Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda And Me | Learning A Masterpiece | Editor's Pen

Friends,

Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda had a great influence in my early days. How old was I when I first saw this film on Doordarshan? 10 or may be 12 years. Watching Byomkesh Bakshi as a young man was a different feel altogether. Over the time, the memories faded but something was etched deep inside. The voice of Manek Mulla and haunting image of Satti.

Fifteen years later, I had my hand on a copy of this brilliant film. Must have seen two dozen times to compensate the lost time. On a personal level, the film worked largely due to little contradictions and subtle maneuvers of characters and story sub-plots and brilliant usage of narration. The idea of this being meta-fiction hardly mattered. Good performances and beautiful background score just amplified the impact. Music by Vanraj Bhatia was as important as any other element of the story. The epilogue sequence still plays in my ears.

Two good things happened in this exercise – I got a chance to talk to Rajit Kapoor for the interview and Nishaad. Talk with him will remain with me for long. He has some questions and I was struggling to find my voice. I was so awestruck. I have never being so overwhelmed by anything in my life. Talking to a childhood hero, I think only Sheldon Cooper can understand this. Nishaad was a little story I wrote and is being made into a short film. We will showcase it in our forthcoming editions. Nishaad is inspired from Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda. It’s a tribute.

I don’t know how I will feel about this movie twenty years down the line. I have seen better films but they never remained with my personality for more than a year or two. Tell us if you feel so strongly about any film. We would love to hear you.

Love

Sujoy Ghosh

Characters In Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda | Learning A Masterpiece | Under Lens

Jamuna: Jamuna is one of the central characters. Her desire to find comfort in embrace of a man defines women at the turn of ages. Inhibited in public but extremely vocal and ready to risk everything for desires. Her courage is not in being righteous but in being happy.  

Tanna: Perhaps the most virtuous of the characters, Tanna evolves as a righteous and honest person. While he aspires to take care of his father, whose behavior has been far less than respectful, he also maintains sanctity of his relation with Jamuna and Lily. He is not a strong character in person but by his actions, he comes out as a character with strongest and infallible character. 

Maheshar Dalal: Maheshar is the most omnipresent character in the story. All events are either triggered by him or he plays an important role in the root cause. He doesn’t allow Tanna-Jamuna’s alliance, arranges Tanna’s marriage to Lily and molests Satti. At many points events are after effect of his action. Like Jamuna’s marriage to old Jamindar and Lily’s dysfunctional relationship with Tanna. As a negative character, he plays his part right. 

Ramdhan: Ramdhan, aptly, represents the working class. He supports the elite in different ways. He fathers Jamuna’s son on behalf of his employer and ensures that elite survives. When his employer dies, he supports his widow in all possible ways. His character is romanticized to bring in dry humor. Beneath that he is a person who wants to flourish in a rather hard world. 

Lily: Lily plays Manek’s companion whom he could not marry. This can be an extension of Manek’s imagination or he is putting himself in someone else’s shoes. Initially reluctant to marry someone other than Manek, Lily realizes how the world works and decides to go ahead with the marriage. After marriage and child, she is not happy with her life. Her father-in-law’s behavior and Tanna, her husband’s timidity could be the reason. However, it seems that her personal ambitions played a larger role.  

Satti: Lower strata of society relies on the rich for their development. By falling in love with Manek, Satti aspired on similar lines. She is fiery but not strong enough to keep Maheshar at bay. Her tragedy somehow represents the tragedy of this nation.

Manek Mulla: The protagonist, Manek is the passive audience in this story to a large extent. At each point, he was in a position to take a small step and ensure three women a better life. However, he chose to walk away. By the end of the story, he is already haunted by his failures. When he faces Satti in the end, he doesn’t walk away. He emerges as the ray of hope in an otherwise grim world. He is the Seventh Horse.

Story Plots In Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda | Learning A Masterpiece | Under Lens

Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda can be divided into seven main plots/subplots. Some of these are fiction/gossip, some of these reflect reality and some are half-truth half-fiction.

Jamuna and Tanna’s love: Jamuna and Tanna are in a very delicate relationship. Sometimes it seems to be mutual and sometimes it seems to be Jamuna’s obsession. Jamuna, in her adolescent age, needs an emotional support. Tanna provides her solace. But when Tanna recedes away she needs someone else.

Jamuna and Manek’s romance: When Jamuna is alone, she seeks comfort in Manek’s company. For her Manek is nothing more than an escape route. What Manek looks out for in this relationship. Is it for real or he is imagining himself in someone else’s shoes? Even with this ambiguity, Jamuna’s weakness is exposed.

Jamuna’s marriage: From the outset, Jamuna’s marriage is a compromise with the situation she is in after her relationship with Tanna ends. But her need for emotional support is still there. Ramdhan, in a tricky way, provides her comfort. What exactly happened between the two is unknown to others and this part of the story is largely based on gossips and Manek’s imagination.

Tanna’s astuteness: Tanna’s sincerity towards his father and relationships acted as the background for the entire film. He turns down marriage proposal for the sake of his father who hardly gives him a damn. He takes up responsibility and shows immense character. He even turns down Jamuna’s adulterous advances at a later point.

Lily’s voyeurism: Lily was in a complex situation – between a broken relationship and a marriage. She is not in a state of mind where she can conceive the idea of new relationship. While the groom is at doorstep, she doesn’t know what to do. The wave of fresh air, though for a moment, allows her to get rid of the mental block and embrace new future.  

Satti’s life: Perhaps the only story which had no element of fiction. A poor girl who devotes herself to Manek falling for his goodness. However, as circumstances dictated Manek’s frailty, a typical middle class attribute, she despite of being most deserving gets nothing in the end.   

Manek’s Epilogue: Manek, in the story, evolves as a weak character. In the end he accepts his helplessness with grace and ponders what would have happened otherwise. At that juncture, he meets Satti again. His past haunts his present and he realizes how gross his mistake was. The subplot ends on a open note. We don’t know what Manek does in the end? Does Satti gets a better life? Though a small but a defining ray of light is there. That’s what Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda means. The weakest link but the greatest hope.

Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda | Learning A Masterpiece | The Critique

Dharamveer Bharti’s work Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda never got the recognition Gunaho Ka Devta got. However, on celluloid, Shyam Benegal’s adaptation of the story stands tall as one of the most admired pieces of alternate cinema. Rarely we experience such an endearing effort on screen. Maybe SKSG is not as compelling as Benegal’s other movies like Bhumika or as moving as Nishant, SKSG successfully balances all the elements of drama brilliantly.

 

SKSG is a metafiction. Sitting in his room with a bunch of friends, Manek tells some stories. Part of these stories are reality and part of them are his imagination. Stories are woven around Manek, three women in his life and people around them who actively influence the events. Manek, largely, remains a passive character. His friends ridicule him for this fact and he accepts the criticism gracefully. In the end, the way the title is explained by narrative, it successfully ties up all the open threads of different stories and bring about a conclusion that stays with you even after years.

 

Characters are contemporary and relevant. Even after twenty years, they seems to be carved out of people among us. Like most his films, Benegal keeps the focus on lives of lower-middle and lower class of the society and how their economic situation influences their life. Benegal doesn’t try to create caricature. Manek or any other character is as close to the real world as it can be. Their situations, maybe borderline fiction, seems to be very realistic.  

 

SKSG has some nice performances. Rajit Kapur, Amrish Puri, Neena Gupta, Lalit Tiwari and Raghuvir Yadav leave an impact. Music by Vanraj Bhatia is soulful. At no point it attempts to overpower the story and narrative and plays a very understated role. Direction is flawless. Aided by a brilliant story, Shyam Benegal brings out the best from the literary piece. No wonder, it received the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.  

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Rajit Kapur On Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda | Learning A Masterpiece | Golden Podium

Recently, we got a golden chance to talk to Rajit Kapur known for his subtle portrayal of Gandhi in Shyam Benegal’s Making Of Mahatma. We talked about his debut film – Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda – and that marks the beginning of our series on this masterpiece.

 

1. Rajit, what was your preparation for playing Manek Mulla in Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda? What was your approach?

RK: As it is based on a novel, I read the novel / book first. Based on that I created Manek Mulla's image in my head. The mind of Manek Mulla, his thinking, his ability to weave yarns and stories using things and people around him, was important for me to imbibe. I presented and performed what came instinctively to me under the guidance of Mr. Benegal - to think like a young man who has no work to do but loved telling stories to keep himself and others entertained.

 

2. The movie has seven main characters - Maheshar, Ramdhan, Tanna, Jamuna, Lily, Sati and Manek. By the end of the story, the weakest character - Manek - emerges as the seventh horse. How do you see his evolution and what, according to you was the incident that influenced him the most?

RK: There is no real evolution. Manek Mulla walked away into oblivion. Basically everything around him influenced him. But when reality meets his imagination, he is jolted (When he comes face to face with Sati, while having tea with his friends, towards the end).

 

3. From Manek’s point of view, his relationship with three women was turbulent, largely due to Manek’s own nature. Which was the most uncomfortable and why? Also, which was the most difficult one to portray?

RK: The one with Sati, because in that relationship he is neither a kid (as with Jamuna) nor an adult (as with Lily). He is feeling his way through adolescence.

 

4. How do you see Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda after all these years?

RK: It seems unbelievable how we managed to make this film. I cannot believe that it is ME up there on the screen. I think it is one of Shyam Benegal's best work to date (maybe after Bhumika or Manthan). It will go down in history as a classic. And I am honored and very proud to have been a part of it.

 

5. If today, someone revisits Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda, what will be your advice?

RK: Please see it on the big screen or magnified screen. The exquisite camera work and framing for the scenes (using colored filters / lenses) particularly stands out when you watch the film on a larger magnified screen (other than the usual TV screen).

 

Team TRM is proud to present this interview. Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda is more than just a film. It is a manual for budding filmmakers and aspiring actors.