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Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke Old Reviews

A movie based on the Nanavati trial
Mar 09, 2012 06:24 AM4524 Views

Esteemed MS member - Deepak Ji( @deepak27) is a great fan of John Grisham, the famous writer of legal fiction. Due to Deepak Ji's inspiration only, I happened to read a couple of Grisham's novels. First I read The Firm( which is Grisham's second novel) and thereafter I read A Time To Kill, JG's debut in the world of novel-writing.


Through A Time To Kill, I learnt that the trial of a murder committed in USA is not that much linked to the evidences of the crime or the background of that or the laws related to assessment of the gravity of the crime and awarding appropriate sentence for that but to the opinion of the jury members. Well, these jurors are not legal experts, they are laymen from different walks of life and a decision through consensus among them decides the fate of the convict - whether guilty or not guilty. This is a faulty system, no doubt and I am surprised that it prevails in USA( or prevailed till 1989 at least when JG had penned this novel) .


However this novel reminded me of a three decades old murder trial in India which ultimately led to the abolition of the jury system in our country. On 27th April, 1959, naval commander K.M. Nanavati shot his years old friend - Prem Ahuja dead by a navy pistol under the suspicion of the latter's having an illicit relationship with Nanavati's wife - Sylvia. He was arrested and his trial got famous nationwide as the Nanavati trial. It's this trial only that shot Ram Jethmalani to fame and made him a renowned lawyer( he was on the side of the prosecution) . Nanavati got acquitted through a jury verdict( by a majority of 8-1 votes) and it was a known fact that the jury had got influenced by the media and the public opinion about the case. The judge in the Greater Bombay Session Court - Honourable Justice J.B. Mehta felt the same thing and referred the case to the high court which reversed the jury verdict and the supreme court also upheld it, sentencing Nanavati to life imprisonment. However journalist - R.K. Karanjia created public sympathy for him and swayed popular opinion in his favour through his tabloid - Blitz and pressure was put on the state for his acquittal. Finally, the pardon plea of Nanavati was accepted by then governor of Maharashtra - Vijay Lakshmi Pandit( the sister of then prime minister - Jawahar Lal Nehru) after the victim's sister - Mamie Ahuja officially forgave him. He got pardon from the governor and migrated to Canada with his 3 children and of course, with his wife - Sylvia who stood by him through thick and thin during the entire trial. But after all this drama, the government took the decision to abolish the jury system in India.


This famous trial which was the subject of everyday talks on the nooks and corners of our country led to the making of a couple of Hindi movies too. The names of two such movies come to my mind - Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke( 1963) and Achanak( 1973) . The latter was directed by Gulzar. However I am reviewing the former which was directed by R.K. Nayyar( the husband of the gorgeous heroine of the sixties - Saadhana) .


Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke( these are the paths of love) is considered as one of the best courtroom dramas ever made in Bollywood. Based on a controversial, yet sellable like hot cake, real life plot; the movie starred Sunil Dutt( in the role of the murdering protagonist), Leela Naidu( the wife of the murderer) and Rehman( the murder victim) . Legendary actors - Ashok Kumar and Moti Lal acted as the rival lawyers in the court whereas Shashikala played another flame of the murder victim( he was portrayed as a playboy) .


The script of the movie moves on the similar lines of the incidents of the Nanavati case- the background of the murder, the execution of the murder and the trial of the hero after that. The difference is that the heroine is not shown as getting willingly involved with her husband's( betraying) friend. The movie shows that though she was broad-minded and ultra-modern, she truly loved her husband and could not even dream of getting into adultery. She was intoxicated deceitfully and then sex was imposed on her during that state of hers. However, the loving husband was shocked to know that and he approached his backstabbing friend with a gun. The spat got followed by firings and seeing his friend as lying dead, the hero surrendered to the law and presented himself for the trial. He could not forgive his wife( without understanding that she had not gone for adultery at her will and whatever happened was more or less a rape of hers only) . And to appease the patriarchal mindset of the Indian society, the director shows the hero as getting acquitted by the court but his wife as committing suicide in the end.


The movie starts quite promisingly when the murder has been committed and the hero has been arrested. Then the pain of the hero's father and the adverse effect of these developments on the children of the family have been shown quite influentially. The children come to know from the talks in the school that their father killed their'uncle' because'uncle' loved their mother. Now the innocent children wonder that they also love Mummy, hence why their Papa was so angry with Uncle if he loved Mummy. How the talks and rumours spread in the society can take a toll on the innocent youngs, comes before the audience in the most impressive manner. The trauma of breaking of a happy home is able to move the viewers deep within.


The courtroom drama is also pretty impressive with towering performances coming from the acting legends - Ashok Kumar and Moti Lal. However the moviemaker has to depict boldness if at all he is going to make a bold movie. R.K. Nayyar's boldness deserted him in the climax when he digressed from the real life story and gave a filmy twist to the narrative in the end. There was no need to convert this high tension drama into a regular run-of-the-mill murder mystery but the director did exactly that. And when the wife was innocent and loved her husband from the core of her heart, showing her as committing suicide just because her body had been'vitiated'( that too by deceit) is illogical and as I have said earlier, seems to have been shown to appease the patriarchal mindset of the Indian males only. It appears as if the director wants to say that being open-minded and ultra-modern in life-style is a sin for an Indian lady for which she should be punished. This biased approach of the moviemaker spoils the whole effort.


The songs are very good but they have not been aptly placed in the movie and hence the director-editor duo could not save the movie from getting bored at places. When the courtroom drama is getting momentum, the flow is broken by taking the story into flashback( with songs) which is irritating for the audience who is lost in the courtroom proceedings.


The performers - Sunil Dutt as the hero, Rehman as the philandering man who gets murdered, Ashok Kumar as the defense counsel, Moti Lal as the public prosecutor, Shashikala as one of the victim's mistresses etc. have all done brilliantly. Leela Naidu was considered as one of the most beautiful women of the world in her time and rightfully so. But she could not raise her performance in the difficult role of the aggrieved wife to the desired level.


Contd. in comments


The Trial of Capt. Ajay Sahni
Nov 17, 2005 12:16 AM3929 Views

Everybody loves a scandal – moreso if the scandal is based on the brick-by-brick disintegration of someone else’s married life. Men discuss it on their way to office, women gossip over it in course of their talks… Children make fun of it in their own inimitable way…. Everyone from the retired armyman, to the local grocer to the good-for-nothing punk to the beggar down the street has an informed opinion about it. Its as if the sight of the dirty linen makes us happy about our mundane life. And if the affair reaches the courts, well… suddenly everyone from Mr. Sharma to Mrs. Verma is not only deeply interested in it but are also privy to details that were so far not known to the warring parties too.


There is something of a voyeuristic streak in all of us. Whether consciously or sub-consciously, all of us take pride in gossiping about the disintegration of someone’ life and also take more than a passing delight in the same. Of course this magnanimity does not extend to our doors, for what can be more cultured and refined than our surroundings. We do not belong to a dysfunctional family such as theirs, do we? The answer is sadly we do… but the answer is often cloaked till the daggers are drawn and the fangs visible and things get murky and messy.


A relationship of marriage is by definition, the most difficult to sustain for it’s the relationship that’s based only on the foundations of truth, trust, love and fidelity. The absence or even the perceived absence of anyone of these 4 difficult attributes can take things to a breaking point.


And what can be worse than infidelity? What can be worse than the deep feeling of betrayal and hurt that pervades the mind on being debased in such a manner by the one whom you love from the depth of your heart? What if the one for whom you intend to destroy the self actually is far-off from your self?


Although there have been many movies on the topic of infidelity and revenge, ‘Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke’ is different from the others since primarily it is a courtroom drama that deals with the repercussions of a love story gone sour and not with the life of the principals in the adultery case. Hence, although the protagonists of the infidelity saga – Sunil Dutt, Leela Naidu and Rehman - occupy important places in the story, the story is actually a brilliant portrayal of the courtroom drama and hence a remarkable film in the art of legal warfare.


Ashok Kumar as Defence Lawyer Byomkesh Mukherjee is tailor-made for his part of the lawyer who’s trying his best to save his client from the jaws of death. The witty repertoire, the biting sarcasm, the quick movement of the body, the engrossing mode of questioning, the frustration on being overwhelmed by evidence all make for a great portrayal of a brilliant lawyer who can go to any limits to ensure his client is safe.


Pitted against a stalwart of Ashok’s stature is one of the greatest actors of Hindi Cinema Motilal as Prosecuting Attorney Ali Khan. As expected, Motilal leaves a trail of perfection as a no-nonsense hard-nosed and highly efficient attorney who will leave no stone upturned to ensure that the case is won and at any cost. The suave mannerisms of the legendary debonair star of the 40s coupled with his intense and poised calm are a perfect counterfoil to Ashok’s emotional gimmickry making the clash exciting as well as satisfying.


Caught between the two as the husband who has been the victim of his wife’s indiscretion and is now facing the gallows for a crime not committed is Sunil Dutt as Capt. Ajay Sahni. The actor portrays the complexity of the role with an earnestness that is infectious as well as emotional. The agony of a man who has been betrayed by his wife and close friend is evident on both the face and the body language right from the drooping of his shoulders to the sudden passion in his voice and upto a flicker of his eyelashes. This performance is definitely one of the best in his career and the actor has done complete justice to the role without resorting to any gimmickry or overacting.


Rehman as Ajay’s philandering friend, Ashok is flamboyant as usual. The actor manages to bring to his role a rare naturalism that’s both mesmerizing and artistic. The manner in which he seduces Ajay’s wife is so brilliantly enacted that there is left no doubt in the mind of the viewer regarding the success of the seduction game and we wait with bated breath as Leela is snared in his trap and succumbs to his vile designs.


Leela Naidu as the wife who has been the subject of the entire drama is artificial in her enactment of the role…. She looks completely lost in the entire movie and would do well to think of acting and not just being content with her beauty; which is of course her only redeeming factor in the movie. Rajendra Nath and Shashikala on the other hand do complete justice to their roles.


Ravi, one of the brilliant but forgotten composers from the past brings life to Rajinder Kishen and his beautiful and imaginative https://lyrics. Rafi again proves his mastery over music with his brilliant rendition of “Koi Mujhse Pucche” a song that begins in the tender aftermath of sweet and innocent love and then reaches it’s crescendo in the hurt-filled pathos of infidelity and hurt. As if to prove his range, on the other hand, Rafi is equally adept at the romantic “Tum Jis Pe Nazar Dalo”. Asha Bhosle proves her vocal virtuosity with her cautious rendition of the title track that rises and ebbs with the flow in the tune.


R K Nayyar was one of the most accomplished but underrated directors of his time…. Inspite of being at the helm of such brilliant blockbusters as ‘Love in Simla’ and ‘Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke”, the director was rarely ever appreciated for his subtle direction. However, when the history of Hindi Cinema is written R K Nayyar will definitely be recorded as the director of one of the best Courtroom Drama ever made in Hindi Cinema.


A little bit of trivia… This film is loosely based on the famed Nanavati case of 1959 that forever changed the role of Indian jurispendence and so one would do well to see it in the light of the event that caused the blooming of such a beautiful movie….


Art imitates life and nowhere is it more obvious than in this movie…


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