Parakh

I saw Parakh last night. Released in 1960, Parakh was directed by the great Bimal Roy. For today's generation, please note that Bimal Roy was one of our greatest movie makers, and he made classics such as Do Bigha Zameen, Devdas, Parineeta (old), Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, and Bandini—each movie a trailblazer!

Parakh is a story set in a village where the do-gooder postmaster receives a cheque of 500, 000 INR(pretty huge amount in the fifties!). Instead of keeping it for himself, he calls a meeting of the village elders to decide on the rightful recipient. The meeting ends with a call for an election where people would decide on the rightful recipient. The rest of the movie shows how each of the village elder takes the extra effort to please the villagers—it’s quite funny at times. The movie has enough interesting turns till the end. What keeps you transfixed is the setting—it’s a village in the early fifties of a young independent India, grappling with freedom, development and above all a nascent democracy. The village settings with the various characters actually provide a wonderful backdrop to metaphorize democracy.

The star of the movie is its storyline. I am not talking about Bimalda—the movie showcases his obvious craft! Watch out for an effortless performance by Motilal, and an equally refreshing one from an almost-unrecognizable Sadhana. There are some gems composed by Salil Choudhury. Worth a dekko, it transports you to an era when India was coming to terms with freedom, democracy, and development. I feel the movie is a must-see because we now tend to take these very issues for granted!