Balraj Sahni Rawalpindi and Lahore remained in his memories

Balraj Sahni could never forget the sorrow of migration, Rawalpindi and Lahore remained in his memories.

Balraj Sahni Rawalpindi and Lahore remained in his memories

He was in an office in Juhu, Mumbai when he was offered a role that catapulted him into the ranks of Indian cinema's greatest actors. He got this role by accident.

'When I entered Bimal Roy's cabin, he was writing something. He stopped writing and looked at me. He was looking at me silently. After a few moments he turned to the people in the office and said, "Did you have this person in mind?" What are you kidding me?'

He further writes, 'They were apparently unaware that I was ignorant of the Bengali language. He didn't even offer me a seat and said, 'I see that you are not eligible for the role I want to play in my film.'

India's incomparable actor Balraj Sahni has narrated this dialogue in his autobiography 'Meri Filmi Uttam Katha'.

Balraj Sahni was shocked to hear this. He hesitantly asked Bimal Rai what kind of character is this?

Bimal Rai replied, 'It is the character of a Gunwar villager.'

When Balraj Sahni said that he had already done such a role in Khawaja Ahmad Abbas's film 'Dharti Ke Lal', it did not take long for Bimal Rai to change his mind, but he was so impressed by him that He offered Balraj Sahni to play the lead role of Shambhu Mehta in his film 'Do Bigha Zameen'. This role proved to be a turning point in Balraj Sahni's life

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This mentions the year 1946. In Moscow, moviegoers are coming in droves to watch the movie. It is the Hindi language film 'Dharti Ke Lal' which introduced a new tone of social realism.

It's been two years since Italian director Vittorio De Sica's classic film 'Bicycle Thieves' was released. The film tells the story of the 1943 Bengal famine in which millions of people lost their lives.

The film starred a handsome young man known to the world as Balraj Sahni whose journey started with a classic film like 'Dharti Ke Lal' and ended with a classic film like 'Garam Hawa'.

The film was directed by Khawaja Ahmad Abbas, who became a reliable reference for parallel cinema in the years to come. He also wrote the dialogues for the film while co-wrote the screenplay with Bijun Bhattacharya.

Balraj Sahni's journey started with a classic film like 'Dharti Ke Lal' and ended with a classic film like 'Garam Hawa' 

Hailing from Amritsar in East Punjab, Khawaja Ahmad Abbas was a renowned director, screenwriter, novelist, fiction writer and journalist and was fluent in Urdu, Hindi and English languages. 

The story of this film was based on the famous Urdu fiction writer Krishnachandra's story 'In Data'. The film's music was composed by Ravi Shankar, a young pundit at the time, and Ali Sardar Jafri was among the poets.

Let's say that big names of their fields were associated with this film. Actress Zehra Sehgal also appeared on the big screen for the first time in this film.

The film actually started when the Indian People's Theater Association (IPTA) was founded in 1943 and collected funds to help the famine-stricken people of Bengal in different parts of the country. started doing and the movie 'Dharti Ke Lal' also had people associated with IPTA.

The film told the story of a family that is facing famine. The story of this film revolves around the destruction of human values ​​in the battle for survival.

Old Ravin Chetan Anand's film 'Necha Nagar' and 'Do Bigha Zameen' were inspired by the same social realism that was filmed in 'Dharti Ke Lal'.

Balraj Sahni was also an Old Raven. One of his teachers was Ahmad Shah Patras Bukhari. Journalist and researcher Mehmood Al Hasan in one of his articles written for Nox Today has the following summaries:

One day they were a little sad, so Patras Bukhari saw them and said, "What's the matter, Sahni, are you looking a little lost today?" You know, when a young person is sad, there are two reasons for his sadness; Either he is being foolish to say Ishq or his wallet is empty.'

Whether he was sad that day or not, but the sadness in his personality is definitely visible in his films.

Balraj Sahni was born on this day on May 1, 1913 in a Hindu Khatri family in Bhera, West Punjab. When he was four years old, his family moved to the bird road in Rawalpindi.

In the 1930s, Balraj Sahni moved to Shantiniketan, 

an institution founded by Rabindranath Tagore, along with his wife Damayanti Sahni, and was later associated with Mahatma Gandhi's ashram. During this time, he managed to get a job with the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC and joined its Hindi service as an announcer and moved to Britain, in London with Nobel Prize-winning author George Orwell as one of his colleagues.

Apart from being an actor, Balraj Sahni was also a writer who worked in Hindi and Punjabi prose

It may be recalled that the actor's wife Damayanti Sahni also worked with Balraj Sahni in the film 'Dharti Ke Lal' who died shortly after the release of the film. Balraj Sahni's younger brother Bhisham Sahni was also a writer and actor who wrote the novel 'Tamas' on Partition, which was made into a film by Govind Nihalani.

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Garam Hawa was one of the best movies ever made on Partition. This movie was directed by MS Sathyu. The story of this film was based on the story of famous fiction writer Ismat Chaghatai which was actually his own story as almost all his relatives except his grandfather's family came to Pakistan at the time of partition. The story of this film was written by Kefi Azmi and Shama Zaidi. 

Shama Zaidi was the daughter of Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Bashir Hussain Zaidi and Qudsia Zaidi.

Talking about the movie 'Garam Hawa', the music of this movie was given by classical composer Ustad Bahadur Khan while the lyricist of the movie was Kafi Azmi. This film would never have been made if the IPTA members were living without a purpose.

They were all communists including Balraj Sahni and played the lead role of Salim Mirza in the film. Balraj Sahni's son Sikandar Mirza was played by the famous actor late Farooq Sheikh in this film.

In an interview given to the Indian television channel RSTV regarding this film, he had said that 'MS Sathya Sahib was going to start a film Garam Hawa. They didn't have money and they wanted people who would do the work and not ask for money and give lots of dates. He obviously put this responsibility on his friends and we all decided to do something about it.'

He further said in this interview, 'Incidentally, the film was highly appreciated. Satheo Sahib made a very lavish contract with me which was worth seven and a half hundred rupees and he paid it to me in 20 years.'

 In 'Garam Hawa' when all the relatives of Salim Mirza go back to India after the partition of India and life is made difficult for them, he says in one of his dialogues, 'They call me a spy, is that too? There is a life, there is a limit to tolerance. Tolerated a lot.'

His wife Jameela (Shaukat Azmi, she was Kafi Azmi's wife) says, 'I already knew such things would happen here one day or the other.'

'Well now it is known that it is impossible to live in this country.' Salim Mirza says.

Sikandar Mirza (Farooq Sheikh) says on this occasion, "Abu Mian, we should not run away from India, but we should stay in India, shoulder to shoulder with the common man and fight for our demands."

Apart from being an actor, Balraj Sahni was also a writer. He worked in Hindi and Punjabi prose. His travelogue written after his visit to Pakistan is in Punjabi language. He was also honored with the Padma Shri Award by the Government of India.

This interesting coincidence should also be discussed that this artist, who beautifully portrayed sadness on the big screen, passed away at the age of just 59 before the release of 'Garam Hawa'. Thus, this was his last film, while this was the first film of Farooq Sheikh, a well-known actor of Bollywood parallel cinema.

Balraj Sahni passed away at the age of 59 before the release of the film 'Garam Hawa' 

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When Balraj Sawhney was selected for the role of Shambhu Mehta in 'Do Bigha Zameen', he started spending time with the rickshaw drivers of Calcutta and closely observed their movements and played his role. As if always driving a rickshaw.

He was one of the few actors in India who researched every detail of his character and was not averse to conveying his conscience through facial expressions. He was a natural actor and completely different from his contemporaries Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Raj Kumar and Dev Anand.

Bimal Roy decided to make this film after watching Vittorio De Sica's film 'Bicycle Thieves', which laid the foundation of neo-realistic cinema in India, and it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the second Hindi film to win the Palme d'Or after 'Necha Nagar'.

The film depicts Shambhu's struggle to save his 'two bigha land'. This film is considered to be a landmark film in the history of Hindi cinema which gave a new dimension to Balraj Sahni's career.

The story of this film was based on a poem by the legendary Bengali poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore.

The 1961 film Kabaliwala, based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, tells the story of an Afghan fruit vendor who falls in love with Mani, a girl in Calcutta, because seeing her reminds her of her Afghan cousin. I miss my daughter.

Balraj Sahni was also politically active. He remained a member of the Communist Party of India and also served jail time. Interestingly, when his film 'Hilchal' was released, the actor was bound but his role in the film was that of a jailer.

Although Balraj Sawhney acted in many films, his prominent films include 'Dharti Ke Lal', 'Do Bhega Zameen', 'Chhoti Behan', 'Kabaliwala' and 'Garam Hawa'.

Balraj Sahni suffered the trauma of migration during the days of partition, but the Punjabi in him never died 

He had suffered the trauma of migration during the partition days but the Punjabi in him never died. He also acted in a Punjabi film 'Sutlej Ke Kundhe' (On the banks of the Sutlej) which won the National Award for Best Punjabi Film.

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Balraj Sahni was depressed after his daughter Shabnam's failed marriage and death due to a ruptured cerebral artery. It was not easy for him to forget this grief and only then did he act in the film 'Garam Hawa' in which his daughter Amna (Geeta Siddharth) commits suicide after being repeatedly rejected.

It was a scene that plunged the already heartbroken Balraj Sahni into further depression and he died on 13 April 1973 before the film's release.

But even in the last days of his life he continued to seek to improve his work as he was not satisfied with the dubbing of one sentence which was re-dubbed at his request.

KK Menon, a well-known actor of Bollywood's parallel cinema, said in an interview to RSTV, 'Everything in the world comes to an end. Life ends. Money fades away but art lives forever.'

This is true of Balraj Sahni's artistic journey, whose films are mentioned more than those of his contemporaries today. 

But Balraj Sahni could never forget the sorrow of migration. Rawalpindi and Lahore remained in his memories. In October 1962, Balraj Sahni came to Lahore to participate in the centenary celebrations of the Government College on the invitation of the principal of the college, Dr. Nazir Ahmad, and met his classmates and neighbors Imtiaz Ali Taj, Ahmad Rahi and Abdullah Malik.

Balraj Sahni was an incomparable actor. They were broken from the inside by the blows of hot air, but their art is still alive and will live forever despite the passing of decades