BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

A musical revenge (Baiju Bawra)

A Baiju Bawra search on Wikipedia reveals that the classical maestro perished of typhoid at the ripe age of 71. Given this (though there's no historical proof to ascertain this claim) information, the climax of Vijay Bhatt's 1952 film is far from satisfactory. The rationale behind bumping off both Baiju and his sweetheart Gauri, is something that I'm yet to decipher. Even after he is victorious in his vocal duel with Tansen and reaching his village at the nick of time to marry Gauri, the film shows both the lovers drowning in the Yamuna. Sad, but very surprising!

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

A musical revenge (Baiju Bawra)

The site also does not shed any light on his so called enmity with the famous Tansen, who used to sing in Emperor Akbar's court. In fact it says that Baiju Bawra, originally known as Baijnath Prasad or Baijnath Mishra, was an accomplished singer in the court of Raja Mansingh of Gwalior. And he was called 'bawra' because of his love for a dancer in Chanderi. Now that is something the film departs from.
Baiju Bawra opens with Tansen (Surendra) about to sit for his riyaaz. And given his stature (he is one of the 'navratans' or the nine gems in Akbar's court, lives in a stately mansion. Well aware of his consequence, Tansen will not have anyone creating noise in the vicinity of his house when he is practising his music. So no one should sing near Tansen's house also or else he would be executed.

Just as Tansen's guards are roughing up one singer for daring to sing when Tansen himself is practising, a group of men are passing by the mansion singing devotional songs. When the guards try to stop them, the head of the group carry on with their bhajan arguing that the act of singing can be enjoyed by everyone. This angers one of the hurly-burlies and he attacks the man. In the chaos, that singer is injured. He happens to be Baiju's father who makes his young son (Ratan Kumar) promise that one day he will avenge his father's death. The young Baiju now only dreams about how to extract revenge from Tansen. He steals a sword from a dosed off guard to go and kill Tansen but is caught in the way. Just then, a local healer (Manmohan Krishna) comes to his rescue and takes him home.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

A musical revenge (Baiju Bawra)

I really like the way Ratan Kumar keeps saying Badla Badla whenever he hears Tansen's name. Though there is hardly any evilness about his angelic face, it is amusing to see this pint-sized boy work up enough anger and hatred in his entire persona.

So, Baiju meets up with Gauri, her father Mohan. Gauri (Baby Tabassum) rows travellers across the Yamuna everyday. The two children develop a strong bond and grow up to be lovers (sample the bouncy romantic duet Jhoole mein pawan ki aayi bahar sung by Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar). In Gauri's tender words and association, Baiju forgets his cause for revenge and he is busy sharpening his vocal skills while singing love paeans to Gauri, who has now grown up to a pretty village belle. It is awesome how young Meena Kumari looks. She is thin, very, very attractive and has a exuberant air about her. Bharat Bhushan isn't to bad himself. Carefully careless in his rustic gear, he sure has a chocolaty charm about him when he tries to melt Gauri with Tu Ganga ki mauj (Mohd Rafi). The two actors make for a handsome couple and their repartee is quite enjoyable indeed.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

A musical revenge (Baiju Bawra)

Baiju is lost in Gauri's love and the damsel reciprocates adequately. But, Narpat will have none of it. This pompous and stupid but influential villager wants Gauri for himself and takes Mohan to task regarding the proximity between Baiju and Gauri. On confrontation by Mohan, Gauri cowers but only for a short while. For, there is nothing that can separate her from her sweetheart and she makes it quite obvious in the song Door koi gaye (it's a Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum duet).

After much deliberation Mohan resigns to the fact the Baiju and Gauri are made for each other. Hearing her father say so, she erupts in glee and runs to tell her sweetheart what her father has decided. Just when everything looks so halcyon, the village is attacked by a group of dacoits led by Roopmati (Kuldeep Kaur). She demands a hefty package from the poor villagers who plead with her. But Roopmati is hell bent for her the money. Just when she orders her men to loot and plunder, Baiju breaks into Insaan bano (Mohd Rafi) that absolutely melts the tough Roopmati. She is so taken by this musical charmer that she decides to leave the village without any ransom provided Baiju goes with her, for here is a dacoit whose heart has been robbed by this young man!

Gauri cries her heart out when hearing about Baiju's departure but her lover sees no other alternative to save the villagers. While he goes away Gauri weeps with Bachpan ki mohabbat ko (Mangeshkar). On reaching their den, Roopmati decks up in her finery to seduce Baiju but he is faithful to Gauri and slights the dacoit woman. Roopmati relates that she chose this trade to avenge the death of her father. This piece of information is enough to remind Baiju of his lost cause and he forgets everything...Gauri, the villagers and his music, but his decision to avenge the death of his father. He stealthily creeps into Tansen's mansion with a stolen sword and is about to behead the singer when he is doing his riyaaz. But the sound of music weakens his urge for cold revenge. Baiju cracks open Tansen's veena instead of his enemy's skull. It is then that Tansen tells him that if he really wants to see the end of Tansen, he should beat him in music. The film takes a turn from here and goes on to show how Baiju becomes a bawra and fulfils his promise, given to his dying father, in a very musical way.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

A musical revenge (Baiju Bawra)

Though some of the scenes are incredible, the film lives up because of the music. Naushad's score is sheer bliss for the senses and so are the renditions by Mohd Rafi, Mangeshkar, Ustad Amir Khan and D V Paluskar. Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj and Ae duniya ke rakhwaley are absolutely harmonious. The last duet Aaj gawat man mero is entertaining not only because you get to hear such great music but also you get to see the sheer power of both Tansen and Baiju. Deers run to Akbar's court while the maestros are at it!!
But my personal favourite is Mohe bhool gaye sawariya. Couple Meena Kumari's expressions (apart from her beautiful visage), Mangeshkar's awesome singing, the tearful situation, Naushad's exemplary music and Shakeel Badayuni's lyrics and you have a winner.

The gradual transformation of Gauri's persona is awesome. From a cheerful and teasing lover, she changes into a sorrowful sweetheart. Meena Kumari's histrionics are noteworthy (no wonder she became a superstar after this film and even bagged her first Filmfare Best Actress trophy for this one). Though Bharat Bhushan overdoes his sad act sometimes, he was not bad overall. And, he is really the best bet for these sad musician parts. A special word for the character Ghasit Khan, played by the entertaining Radhakishan. He sure knows how to tickle your ribs.
Given such good acting and such superlative music, I'd loved it if the ending was happy. I agree that the director deviated from reality and put his directorial license to full use, but wouldn't it be great if he showed Baiju uniting with Gauri and going onto live happily ever after? And singing so many more superb songs...

Baiju Bawra (1952)

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

And yes, good music is the outstanding feature of this film. It had to be, since it’s about the legendary 16th century singer and musician Baijnath (‘Baiju Bawra.)

Agra during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (Bipin Gupta, though we don’t get to see him until close to the end of the film) is a wealthy, busy city: the capital of the Mughal empire. Here, in one of the grandest havelis of the imperial city, lives Tansen (Surendra), singer par excellence and one of the nau ratan (the fabled ‘nine gems&rsquo of Akbar’s court. Tansen, it seems, is well aware of his consequence: nobody is allowed to even try to sing in the vicinity of his haveli, since that will disturb the maestro while he’s practising. If you want to sing, you’d better sing better than Tansen. If not, you’ll be executed.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

Not everybody knows this, of course. One day, a group of minstrels passes through town, singing hymns, totally oblivious of this rule. Tansen’s band of hangers-on immediately attacks the minstrels. In the ensuing violence, there’s an accident and one of the men is fatally injured. As he’s dying, he tells his young son Baijnath ‘Baiju’ (Ratan Kumar) to avenge his death.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

His father dead, a weeping and somewhat befuddled Baiju sets off to take revenge on Tansen. Not that Tansen is directly responsible, but still. Baiju isn’t even very sure how he’s going to avenge his father’s death—but passing a camp one day, he steals a sword and tries to run off with it, in the hope that he can someday use that sword to kill Tansen. The soldiers from the camp chase Baiju and catch up with him soon enough. They’re on the verge of meting out punishment when an unexpected saviour turns up: a passing pandit (Manmohan Krishna), who intercedes on Baiju’s behalf and finally takes the boy under his wing.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

Panditji takes Baiju along with him to his riverside village. This is where Baiju meets the pretty little Gauri (Baby Tabassum), the boatman’s daughter who ferries Baiju and Panditji across. Along the way, she strikes up a friendship with Baiju…

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

…a friendship that endures and blossoms into love. A few years later, Baiju (now Bharat Bhushan, with a shock of hair that’d give Dev Anand a run for his money) and Gauri (now Meena Kumari) are deeply in love. They spend most of their time together. After sundown, Gauri even goes to meet Baiju when he sits beside the river and practises his singing. She is his muse, says Baiju, but many of the villagers think this is all very scandalous.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

Baiju and Gauri’s love is even more of a scandal because Gauri’s father Mohan (B M Vyas) has already arranged her marriage with a villager called Narpat (Mishra). Narpat is very full of himself, a wealthy man by village standards and pompous to boot. When he discovers that his betrothed is completely—and openly—in love with another man, Narpat is (with reason, I think) far from pleased. He takes Mohan to task about his daughter’s wayward ways, but when her father ticks her off, Gauri cowers only briefly. She isn’t giving up Baiju, no matter what Narpat or the other villagers may say.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

It gradually dawns on Narpat that the one attraction Baiju holds for Gauri is his beautiful voice. The way to win Gauri, therefore, is to sing as wonderfully as Baiju does. Narpat has a brainwave; he sends his right hand man off to Agra, to fetch a master singer who will hone Narpat’s talents, such as they are.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

The man Narpat’s friend brings is Ghasit Khan (Radhakrishna), a not very good singer who is nevertheless able to recognise good singing when he hears it. Ghasit Khan arrives in the village on a night that’s going to be a turning point in the lives of all the main characters in this story.

BAIJU BAWRA: 64 YEARS OLD

One of the first people Ghasit Khan encounters in the village is Narpat Singh, who instantly antagonises Ghasit Khan by showing off his awful voice. Narpat has been spending the evening bawling his lungs out to a reluctant Gauri, and doesn’t realise that Ghasit Khan is the guru his friend has fetched.
Ghasit Khan has just begun to berate Narpat for his abysmal singing when the village is attacked by a band of dacoits, led by the fearsome Roopmati (Kuldeep Kaur).