Agni Pariksha

Agnipariksha

Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Shikharani Bag


Having seen the Hindi remake at an early age when it was quite new, and not thought of it as much but ridiculous - which was not an exceptional opinion about it, then, at that - it came as a surprise, when, halfway through first watching this one realised that this was the original, and it wasn't ridiculous at all. And subsequent viewings merely made the surprise grow along with the intrigue about why, the theme that had seemed rather simplistic in sixties at best, now seems far from it, but much deeper if anything.

For one, there are of course differences between the original and the remake.

This one is done with all the westernised society atmosphere of a comparatively bygone era of ladies and gentlemen, with decorum and more, in an upper strata of wealthy Bengali society that holidayed in Darjeeling regularly, and looked up to education as much as took wealth for granted, all with a platform of the westernised urban social setting that set them up aloft above the ground realities, of not only those less than wealthy but - perhaps more importantly - of those not quite so westernised.

In comparison the remake was set in the sixties post Junglee, yahoo changes that brought in a very overt pursuit of the very unwilling lady by an almost Tarzan cum ape, with the lady eventually giving in to the overtures in terms of romance - still virtuously, of course! And this change was then harder to reconcile with the story that develops.

Here, the quiet but steady devoted candidate for the hand of the beautiful educated modern young woman, and a self confessed fan of her singing, is a role that reveals itself as much more complex, deeper, only on subsequent viewings - when one knows he is more than he has said.

But the real knot remains firm and soul of the theme - and has been dealt with in at least half a dozen films of last two decades or so from US, although with different storylines. Question is, what if one is already committed in a relationship, and then someone new appears who one cannot help falling inexorably in love with?

Here, the said relationship is a childhood marriage that the girl's mother had revolted against, and declared null and void, bringing the family to town and making the girl forget about it in course of education and normal life. But it dies exist, and once the memory is back, it cannot be denied. Legally she coukd free herself, but she finds an inexplicable bond drawing her, and she is uncertain of her duty, the right choice to make.

And then she turns to the old grandmother who had conducted that marriage. The grandmother asks her, what if you do marry the young man you now met, and then you meet someone who attracts you, and you fall in love with him?

That the film is beautifully made, is a bonus, as is the superlative young pair. And the music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jSuBte1lZWU