The film maintains a respectful dignity toward the enemy, a sentiment that is relevant in these hyper-nationalistic times.
Director: Chetan Anand
Producer: Ravi Anand
Year: 1973
Cast: Raaj Kumar, Priya Rajvansh, Balraj Sahni, Vijay Anand
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi
Just as we celebrated the 19th anniversary of the Kargil war victory this week, comes the news that the Pakistan army is firmly back in the saddle after engineering an election victory for Imran Khan. It may just be a good week to watch the 1973 Hindi movie Hindustan Ki Kasam.
As India and Pakistan grapple with strained ties today, Hindustan Ki Kasam reminds us of an enduring Bollywood tradition when it comes to our neighbour. The film starts with a note that India’s war was not with Pakistan’s citizens but its dangerous military dictatorship.
Released two years after the 1971 war, the film is about rivals on the war front, but they are portrayed as brothers and not enemy caricatures. The film also endowed agency to the Pakistanis, unlike the reductive Sunny Deol treatment meted to them usually. This probably contributed to Hindustan Ki Kasam’s massive failure at the box office when it released.
The film maintains a respectful dignity toward the enemy, a sentiment that is relevant in these hyper-nationalistic times.
The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War was the third major conflict India fought in a span of just nine years. In that turbulent phase for the country, almost a decade after he made his first war film Haqeeqat (1964) on the 1962 India-China conflict, director Chetan Anand followed up with an even more ambitious Hindustan Ki Kasam.
After backing the British forces during World War II, the Indian Left was on the defensive in the first two decades after Independence. Chetan Anand, a leading light of the Indian People’s Theatre Association and a Communist, was, in a way, bridging the nationalism gap through these war movies.
Hindustan Ki Kasam revolves around a family that had a long martial tradition, including wing commander Ranveer Batra (Vijay Anand) and squadron leader Rajesh Batra (Parikshit Sahni). As operations begin, Rajesh succumbs to injuries after his aircraft gets shot at by Pakistan Air Force pilot Usmaan, who turns later out to be a cousin separated during Partition. From then on, the Indian Air Force’s mission becomes to destroy the PAF radar blocking Indian pilots’ communication. The Indian intelligence plants Batra family’s daughter, Mohini (Priya Rajvansh), at a TV station in Pakistan as the PAF pilot’s fiancée.
In a departure for conventional narratives at the time, Anand’s female protagonist Mohini successfully completes her task as a spy and helps the IAF locate the said radar. But Anand films the climax as a typical hero-rescues-heroine combat with squadron leader Rajiv Shukla (Raaj Kumar) finally taking charge. However, Anand did portray an interesting dogfight in the climactic battle.
Based on Operation Cactus-Lilly, the operations of the Indian Air Force in the eastern theatre of the war, Hindustan Ki Kasam can be called India’s first IAF film. Featuring many aircraft including the Sukhoi Su-7s, MiG-21s, Gnats and Hunters, the film intersperses stock footage with combat shots. The IAF is said to have provided a lot of support to the film crew including actual pilots, in probably a hat-tip to the inspirational value for the defence forces of Anand’s Haqeeqat.
In her book, The Nation In War: A Study of Military Literature and Hindi War Cinema, researcher Gita Viswanath wrote, “In Hindustan Ki Kasam, Chetan Anand uses a narrative strategy similar to the one he had used in his previous film, Haqeeqat. The film is interspersed with shots of war scenes in the style of documentary leading to what Roland Barthes called the ‘having been there’ quality of the photographic image.”
But with its dated performances, especially from the two leads, and poor drama, the only thing that worked unequivocally for Hindustan Ki Kasam was Madan Mohan’s music, in collaboration with lyricist Kaifi Azmi. Singer Lata Mangeshkar’s renditions of ‘Duniya Banane Wale Hai Meri Iltija’ and ‘Hai Tere Saath Meri Wafa’ remain memorable.
With its emotional cues and air force setting, the film paved the way for Govind Nihalani’s Vijeta (1982), Sanjiv Puri’s Agnipankh (2004) and Pankaj Kapoor’s Mausam (2011). But the number of movies on the Air Force compares unfavourably to films made on the Indian Army.
In both Haqeeqat and Hindustan Ki Kasam, Anand’s choice to use the female protagonist to play an important narrative function was inspired. “In the latter, she is a spy who uses her feminine charm to work her way through the enemy territory. The films (however) end with the recuperation of the conventional image of the heroine as a sexualised being,” wrote Viswanath. Meghna Gulzar’s Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi, released earlier this year, was particularly reminiscent of this trope.
In his illustrious career, Anand made a number of significant films, including the Cannes-winner Neecha Nagar (1946), but Haqeeqat and Hindustan Ki Kasam remain popular, especially among the defence folk. A third war film, on the navy, may have completed a (wishful) trilogy.