The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Eternal ‘Sita’ with mind of her own
Shobhana Samarth died on Wednesday
By Devinder Bir Kaur
RECENTLY when Shobhana Samarth appeared on the “Movers and Shakers” show, she only reinstated what most film lovers have always known — that she was a beautiful, independent woman with a decided mind of her own. Looking at her smooth complexion, jet black hair (she never dyed it), chiselled features and upright posture, even at the ripe old age of 84, reminded you so much of her famous daughter Nutan. Her other daughter Tanuja, mother of the present-day top actress Kajol, is just as well known.

State museum for Panchkula
By V.P. Prabhakar
THOUGH the present state of Haryana came into existence only on November 1, 1966, yet the territorial designations of Hariala, Haritanaka, Hariyanaka, Haritana, Hariyana etc found in literature and epigraphs bear ample evidence to the fact that this part of the country was known to the people as a distinct geographico-cultural unit for the past many centuries.

Crusader of folk music of Punjab
By Vandana Shukla
A heart-throb of millions in the 40s and the 50s, who acted as a heroine for V Shantaram’s “Apna Desh”, opposite Sohrab Modi in Sheesh Mahal,” gave playback for “Chaman” and many other Punjabi films, made people sing her tunes for decades. Pushpa Hans was recently in Chandigarh to sing for “Triveni”. A representative of the golden age of music, Pushpa is sad about an almost-dead tradition of pure folk music of Punjab. She cannot help comparing the cultural scene of Bengal and some states of the South where she is amazed to observe a revival of old traditions in music.

A more responsible Rahman
VERSATILE music composer A.R. Rahman says the Padma Shri award which was bestowed on him on the eve of the Republic Day has thrust additional responsibility on him towards his art and the people.

40 Indian artists to display works at Dubai festival
THE works of some 40 leading Indian artists will be the highlight of a major art exhibition to be held here during the month-long Dubai shopping festival to be held in March.

Eternal ‘Sita’ with mind of her own
Shobhana Samarth died on Wednesday
By Devinder Bir Kaur

RECENTLY when Shobhana Samarth appeared on the “Movers and Shakers” show, she only reinstated what most film lovers have always known — that she was a beautiful, independent woman with a decided mind of her own. Looking at her smooth complexion, jet black hair (she never dyed it), chiselled features and upright posture, even at the ripe old age of 84, reminded you so much of her famous daughter Nutan. Her other daughter Tanuja, mother of the present-day top actress Kajol, is just as well known.

With so much acting talent in the same family, Shobhana must have been an exceptional actress. In fact, she was the most successful mythological star of her times.

Being the only child of a banker P.S. Shilotri young Shobhana, initially named Saroj, was like a little princess. She could twist her willing household around her little finger. She went everywhere her father went, stayed up late, visiting theatre regularly like a connoisseur. And this at a time when for most women an entry to the world of theatre was shut by the existing social taboos. Consequently, the magnificent visual of the then hero Bal Gandharva and the haunting voice of Dinanath Mangeshkar played upon her mind, moulding her aspirations.

When Saroj was 10, the Shilotri family sailed to the US of A on bank business. For two years she gorged herself with movies — Chaplin, Keaton and others. On their return to India, catastrophe struck when her father died suddenly.

Saroj and her young widowed mother went to live with her maternal uncle, whose daughter Nalini Jaywant later went on to be one of the most sought-after actresses of her time. Knowing of Saroj’s smouldering passion for acting, her uncle warned her that he would commit suicide or murder if she joined movies.

Join movies, a profession open to prostitutes and indecent “firangee” girls? Everyone discouraged her. But Saroj was firm as a rock. Her cause was made simpler when an educated girl of a high caste family from Kohlapur, Durga Khote, became a sensational star. So Saroj broke the cold traditional barriers to become an actress. Her cousin Nalini Jaywant followed her example.

Saroj signed her first film “Vilasi Ishwar”. Just before the release of her maiden film, she married Kumar Samarth. He had just returned from Germany after studying cinematography. He not only had no objections to her working in films, but was also, in her own words, devastatingly good-looking. At the pre-release publicity, Saroj was splashed as “Shobhana Samarth”. Opposite her in this double social (made in Marathi and Hindi) was Master Vinayak, the director-actor. Thus, started her film career.

The film was followed by another double version, this time in Gujarati and Hindi, “Do Diwane”. One of the “diwanes” of this slapstick social comedy was debonair Motilal. Together they made a charming pair and went on to work in several films.

Later, she starred in “Kokila”, “Pati Patni”, “Industrial India”, “Apni Nagariya”, “Sauhhagya”, “Nai Duniya”, “Sadhana”, “Darpan”, “Savera”, “Mata”, “Shobha” (directed by her husband Kumar Samarth), “ Mahasati Anasuya”, a mythological, and others.

But Shobhana is best remembered as the eternal Sita of the film “Ram Rajya”, opposite Prem Adib who played for role of “Ram”. The film directed by Vijay Bhatt (Mahesh Bhatt’s father) has become a classic today. He had earlier directed her for “Bharat Milap”. When cine-goers beheld her as Sita, they were swept with emotion. Her chiselled features, her graceful movements, her regal bearing — all combined to give the screen illusion a sense of conviction.

The sensational success of “Ram Rajya” immediately led to sequels. In “Ram Baan” and “Ram Vivah” Shobhana starred opposite Prem Adib. Any other casting would have been sacrilegious.

With her growing popularity as a “goddess”, she was doomed to mythological films. By the ’50s, costume pictures and mythologicals were dying out fast. Shobhana went into oblivion. But she was by no means inactive.

She worked feverishly to present to the new generation — two of her three daughters. She directed “Hamari Beti” to launch her eldest daughter Nutan. Tanuja played a child star and Shobhana herself was the mother. Later, she also made “Chhabili” to launch Tanuja as heroine.

About her three daughters she always said: Nutan was a well-cultivated artiste — intense, serious and painstaking; Tanuja was a born actress, an instinctive performer; and Chatura was very artistic. She also had a son Jaideep.

Shobhana often said she was proud of her children, grandchildren and great-grand children all of whom were good human beings, which according to her, was the most important thing. Nutan’s son, Mohnish, had one daughter. That made her a great grandma. Tanuja’s daughter Kajol too had done her proud.

Much as she loved her family, Shobhana spent the last years of her life alone at Lonavala, near Pune. She loved nature, gardening and her dogs. She said she felt lost in the city — a rather unusual statement coming from an actress who was known for her modern attitude to life in her heydays. Indeed, she was a rarity who remained one till her end.

State museum for Panchkula
By V.P. Prabhakar

THOUGH the present state of Haryana came into existence only on November 1, 1966, yet the territorial designations of Hariala, Haritanaka, Hariyanaka, Haritana, Hariyana etc found in literature and epigraphs bear ample evidence to the fact that this part of the country was known to the people as a distinct geographico-cultural unit for the past many centuries.

The discovery of 103 pre-Harappan, 44 Harappan and 297 late-Harappan sites in Haryana, according to Devender Handa, a well-known archaeologist and Reader in the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Panjab University, indicates that the alluvial plains of the state were a great attraction for the Chalcolithic people. It thus formed part of the territory where one of the greatest civilisations of the old world evolved, developed and declined.

In his book “Heritage of Haryana II” Mr Handa says the Aryans lit sacred fires on the banks of the Saraswati, Drsadvati and Apaya rivers in Haryana and the great War was also fought here. It has seen the rise and fall of various dynasties, peoples and sects and many a decisive battle has been fought in its plains.

Despite such a rich heritage, Haryana has no state archaeological museum so far. The state government has been feeling the necessity of setting up such a museum for displaying huge collections of antiques comprising stone and bronze sculptures, terracotta, coins and inscriptions discovered from the excavations at Banawali, Agroha, Kunal and Khokhrakot etc. This scheme was introduced in the seventh plan, but it remained unimplemented due to the non-selection of a site for the state museum.

At one time when Mr K.C. Sharma was the Commissioner of Archaeology and Museum, there was a plan to set up such a museum at Kurukshetra, where the battle of Mahabharata was fought and Lord Krishna gave the message of the Gita to Arjuna. This was considered possible despite the fact that Sri Krishna Museum had already been set up there. Sri Krishna Museum is one of its own kind where only those pieces of art are displayed which are related to Lord Krishna.

However, this plan did not materialise. In the plan schemes memoranda of 1999-2000, it was mentioned that the state museum would be set up at Panchkula the Tilyar Lake, Rohtak. Two acres of land worth Rs 24.24 lakh has been purchased form HUDA for this purpose at Panchkula. It was thought that this should be set up at the Tilyar Lake, Rohtak, and the land should be exchanged with the Tourism Department.

Mr R.N. Malik, Deputy Director of Archaeology and Museum, Haryana, says the matter was reconsidered and preference was given to Panchkula. The department has already written to the PWD for the construction of a boundary wall on the two-acre plot in Sector 5 at Panchkula. The PDW in turn has written to the Architecture Department to prepare a proper design for the boundary wall.

A number of factors, according to Mr Malik, have favoured Panchkula for this. First of all its nearness of the state capital, Chandigarh. Then as Panchkula is also near Pinjore and is situated on the Shimla highway, it will be advantageous for the tourists as well as the researchers. There are a number or rest houses and hotels for the stay of tourists both in Panchkula and Chandigarh. From the tourists’ point of view, the environment of the area is congenial.

Moreover, as the Pinjore-Kalka area is famous for the archaeological finds of the pre-historic period to Mughal times, Panchkula is considered to be better-suited place for the museum. A basement is considered necessary in the museum and the building has to be multi-storeyed and hence, Panchkula is the best place.

Crusader of folk music of Punjab
By Vandana Shukla

A heart-throb of millions in the 40s and the 50s, who acted as a heroine for V Shantaram’s “Apna Desh”, opposite Sohrab Modi in Sheesh Mahal,” gave playback for “Chaman” and many other Punjabi films, made people sing her tunes for decades. Pushpa Hans was recently in Chandigarh to sing for “Triveni”. A representative of the golden age of music, Pushpa is sad about an almost-dead tradition of pure folk music of Punjab. She cannot help comparing the cultural scene of Bengal and some states of the South where she is amazed to observe a revival of old traditions in music.

Pushpa is on the panel of selectors for singer in category A, B and B+ for AIR and is amazed to observe that almost 90 per cent of the cassettes received from Bengal are based on Rabindra Sangeet. Unfortunately, she cannot say the same for Punjab.

She is particularly concerned about the death of Sufiana Kalam that forms a major part of her repertoire. She does not mince words in saying that Sufiana Kalam is almost dead in Punjab, and what makes this dismal cultural decay in Punjab even worse is the fact that no one is worried about it. Almost all popular singers have switched over to singing a mixture of Bhangra pop and some crude form of music in the name of folk. In terms of richness and variety, she feels only the music of Rajasthan can match the folk of Punjab.

She says even Pakistan has promoted singers of Sufiana Kafians. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen and Tufail Niyazi to preserve this rich tradition. But here, Punjabis themselves are ignorant about their own tradition. It shocks her when during her concerts Punjabis express their sense of disbelief when she renders Kafians, Mirzas and Heers and find that these beautiful compositions have their roots in Punjab. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most folk forms originated in western Punjab. After Partition special efforts were required to promote and preserve whatever was left in the cultural pool. But despite creating committees and academies, not much could be availed. Secondly, undue popularity gained by Bhangra resulted in a sense of complacence to promote any other art form of Punjab.

Sufiana Kalam was made a part of the folk with a purpose of bridging the gap between the two communities of the Hindus and the Muslims. Suffocated byt e dogmatic rituals of both communities, Bulle Shah, Sultan Bahu, Shah Husain, Gulam Farid and Baba Farid wrote Kafians in simple Punjabi ignoring Persian and Sanskrit, the language of the elite of the time, to make their message comprehensible to the masses. These compositions based on simple ragas were sung by minstrels who spread the message of love which was passed on to the next generation by word of mouth. The concept of their synthesis is so aesthetically subtle that Lord Krishna is shown holding a Koran and a maulvi is shown wearing a “janeu” (sacred thread worn by Brahmins) in the illustrations of Sufi poetry. Amazed by the beauty of these concepts, Pushpa wants to bring it to the notice of the people that Punjab has a tradition worth preserving and needs to be revived.

Her hopes are not futile. Doordarshan has recently agreed to make a serial on Sufiana poetry after much persuasion from her end. First, she plans to introduce to the people compositions with intense emotional strand and a simple concept of love, then gradually she plans to move on to the compositions with an oblique spiritual content. She is receiving assistance in this endeavour by many spirited supporters of the cause that includes even scholars like Shelley, a Ph.D on Bulle Shah.

It is not only Kafians, but the age-old tradition of singing kissas of Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiban and numerous songs of the earth, seasons, ceremonies beginning from birth to death, songs for all occasions — all these will die unless some concrete steps are taken to revive them. Though she has cut LPs and EPs on Heer and Mirza, in the age of cassettes and CDs, music companies like HMV and Polygram should approach them to make use of their rich repertoire. Unfortunately, even the record companies are busy making hay with the pop singing all the way.

Perhaps, it is just a phase. She believes this too will pass. The strength of folk music lies in the fact that it is not imposed. It reflects the culture of the land. Hence, sooner or later people get back to it. The recent success of the songs of “HDDCS”, which is based on pure folk of Gujarat, strengthens this hope.

Performing for “Triveni”, she introduced music lovers to this very rich tradition of Punjab when she sang compositions rich in content and melody often based on ragas like Peelu, Bhairavi, Pahadi. Even a folk composition Nang aa do patang channa do .... was based on Bageshri.

On demand she also sang her old popular numbers like Chan kitha gujar aai raat re, sari raat tera takdi raah... A few Kafians that she sang were rendered beautifully. The intensity of rendering Heer was the focal point of the evening. The manner of presentation requires tremendous control of the vocal chords with a pair of very strong lungs. But she faltered in her effort to sing ghazals. She tried to present a journey of ghazal-singing, beginning from the mujra style of presenting ghazal to the present, but neither her diction nor the style suited it. She would have done better by sticking to the kind of music that is her strength, the pure folk of Punjab.

Her accompanist on the tabla, Mahinder Sharma, did a commendable job by converting his instrument into a dhapli to suit the Punjab folk. His rendering of Banarasi theka for mujra was also appreciable. Khurana on the harmonium was not up to the mark, though his stale jokes received a good response.

A more responsible Rahman

VERSATILE music composer A.R. Rahman says the Padma Shri award which was bestowed on him on the eve of the Republic Day has thrust additional responsibility on him towards his art and the people.

“I feel more responsible after getting the award and will strive to create a more meaningful kind of music of the likes of Vande Matram and Jana Gan Man...” said Rahman who was in the capital recently to attend the release of a book, “Jana Gan Man 2000”.

Mentioning the difference between the score of Jana Gan Man 2000 and his earlier rendition of Vande Matram, Rahman said, “Vande Matram had 32 versions already, thus it was not very difficult to experiment with its tune, but in the case of the National Anthem, we could not tamper with it.”

“Although the original tune was left untouched, the anthem was infused with at least eight ragas, including Bhairavi, Vasant, Jaijaiwanti and Mishra to accommodate the different genres and voices of singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Bhimsen Joshi, Bhupen Hazarika, Shobha Gurtu and Hariharan.”

Rahman refused to classify the piece as a fusion, saying the term is just a cliche. “This is only an amalgamation of different genres and is a good way to get the music across to the youth. We have only rearranged and recreated the music to make it more soulful.” — PTI