Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955)

The next set of films up for review on this blog are those of the legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram. So far I've seen just six of his films but if there's something I've noticed about his work, its the fact that all his films give you bang for your buck, if not story wise then definitely in terms of sets, costumes, and top notch songs and dance. Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje (Tinkle tinkle the anklets sound) is cited as his first commercial and most successful venture to date, the film won him a Filmfare Director award as well as Filmfare award for best film, best art direction (Kanu Desai) and best sound (A.K. Parmar)

Mangal Maharaj (Keshavrao Date) a well respected dance master who holds the prestigious title of Bharat Nataraj considers dance a spiritual discipline, and for him dance other than Indian traditional dance is vulgar, he also trains his son Girdhar (Gopi Krishna) who's due to partake in a national dance contest held once in every ten years

Girdhar is due to do a solo dance but he is also required to a second dance which requires a female partner, his father is disappointed when his first choice Roopkala seems to have sold out to commercial style dances

When his son notices the dance of Neela Devi he considers it vulgar and goes about showing her how real dance is done, Neela Devi is taken aback by his talent and in turn comes to see her own dance as vulgar too

Beautiful Sandhya

She meets with Mangal and pleads about wanting to be his disciple. Mangal tells her training would result in hardwork, practice, penance and lots of sacrifice including any talks of love. Neela agrees to his conditions and the the Guru takes her under his wings

Manilal (Madan Puri) who is Leela's benefactor and also in love with her tries to raise doubt in Mangal's mind by bringing up the idea of love but Mangal reassures him that Girdhar has danced with many without falling in love and perhaps only after the competition is over can they discuss love plus they don't marry out of love but rather out of duty

handsome and young Madan Puri

Thus Meera and Girdhar start practicing everyday and the inevitable does indeed happen they start falling for each other, his father the Guru notices the bond between them and warns Girdhar

Trouble arises when Mangal realises for a fact that they're both in love, he accuses her of pretending to love dancing just to make Girdha fall in love with her. A guilty Leela in order to stick to her promise and conditions set out in the beginning starts giving Girdhar the cold shoulder, followed by huge amounts of self sacrifice all in the name of encouraging Girdhar in his art

With months left before the dance takes place will Girdhar be reunited with Neela? Will Girdhar be able to win his competition without her? Will all of Leela's sacrifice for the sake of Girdhar's act pay off? Will she be rewarded or will her sacrifice be in vain?

Jhanak Jhanak payal baaje was a film i watched for its historical place in hindi cinema more so than anything else, at first i thought what the hell is this, but despite a slow start it proved to be entertaining in a musical fairytale kind of way, it does get very melodramatic towards the end but trust me the sets, the colours and the songs and dances especially if you're into Indian classical dance will keep you entertained

Though on the surface it feels like a glossy fairytale there are multiple readings which have been observed by filmi philosopher extraordinaire 'Philip Lutgendorf' who notes that the film's take on love especially sacrificial love as practiced by Leela to encourage Girdhar's art is

"preoccupied with and ultimately affirming of the value of romantic love—and the audience can readily sympathize with Neela’s unjust treatment by Giridhar, Mangal Maharaj, and Mani Babu—it also seeks to endorse conventional ideals of both patriarchal family and nation. For Mangal Maharaj, love is a distraction from the austere path of art, which is closely associated with both family honor and “national culture,” and which requires strict celibacy, at least during the student phase—the ideal ofbrahmacarya so prized by Gandhi and other nationalist thinkers. This celibacy is valorized within a patriarchal and sexist ideology. For although both Giridhar and Neela express their budding love, it is Neela alone who must assume responsibility for being a “distraction” to her male partner and must be chastened by asceticism and suffering nearly-unto-death."

For more on his take on the movie click here (Warning: contains spoilers)

Acting wise all the cast were rather theatrical, but Sandhya definitely stands out for her quirkiness and rubbery facial expression's they are a treat, i also find her very beautiful and I'm well aware Richard S is a fan, so here Richard i collected lots of screen caps for you (Get them here)

Gopi krishna who played Girdhar was rather effeminate with all his sulking and posing but what a graceful dancer, he was also the film's dance director, such a fabulous dancer he is, watch as he twirls, spins and does some amazing dance moves in fact i commented a while back on Dance on the footpath that some of his dance moves had elements of the dance phenomenon referred to as voguing

Also interesting was the film's or should i say Mangal's view of western style dance being vulgar, check out his reaction to Girdhar, Leela and co in this clip below

to which Philip Lutgendorf again notes

"that the tradition of classical dance that the film celebrates is almost entirely invented and in fact heavily inflected by western influences"

Well deserved award for the Art director from the colourful fountains to pastel coloured interiors an heavily detailed columns, Jhanak Jhanak has lots of eye candy

And lest i forget some elaborate costumes such as the puja lamp ones and Sandhya's amazing peacock outfit


The Puja lamp outfits

Wow!! leapard prints and peacock feathers, talk about Exotic

Absoultely fabulous score from Vasant Desai, highlights are the title track 'jhanak jhanak payal baaje' with its Rangoli style opening credits, the beautiful 'mere ai dil bata' & 'saiyaan jaao' , a lovely Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar duet'nain ko nain', my favourites are 'O Suno suno' with Sandhya in an amazing peacock costume and lots of male dancers on stilts

and 'Kaise yeh mohabbat'

Total Score: 7/10( extra points awarded for the songs, costumes, songs, dances)