| Sunghursh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Harnam Singh Rawail |
| Screenplay by | Anjana Rawail Dialogue:Gulzar andAbrar Alvi |
| Story by | Layli Asmaner Ayna byMahasweta Devi |
| Produced by | Harnam Singh Rawail |
| Starring | Dilip Kumar Vyjayanthimala Balraj Sahni Sanjeev Kumar |
| Cinematography | R. D. Mathur |
| Edited by | Krushna Sachdev |
| Music by | Naushad |
Production company | Rahul Theatre |
| Distributed by | Shemaroo Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 158 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Sunghursh ("Struggle") is a 1968 IndianHindi film directed and produced byHarnam Singh Rawail. It is based onLayli Asmaner Ayna ("Layli Does Not Go To Heaven"), a short story inBengali language byJnanpith Award-winning writerMahasweta Devi, which presents a fictionalised account of a vendetta within athuggee cult in the holy Indian town ofVaranasi. It starsDilip Kumar,Vyjayanthimala,Balraj Sahni,Sanjeev Kumar,Jayant,Deven Verma,Durga Khote andIftekhar. The film was the last one to see Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala working together.Sunghursh was an "Average" grosser at box-office and was the tenth highest grossing film of the year.[1]
The music is byNaushad and lyrics for the songs are byShakeel Badayuni. Naushad and Badayuni had worked together on many films previously and were "the most sought after" composer-lyricist duo of the time in Bollywood.Sunghursh was popularly mistaken to be a debut film of Sanjeev Kumar.
The director Harnam Singh Rawail's sonRahul Rawail, who is also a director, paid a tribute to this film by titling one of his asJeevan Ek Sanghursh (1990) starringAnil Kapoor andMadhuri Dixit.[2]
Bhavani Prasad is a powerful Shakta priest at Kashi. Prasad, a devotee of the black goddessKali and athuggee, religiously follows the practice of murdering wealthy travelers who stay in his pilgrim guesthouse and offers them as a sacrifice to Kali. Prasad's son Shankar does not agree with such practices, opposes his father, and decides to leave the village with his wife and their three children: Kundan, Yashoda and Gopal. Prasad forcibly takes Kundan with him to follow in his footsteps and forbids him from seeing the rest of the family.
Young Kundan is now being raised by his grandfather Prasad, who desires to have Kundan as his successor, head of a temple and pilgrim guesthouse on the banks of the Ganges river. Prasad mysteriously kills his son and puts the blame on his enemy and nephew, Naubatlal. Prasad had earlier killed Naubatlal's father. When Naubatlal learns the truth, he decides to take revenge, but Prasad kills Naubatlal before he could do anything. Naubatlal's family decides to leave the village and settle down in Calcutta where his two young sons, Dwarka (Sanjeev Kumar) and Ganeshi Prasad, work as merchants. They learn about their father's death from their mother (Mumtaz Begum) and swear to avenge their father's death by killing Prasad and his grandson Kundan (Dilip Kumar).
Kundan continues to serve Prasad in the Banaras temple, but does not follow the practice of killing people. When he is invited to his younger sister, Yashodha's marriage, Kundan gets a chance to visit his mother and grandmother and his siblings after many years. One day, Kundan meets Laila-E-Aasmaan, a courtesan, in the temple who has come from Calcutta after her madam's death. Kundan falls in love with Laila only to realise that she was his childhood friend, Munni. Kundan proposes to Laila, but Prasad does not agree to the marriage, knowing that Laila was hired by Dwarka and Ganesh Prasad to seduce Kundan and bring him to them.
Kundan decides to end the feud with Dwarka, but Dwarka does not co-operate. Dwarka attacks Kundan, but gets killed by him. As repentance for his grandfather's sins, Kundan decides to serve Ganeshi and takes another identity, that of Bajrangi to make peace with him, only to realise that Ganeshi Prasad is in love with Laila and wants to marry her as his second wife.
Director Rawail had consideredSadhana to play the lead actress of the film. He had waited for months to sign her in hisMere Mehboob (1963). But now the actress had developedthyroid problems and took a break from acting for treatment inBoston. Eventually, Rawail signed Vyjayanthimala for the role.[3] Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala who had worked together forNaya Daur (1957) were then said to have a romantic affair. The actors parted after Vyjayanthimala worked withRaj Kapoor in the 1964 Hindi filmSangam. Thus, most of the scenes between the two actors forSungharsh were shot separately.[4]
When the film was near completion, it was rumoured that with the increasing conflicts between the two leading actors, Vyjayanthimala would be replaced by another actress,Waheeda Rehman. Rehman had already replaced Vyjayanthimala in another Hindi film starring Kumar,Ram Aur Shyam, (1967) which was being shot simultaneously withSunghursh. Vyjayanthimala readily declined the claim of her leaving the film when it was about to finish its shooting.[5]Sungharsh was the last film where Kumar and Vyjayanthimala worked together. By then, both the actors had done the maximum number of films together and each was a commercial success.[6]
Sanjeev Kumar, who had previously acted in theatre and other smaller film productions, was noticed through his performance of negative role throughSungharsh and he then shot to fame.[7] He was commended for his role while a newcomer as compared with established actors like Dilip Kumar andBalraj Sahni.[8] The film was popularly mistaken to be his debut.[9]
AsSungharsh was set inVaranasi during the 19th century, Rawail took special care about the costumes and sets to create the look for the period.[2] The actor-directorRajesh Roshan had worked as an assistant director on the film.[10]
The music for all the songs was composed byNaushad and the lyrics were written byShakeel Badayuni. Naushad and Badayuni had worked together on many films previously and were "the most sought after" composer-lyricist duo of the time in Bollywood. Their collaborations ofBaiju Bawra (1952),Mother India (1957),Mughal-E-Azam (1960) and more are quite popular. They had worked with Rawail and had given the musical hitMere Mehboob in 1963.[11] The film's soundtrack has seven songs sung by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar with one song sung by Asha Bhosle. All are solo songs where Naushad used the music from the regions ofAwadh and easternUttar Pradesh.[12] But critics have considered these compositions "below par" as compared with Naushad's other work.[13]
Similar to his earlier work where Naushad had simplifiedHindustani classical music to producefilmi songs,[14] the solo "Mere Paas Aao Nazar To Milao" rendered byLata Mangeshkar was based onBhairaviRaga.[15] The song "Mere Pairon Mein Ghunghroo" by Rafi was included in "101 Mohammad Rafi Hits byShemaroo Entertainment on his 31st death anniversary. The singer died on 31 July 1980.[16] The song was also used by formerChief Ministers of BiharLalu Prasad Yadav during the election campaign for2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.[17][18]
| Song | Singer |
|---|---|
| "Jab Dil Se Dil Takrata Hai" | Mohammed Rafi |
| "Ishq Deewana, Husn Bhi Ghayal" | Mohammed Rafi |
| "Mere Pairon Mein Ghunghroo" | Mohammed Rafi |
| "Mere Paas Aao, Nazar To Milao" | Lata Mangeshkar |
| "Chhedo Na Dil Ki Baat" | Lata Mangeshkar |
| "Agar Yeh Husn Mera" | Lata Mangeshkar |
| "Tasveer-E-Mohabbat" | Asha Bhosle |
At the16th Filmfare Awards, Dilip Kumar was nominated for theBest Actor forSunghursh as well as forAadmi.[19] However, the award was presented toShammi Kapoor for his performance inBrahmachari.[20] Kumar received theBengal Film Journalists' Association Awards for Best Actor in Hindi. The film won four more awards in various categories at 32ndAnnual BFJA Awards.[21]
| Award | Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filmfare Awards | 16th Filmfare Awards | Best Actor | Dilip Kumar | Nominated | [19] |
| Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards | 32nd Annual BFJA Awards | Fourth Best Indian Film | Harnam Singh Rawail | Won | [21] |
| Best Actor | Dilip Kumar | Won | |||
| Best Actress | Vyjayanthimala | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Jayant | Won | |||
| Best Dialogue | Gulzar &Abrar Alvi | Won |