is ill. A poignant scene is when she cuts her feet and Nandu dresses the wound. Sharmila Tagore's eyes are but a window to her vulnerable soul, a soul touched by his love and kindness. Even though he is a Brahmin, he breaks the shackles of caste and creed to pay his homage and respects to the mother who rears him with her love. Bara natkhat hain (Lata Mangeshkar) is such an apt description of the relationship the two share. Yashodha is Krishna's foster mother, but can anyone question this mother-son relation? Likewise can anyone question Pushpa and Nandu's relation?

Amar Prem's poignant story attains a different dimension when R.D Burman's music rolls. He makes his father sing the Bhatiyali number, Doli mein bithaike to set the tone of the film. Yes, Amar Prem has a very Bengali feel (sample the scene where Pushpa is breaking her conchshell bangles after her husband dies). It is adapted from Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's story (1970's Nishi Padma is the Arobindo Mukherjee directed Bengali film starring Uttam Kumar and Sabitri Chatterjee). Kishore Kumar gets to sing some of the best tracks of his career, if you can say so of Chingari koi bhadke, Kuch to log kaheingey and Yeh kya hua. Just superlative, in terms of music, lyrics (Anand Bakshi) and picturisation.

One word for the very young Vinod Mehra, who plays the grown up Nandu. Apart from the fact that he is extremely attractive, his eyes give away a certain sensitivity that adds more beauty to this sublime drama. When he sees Pushpa for the first time after many years as an old maid subject to the harsh words and atrocities of a mess owner, his heart cries out for her. He does what every dutiful son should, he gives Pushpa her due. A mother gets a son, a son gets a mother. Anand gets to see his true love happy and rewarded. Three lives estranged from each other by a rude stroke of misfortune get intertwined again, in one fulfuling and everlasting chapter...