Fifty Years Of Gulzar's 'Aandhi': A Film Banned 25 Weeks After Its Release During Emergency

As controversy swirled around the trailer of the Tamil movie Bad Girl, there was general tut-tutting all around as to how Indian filmmakers had become irresponsible in showing underage girls drinking and attempting a physical relationship with the opposite sex.

Directors of the past, many on social media platforms declaimed, wouldn't make bold to show 'women in a bad light.'

My mind immediately went back to 1975, when a movie had landed in major trouble and led to pointed headlines on censorship overreach, as it showed a woman sipping liquor and smoking.

The film did not court trouble because of that depiction, but more due to the fact that the character on screen was said to be loosely based on Indira Gandhi, then India's prime minister.

The film was Aandhi, directed by lyricist-director Gulzar and produced by J Om Prakash (Hrithik Roshan’s grandfather). It released in movie theatres 50 years ago on the Valentine's Day of 1975.

There was plenty of animated talk around the film before it made it to the cinema halls, as the story revolved around a politically ambitious woman and her fraught relationship with her withdrawn husband, whom she eventually deserts.

The chatter was that the story contoured that of Indira's, who too had a somewhat troubled tie with her husband Feroze Gandhi, and they lived separately.

Though Gulzar at no point prior to the film's release declared that this was a movie about Indira, the film grapevine and marketing spiel had made it to be so.

One poster reportedly ran with the blazing line: "See your Prime Minister on screen." Another ad declared in no uncertain terms that it was "the story of a great woman political leader in post-Independence India."

That was a period of political upheavals, and an already under-fire Indira was willing to take no chances. She had her Information and Broadcasting Minister I K Gujral and two of his senior officers see the film before its release.

But as it happened, the suave Gujral, with interests in poetry and the arts, did not find anything amiss. In the event, Aandhi was cleared by these 'super censors' for release, and it arrived to a quiet start on 14 February 1975, a Friday.

Story of Indira and Feroze?

The film initially did not see much activity at the box office. Starring Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar, along with Om Shivpuri, in the leads, Aandhi had a relatively lukewarm start.

But soon, word spread that Suchitra Sen, who played the politically pushy woman Aarti Bose/Aarti Devi, was not just inspired by real-life Indira but even resembled her. The trademark pleated sari and the streaks of white in the hair suggested a physical verisimilitude to the nation's then-prime minister.

As days went by, suspicions strengthened as many suggested that Sanjeev Kumar's "J K" character was a take-off on Feroze, and the character of Suchitra Sen's dad in the film, a political leader, bore a resemblance to Jawaharlal Nehru.

The story, in a nutshell, was about a young, forceful woman, Aarti, with political dreams and who falls for an everyday guy, J K. She is from a rich family as her father is a major leader, but J K has no big aspirations in life. He is more than content with the ordinariness of his life.

Despite the protestations of her dad, they both get married. But their contrasting approaches and philosophies towards life soon drive a wedge between them. They have a young daughter, but she ditches the daughter and her father and sets off on a political career along with her dad.

But in the murky world of politics, her private life casts a shadow, and her opponents try to nail her down on that issue. But J K eventually shows up and drives home the message that he was not a victim. As she triumphs in the polls, he leaves her with dignity to let her chase after her dreams.

Gulzar did not allow the screenplay to cast any negative judgement on Aarti. Nor did Sanjeev Kumar's character go into a maudlin spiral for being a single parent. It was all dealt with matter-of-fact unfussiness. The understated dignity was a major difference from the offerings of the time.

A Hall of Famer From R D Burman

Another talking point about Aandhi was its music. The songs and background score by the inimitable R D Burman (RDB) remain one of the more cherished film pieces in the annals of Bollywood.

Three out of the four songs, in the voices of Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, are now part of the gallery of greats.

The iconic numbers feature in almost all lists of immortal songs of the 1970s. Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor Aa Gaya, Is Mod Se Jate Hain, and Tere Bina Zindagi Se, which was actually a popular Bengali puja song, Jete Jete Potho Holo Deri, tweaked adroitly to a plaintive ballad of love by Pancham da.

The fourth song is the lesser-known Salam Kijiye in the collective voices of Mohammed Rafi, Bhupinder Singh, and Amit Kumar.

The three main songs were all shot in Kashmir amid historical ruins in a deft directorial nod to the ruin in the relationship between the lead pair.

Gulzar's lyrics and RDB's sui generis tunes and melodic orchestration gave Aandhi a further push, and the film became a big talking point.

Even as its popularity grew, it began to impact Indira politically. The particular scene in which Suchitra Sen's character drinks and smokes on screen was latched on to by Indira's political opponents. Using the film, they began to taunt her by saying, 'Look at the PM smoking and drinking.'

A Re-release, and Aandhi's Legendary Turn

In those conservative days, the film was a tad too forward, especially for a woman politico who was already under fire on various fronts.

In one of the darkest chapters of political India, Indira Gandhi declared an Emergency on 25 June 1975. And a few days into that tumultuous phase, Aandhi was formally banned from being screened — over 25 weeks after its release in theatres.

When the high-handed decision was announced, Gulzar was in Moscow at a film festival to promote Aandhi. He took it on his chin and moved on.

Even the news of the film's ban was carried in newspapers with great difficulty, as Draconian censorship rules were in place for the media. The makers also agreed to remove the drinking-smoking scene, and shot anew a new scene where Suchitra Sen's character stands before the framed photo of Indira, saying she wants to serve India like her. "Woh meri idol thi (She is my idol),” she says to show Aarti Devi was not Indira Gandhi.

Anyway, things fell into a lull for two years until the Emergency was in play. After it was lifted, and soon the Janata party government was in place in 1977, the ban on Aandhi was lifted, and it again became a sought-after film. A legend had been created by then, thanks to the maladroit ways of an overzealous Congress regime.

With Indira away from power, Gulzar had accepted that the story was indeed influenced by the life of Indira Gandhi. Sanjeev Kumar, for his part, suggested that his character in Aandhi had more than a passing similarity to Feroze. But the audiences were in no doubt.

In any case, regardless of the parallels, Aandhi was a solid and well fleshed out relationship story. The understated emotional exchanges, a rarity in those mawkish times, was a trendsetter. Gulzar's literary flourishes and Pancham da's magical music were further embellishments.

Aandhi, to this day, remains an example of both cinematic excellence and political excess from a troubled time.