For decades, BR Chopra shaped the Indian film industry, balancing entertainment with social messaging. He tackled issues like widow remarriage in the 1993 film Ek Hi Raasta, the death penalty in Kanoon (1994), and the sex trade in Sadhana (1958).
Hamraaz (1967) explores how the choices made in the spur of the moment can haunt a marriage and the need for honesty between partners. The movie is as much a thriller as it is a romance. In the backdrop of the India-China war, Meena (Vimi), the daughter of a businessman, and Rajesh (Raaj Kumar), an Indian Army captain, get married in secret. It sets off a chain of events that propels the plot forward.
When war breaks out with China, Rajesh has to leave for the border, where he dies in action. But Meena is pregnant from a marriage that nobody knows about. Her father tells her that the child is stillborn, and the young woman slowly picks up the pieces of her life. That’s when stage actor Kumar (Sunil Dutt) enters her life.
Kumar falls head-over-heels in love with Meena, and with her father’s blessings and caution about not revealing her past, she starts life afresh in Mumbai. But soon, everything unravels, and secrets tumble out one after the other. Meena learns that the child she thought she had lost is alive. Rajesh’s friend starts blackmailing her. Intimacy, jealousy, secrecy—play out in a kaleidoscope of emotions.
“Mere tareek raaton mein ujala ban ke aayi thi, dagabaazi agar karni thi, ulfat kyun jatayi? Jafaao ne teri bedard seena jah kar dala, sitamgar bewafa tune jalakar khak kar daala”(You came like light into the darkness of my nights, if you wanted to betray, why did you pretend to love? Your cruelty carved my tender heart apart, O merciless traitor, you burned me down to ash from the start),” recites one actor in Kumar’s troupe, unaware that Kumar just read a letter addressed to his wife from a presumed lover. Kumar says nothing, but the dialogue echoes the turmoil in his heart.
Othello meets Bollywood tragedy
One of the major tensions in the plot is Kumar’s growing suspicion that Meena is having an affair. She married him without letting him know of her past, and once she realises her daughter Sarika (Sarika) is alive, she has to hide it from him.
In trying to get a grip on the messy situation, Meena spends long hours away from home, pretending to be unwell or busy with chores. Kumar’s jealousy is portrayed through his depiction of Othello in his stage play. Like the Shakespearean character, he starts doubting his wife’s fidelity, and it slowly consumes him.
“Tumne humare peeth pe khanjar bhoka hai, bacchalan, badger, tumhe zinda rehne ka koi haq nai,” (You have put a dagger on my back. An unfaithful, wanton woman has no right to live) screams Kumar as Othello. He strangles Shabnam (Mumtaz), who plays Desdemona, so hard that she almost faints by the end of the play.
It is Akhtar-Ul-Iman’s script that adds all the twists and turns, and yet does not lose grip on the plot of Hamraaz. This works in perfect harmony in the way Chopra shoots his scenes.
The scene of Kumar strangling Shabnam on stage cuts quickly to Meena lying in bed at home, to indicate the fate that awaits her.
Chopra’s expertise in making memorable movies also lies in his use of subplots. From the way he uses scenes from Kumar’s stage plays to show what’s happening in his marriage with Meena, to the songs, nothing is extraneous.
The popularity of Hamraaz’s album can be jointly credited to the lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi and the soulful voice of Mahendra Kapoor. It gave the audience hits like Tum Agar Saath Dene Ka Agar Vada Karo and Na Moonh Chhupa Ke Jiyo. Kapoor’s voice ran the gamut of emotions from love to anger to betrayal.
But the song that won him the Filmfare award for the Best Playback singer is Neele Gagan Ke Tale, which also establishes a life for Meena and Rajesh devoid of any darkness.
When Meena’s past finally comes to light, Kumar breaks down, saying, “Jo ghar maine mohabbat se banaya tha, woh shaq se barbaad kar dia(I destroyed the home I had built with love, through my suspicions).” Sunil Dutt plays Kumar to perfection, as the actor who works hard, keeps fit, and enjoys his luxurious life in Mumbai.
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A love triangle success
Incidentally, 1967 was also a great year for Dutt, whose two other films, Milan and Mehrban, also became box office successes.
Raaj Kumar has a relatively small role in this love triangle. But the limited screen presence is powerful. He leaves one teary-eyed, with the slump in his shoulders, as he tells Kumar about his life. Captured during the war, Rajesh is presumed dead by everyone, and by the time he returns, the world has changed.
Known for his dialogue delivery with his signature baritone and a mix of disdain and authority, he talks of a broken heart instead. With tears rolling down his face, he tells Kumar how Meena and he were in love before fate cruelly forced them apart.
He is truly the tragic hero who accepts his fate. “Humne shaadi ke pavitrata ko nahin mana. Mohabbat ko gunaah ka roop de diya.Humari shaadi ek bhool bankar reh gayi aur bhool kabhi insaan ka peecha nai chorta (We didn’t respect the sanctity of marriage. We turned love into something sinful. Our marriage became a mistake — and mistakes never stop following a person),” he tells Meena after they meet after their separation.
Chopra manages to keep his audience on their toes right until the end, when Meena’s tragic fate is finally revealed.
The tragic end
Hamraaz was Vimi’s debut film, and its success catapulted her to fame. Director BR Chopra offered her the role of Meena after music director Ravi introduced him to her. But none of her later films did well, and she faded from public memory.
But she was known as a fashion icon. In Hamraaz too, she set the tone with her sartorial choices. From the very first frame, where she gaily runs down the steps of her father’s palatial home, dressed in a bright pink sweater, slacks, and head scarf, to her pearls and fur cape paired with a saree, she had a strong presence on the screen.
In a terrible twist of fate, Vimi’s own life ended tragically in her 30s, like Meena’s. Facing financial difficulties, she died of liver complications in her 30s.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)