India is zero ! Beggar nation !
Who the hell are you ?? Stupid country ? Stupid Indians ? Backward , dirty poor !!! Who are you ?
A hungry tattered India could only give a reply by poetry and songs, when Pran spits the above hurtful words at Manoj Kumar at a club in London.
In the 60s and early 70s when India was living on wheat charity from USA , this ‘bhikari’ tag was the norm. There could have been no counter argument to what Pran had said, but a poor self respecting nation could only reply with lyrics with the reply given by Manoj Kumar. “Jab zero diya mare Bharat ne …… deta na dasmlav Bharat to , Chand pe jana muskshil tha “ Those days we had only civilisational memory to rebuttal disparaging remarks on being called a poor hungry beggar nation. Shiploads of American wheat used to reach our docks to feed the hungry millions eking out a living from their parched lands.
This was a scene from the 1970 film ‘Purab aur Paschim” : written , produced and directed by the great Harkrishan Giri Goswami , also known as Manoj Kumar.
One must doff a hat to Manoj Kumar on having the courage and conviction to boost our morale when national spirit was down in the dumps. Who could predict, other than Manoj Kumar, that one day this country would find its place in the geo-politico-economic space.
Apna Bharat woh Bharat hai
Jis ke peechhe sansaar chala
Sansaar chala aur aage badha
Yun aage badha badhta hi gaya
Bhagwan kare yeh aur badhe
Badhta hi rahe aur phoole phale
Writing these prophetic lines when the West used to say , “If you don’t toe the line, we will delay the free wheat” , required an injured pride that can only be dreamt by an artist. It required ballsy guts to say that when India progressed the world would follow her.
I suggest that the movie ‘Purab aur Pashim’ requires scholastic study to read the brilliant mind of Manoj Kumar to think of this screenplay at a time when the it was drilled into our genetic makeup of the older Indian generations that anything coming from the West was the word of God and India’s validation comes from the approval of those having fewer melanocytes in their epidermis living in dark, wet cold nations.
The audience in the 70s were overawed by the London fountains , gardens and infrastructure shown in the film. The present Indian generation will see this movie with different eyes.
In my younger days, I could not understand the political statement being made by the filmmaker. Early in the film, the ‘language war monster ‘, which is rearing its head again , was deftly handled by Manoj Kumar. In one song, the lyricist compares Indian to be a newly wedded bride who has crossed 20 years of age , wearing a tricoloured blouse ; and she requires to be nurtured and protected. During that time , when there were serious doubts on the fate of this country, writing these lines was sagacious, and full of confidence on the inherent strength of our countrymen to tide over the defeats and humiliations of the past.
The film, as a typical Manoj Kumar film, is endowed with brilliant camera angles. The half-mirror reflection scene in “Purva suhani aye re “ is an example. Another one is the hero framed by temple bells in the later half of the film. At a time when left secularists held the power, it was a path breaker concept to show our ancient culture replete with “raghupati raghava raja Ram “ and “Om jaye Jagdish hare “ in addition to taking the entire film unit to London to glorify a economically poor but a culturally rich nation of the 60s and early 70s.
I request every Indian to watch this film , and those who have seen it to watch it again, to discover gems that had been overlooked and analyse this film, especially in light of the emerging vibrant force , fuelled by 150 crore aspirations.