Starcast: Anil Dhawan, Rehana Sultan, Shatrughan Sinha, Nadira, Laxmi Chhaya, Asit Sen and Manmohan Krishna Music: Sapan Jagmohan Directio...
Starcast: Anil Dhawan, Rehana Sultan, Shatrughan Sinha, Nadira, Laxmi Chhaya, Asit Sen and Manmohan Krishna
Music: Sapan Jagmohan
Direction: B R Ishara
I finally got around to watching Chetna from 1970 (released in December 1970) the other day – yeah, that old Bollywood flick everyone's grandma whispers
about when talking about "bold" movies. Directed by B.R. Ishara, it's
basically the story of this shy, kind of awkward guy named Anil (played by Anil
Dhawan in his debut) who falls head over heels for Seema, a prostitute played
by Rehana Sultan. For its time, this movie was like dropping a bomb in
conservative India.
First off, that iconic poster. You know the one –
Rehana standing on the bed with her legs spread wide, bare thighs on full
display, and Anil's face peeking up from between them. It was Ishara's cheeky
way of flipping off the censors who slapped an 'A' rating on it. The poster
alone caused massive outrage; big filmmakers apparently tried to sabotage the
release because they thought a low-budget thing like this would hurt their
family-friendly blockbusters. But nope, it became a surprise hit anyway.
The plot's pretty straightforward but gutsy for
1970. Anil's this introverted boy introduced to Seema by his buddy Ramesh (a
young and dynamic Shatrughan Sinha). At first, it's all awkward – Anil's too
shy to even make a move – but they click, fall in love, and he proposes
marriage. Seema's hesitant because of her past, but she says yes and tries to
start fresh. Then Anil has to leave town for a bit, and when he comes back,
she's spiraled – drinking heavily, smoking, acting distant. Turns out she's
pregnant from her old life and doesn't know who the father is. Rather than let
society trash Anil, she... well, takes the tragic way out. Classic Bollywood
heartbreak, but with way more edge.
What really stands out is Rehana Sultan. She was
fearless. She smokes, drinks, swears a bit, and there's these intimate scenes
that were shocking back then – nothing full-on explicit by today's standards,
but showing a heroine in bed like that, or in just a shirt, was huge. She
brings this mix of toughness and vulnerability to Seema; in the first half,
she's confident and sassy, then the pathos hits hard later. It's a shame the
"bold" tag stuck to her so much that it kinda derailed her career –
she got typecast and offers dried up for serious roles, even after winning a
National Award for Dastak around the same time.
Anil Dhawan is solid as the naive, decent guy –
innocent face with nicely parted hair works perfectly for the character. And
Shatrughan Sinha has this small but cool role as the worldly friend who sets
things up. The music by Sapan-Jagmohan is decent too; that Mukesh song
"Main To Har Mod Par Tujhko Dhoonda" is haunting and fits the mood.
Ishara shot this on a tiny budget – like under a
lakh and you can tell; lots of close-ups, off-screen voices to save on extras.
But it adds to the intimate, raw feel. He's trying to say something real about
rehabilitating sex workers, society's hypocrisy, and how love doesn't always
conquer all. The ending feels a bit cop-out – couldn't show a happy ever after
for a former prostitute in 1970, I guess – but overall, it's progressive for
its era.
Watching it now, it's fascinating how much it
pushed boundaries. Bollywood was all song-dance-romance or angry young man
stuff emerging, but Chetna went straight for adult themes without apology. It
opened doors for bolder films later, even if Ishara himself got pigeonholed as
the "sexploitation" guy. If you're into retro Bollywood or curious
about how Indian cinema tackled taboo stuff back then, give it a watch. It's
not perfect – pacing drags sometimes, acting's uneven – but it's a landmark that
deserves more love. Kinda sad it's mostly remembered for the controversy rather
than the heart.
By Ayushmaan Mitra
No comments