Abrar Alvi - RIP
Deepak
surjit singh
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Bollywood-bids-farewel...
RIP. I thoroughly enjoyed his Mr and Mrs 55 and Professor. Just
ordered Ten Years with Guru Dutt, based on his memoirs.
Sukesh
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Bollywood-bids-farewel...
POST SCRIPT
‘For him, the devil was in the details’
Writer-director Vinay Shukla on the art of Abrar Alvi who wrote some
of Hindi cinema’s most enduring classics
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It was sometime in the mid-1980s. A director friend asked me to
accompany him to Abrar Alvi’s house in Janki Kutir for a story
narration by Abrar saab. Clad in lungi-kurta, the tall, then well
built man seemed like a gentle patriarch from an era gone by. Unlike
today’s generation which is in a tearing hurry, he was calm as if he
had all the time in the world. His narration was meticulous to a
fault: the scenes detailed, the script laced with wit. The style was
conversational, yet the language retained its beauty. Without getting
convoluted, he knew how to tell a story.
The narration went on for five hours, and we’d only reached mid-
point. The director had another appointment and so the post-interval
narration was postponed to the next sitting. The project never took
off. And I never had an opportunity to sit through such a long, yet
enlightening, narration of a film script.
Now I realise why many of Abrar saab’s scripts became classics.
The story was key. The devil was in the details. It has always amazed
me why the three greatest Hindi films ever—Pyaasa, Mother India and
Ganga Jamuna—didn’t carry a script writer credit.
Pyaasa, to reiterate a cliche, is path-breaking in many ways.
Perhaps Guru Dutt knew that no one else but Abrar could pull off such
a layered film, one about a disenchanted poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) who
eventually finds solace in the company of a prostitute, Gulabo
(Waheeda Rehman). I had heard Sahir Ludhianvi narrating how Guru Dutt
wanted Dilip Kumar to play the poet—the part called for a rendering of
Urdu dialogue impeccably and Guru Dutt was not sure he could pull it
off. But Sahir and Abrar were adamant that he play the role. It went
on to become an alltime hit, an eternal study text for cinema
students. Gulabo is based on a real-life character, whom Abrar met
after doing several rounds of a redlight area. Vijay and Gulabo,
misfits in a social set-up where individual freedom gets suffocated,
symbolise an urge to break the barriers.
There was a beautiful chemistry between Guru Dutt and Abrar Alvi.
They felt a sense of moral responsibility to respond to the social
conditions around them. They became indispensable to each other. Abrar
saab, unlike many other progressives of the time, was not a
pamphleteer. His concern for the toiling masses and unrecognised
creative individuals through his films was subtle. Which is why he
bonded so well with Kaifi Azmi, considered by many the imam of
progressives.
Abrar’s angst against a tunnel vision of life shines through again
in Kaagaz Ke Phool, the story of a film director (Guru Dutt) and his
protege (Waheeda Rehman). The story was controversial for the 1950s
and the film way ahead of its times, both in its layering and its
undertones. Nobody dare writes films like Kaagaz Ke Phool any more.
But Abrar’s art reached its zenith with Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. The
controversy about whether Guru Dutt actually directed the film and
credited it to Abrar Alvi will always remain, but put that aside for
now. The film is a masterpiece. I have seen it umpteenth times, and
every time it never fails to amaze with its dimensions. Based on Bimal
Mitra’s novel, it depicts a decadent feudal family in 19th-century
Bengal. The character of Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari), who becomes an
alcoholic in her desperation to stop her husband from straying was one
of the strongest female characters of Hindi cinema. The plot of Sahib
Bibi... is painfully poignant, yet engaging.
Abrar saab is equally brilliant in the comedies Professor and Mr
And Mrs 55. His wit sparkles through both. Unlike the buffoonery that
defined several other comedies, Abrar Alvi showed that down-toearth
and simple repartee too could tickle the funny bone. Unlike many
contemporary dialogue writers, he was not repetitive. His dialogues
invoke a whole range of feelings.
After Guru Dutt’s death, Abrar saab lost his touch. Let’s not talk
about the bad films he wrote. The 1980s opened the floodgates to fly-
by-night operators, including many writers who didn’t understand the
nuances of literature. Young producers and directors had no patience
for the genius of Abrar who would take hours to narrate a story.
Eventully, he chose silence and lived in isolation.
Now he is no more. But his timeless films will ensure that he
remains alive in memory.
—As told to Mohammed Wajihuddin