Book Review | Enriched Legacy

Laali Mausi would always hug Ajit, and call him her son. Other villagers would gather around to dissuade her from calling the stranger her son. Ajit was invited by the villagers to relive them of the ongoing menace of decoits. When she’s finally been coaxed away, Ajit discovers the truth: Mausi’s son was kidnapped and taken away by dacoits eighteen years ago. This touching sequence in the film connects the past with the present. Who acted as Laali Mausi in the 1971 film Mera Gaon Mera Desh? No one could respond but the film director Raj Khosla himself, who took care to inform us that the actress was none other than Purnima. The reviewer of this biography has fond memories of this incident. Raj was behind some of the finest films of the times, Woh Kaun Thi?(1964) and Do Raaste (1969), and endearing soundtracks like Lag ja gale and Jhumka gira re.

Raj’s legacy has been ever enriching. Five decades in filmmaking is indeed a long innings, but he didn’t get featured in media like others. But his films and songs continue to touch lives every single day. Every tribute to Lata Mangeshkar, when she passed away in 2022, featured the song lag ja gale which remains the definitive love song ever since it was created in 1960s. Such memorable songs and disparate films can only come from the stable of a director who not only loved his work, but created the genre of his cinema. Raj undoubtedly had an enviable filmmaking career by any standards.

Mentored by the iconic Guru Dutt, Raj has often been dubbed the Alfred Hitchcock of Indian films. Rightly so, as he traversed diverse genres but infused suspense in a way that kept the audience on tenterhooks. Like his contemporaries, Raj looked to Hollywood for inspiration. The stylization and aesthetics of those films were seamlessly blended with local morality and sensibililities. The QR codes supplement many of such narratives, songs and scenes from the film. First ever, these codes gives scenic beauty to the textual narration.

The biography is well-researched, it is about the life of a filmmaker Raj Khosla but reads as the history in the making of some of the magical movies. It is a search for cinematic legacy by Amborish Roychoudhury. Legacy has it that Raj made taut thrilleers, family dramas, timeless romances, and action spectacles. In the process, he had also perfected the art of making engaging thrillers with an emotional core. The world knows and celebrates the Sadhana trilogy of Who Kaun Thi?, Mera Saaya, and Anita. Suspense was considered the hallmark of his cinema.

It is interesting how Waheeda Rehman got inducted into a creatively stimulating group led by Guru Dutt. Her dancing skills and fluency in Urdu stood Waheeda in a good nick. On being introduced to Raj, her unusal name caught the usual attention. ‘You have a long name, we must change to for the screen’, Raj had commented. It was the meeting of two headstrong, proud people who didn’t see eye to eye in certain aspects. She was all of 17, but had no intention of changing her name even at the cost of loosing out. Had C.I.D (1956) not been Guru Dutt’s production, Raj may not have directed the film. That they never ever worked remains history.

One of the abiding legacies that Raj carried forward was his love for folk songs. The folksy rustic song he used to humm was jhumka gira re, Bareilly ke bazar mein Although the song has its history, Raj inacted its history yet again. Regardless of its origins, jhumka gira re continues to be exclusively attached to Mera Saaya (1966). Across the length and breadth of the country, the city of Bareilly came to be inextricably associated with the song. Now, the city has firmed its jhumka on a roadside plaza. Raj went through his life on his own terms, and yet contributed immensely through the art and science of making cinema.

Raj Khosla: The Authorized Biography reveals the life and challenges of an accomplished director. Few filmmakers have demonstrated such versatility and command over their craft. The authors lend him his rightful place among the greats of Indian cinema.

Sudhirendar Sharma is an independent writer, researcher and academic