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Yash Chopra Birth Anniversary Special: How Yashji Was the OG Filmmaker to Address Hindu Radicalisation and Communalism in Bollywood!

The late Yash Chopra is known by his fans as the 'King of Romance'. Well, he deservedly earned that title thanks to some classics like Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Chandni, Lamhe, and romantic entertainers like Darr, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Veer Zara and his swansong, Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Yash Chopra's filmography, of course, goes beyond the genre of romance, as he also made films that deal with the simmering anger in the nation. Movies like Deewar, Kala Patthar, Trishul, Mashaal are fine examples of this sentiment. Not to mention, he also experimented with filmmaking idea, by making a songless thriller in Ittefaq, that too with Rajesh Khanna in the lead, a superstar known for being the face of many evergreen songs. Yash Chopra Birth Anniversary: Amitabh-Rekha's 'Dekha Ek Khwab' to SRK-Katrina's 'Saans', Romantic Songs That the Filmmaker Blessed Us With!

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But there is one distinction of Yash Chopra that we don't usually talk about, when discussions get stuck either in Deewar or Chandni. Yash Chopra was also the first director in Hindi Cinema to make a film on the partition tragedy and the Hindu radicalisation. That too, in 1961! And if you think he got away with it, you are wrong there.

That film was Dharmputra, Yash Chopra's second directorial coming after the blockbuster success of Dhool Ka Phool. The movie was made under BR Films, the banner of his elder brother, the late BR Chopra.

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A Still from Dharmputra

Even though the '60s didn't have a radical government in power as the one we have now, Yash Chopra faced so much outrage - theatres were reportedly burnt and the film flopped at the box office as a result, though it went on to win National Awards. He never made a film that dealt with Hindu-Muslim tensions again, until 43 years later,came Veer Zara, which was about cross border love and was way milder than the intensity of his sophomore film. But Dharmputra did become an leading example for other gutsy filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Aparna Sen, Nandita Das and others to make films that show the ill effects of radicalism.

Dharmputra was the adult debut of the late Shashi Kapoor, though he enters the film much later. The movie is set during the partition era, beginning in 1925, when India and Pakistan were one, under the tyrannical rule of the British, and ends after India gain independence, but is traumatised by the partition riots. Shashi Kapoor Birth Anniversary Special: 10 Iconic Roles Of The Actor That Makes Us Miss Him Everyday.

Apart from Shashi Kapoor, the movie also stars Mala Sinha, Ashok Kumar, Rehman, Manmohan Krishna, Nirupa Roy, Indrani Mukherjee among others. Also spot a very young Tabassum and Deven Verma in there. The late Rajendra Kumar, who was the hero in Yash Chopra's Dhool Ka Phool, had a cameo of a Nehruvian leader in the film.

The first half of the film is more of a melodramatic family drama involving a Hindu and a Muslim family, living in Delhi, in the same large house. Husn Bano (Mala Sinha), the daughter of the respected Nawab Badruddin (Ashok Kumar), is pregnant with the child of her lover (Rehman), who is missing. Dr Gulshan Rai (Manmohan Krishna) helps her with her pregnancy, and also adopts the child with his wife Savitri (Nirupa Roy), as they raise it as their own son.

The child grows up as a Hindu, and even though the Rai's have other kids, and Bano gets to marry her lover, they don't tell him the truth. Now a young strapping man, Dileep (Shashi Kapoor) is high on patriotism but he also has a false sense of nationalism and religious values. He hates Muslims and when the riots happen, he incites and leads a mob with an agenda to kill his own biological parents, blissful of the truth.

A Still from Dharmputra

It is from the introduction of Shashi Kapoor as Dileep where Dharmputra gets into what we call the 'bold' territory. His first scene had him shirtless, but the purpose isn't tiltallation for the female fans, as is the trend these days. He is first seen meditating, his ceremonial thread hanging proud across his body.

After the meditation is over, he goes to the courtyard to meet his siblings and chide them for spending time playing table tennis, instead of thinking about the independence and the future of the country. He sermonises with all his earnestness, though none of his siblings take him too seriously.

A Still from Dharmputra

Later, when his foster mother introduces him to an elder Husn Bano (though she doesn't reveal their actual relationship) and asks him to touch her feet, he obliges. Only to show annoyance, when he learns she is Muslim, though in respect to his mother, he doesn't say anything. Even his mothers don't take his behaviour and ideology seriously. Like typical Indian parents, they think a wife can improve him, so they settle for a foreign-educated Meena (Indrani Mukherjee), who is still very docile. Mind you, this is the '60s. Even Dileep, who is averse to marriage and low opinion on foreign-educated girls, falls for Meena.

A Still from Dharmputra

From hereon, Dharmputra gets even more interesting, especially when the country begins to suffer from the partition. As a viewer in 2020, who still believes in the secular values of this country, there are quite a few scenes that I could relate to in Dharmputra. Like, there is a sequence where Dileep has a debate with his brothers, who are secular, on nationalism that end up with him catching the collar of one of his brothers in anger. Isn't that how some of our debates on the current situation end up?

A Still from Dharmputra

There is no doubt that Dileep becomes the representation of our brethren who are swayed by blind propaganda. Dileep is knowledgeable and his skill in rhetorics makes him a favourite in his college. And his very gift of gab is used to incite murderous mobs. While he is well-versed in shastras and mantras, he isn't intelligent enough to seek the truth of his own religion, as his very secular foster father reminds him.

A Still from Dharmputra

Of course in the end, Dileep has the change of heart in a predictable way when he learns of his parentage. It hits him like ton of bricks when he realises he has become his own enemy. It is also the moment when Dileep becomes the very epitome of India's secular identity and gives us hope that our very own folks and friends, who have been brainwashed into believing hateful propaganda, will see light one day.

A Still from Dharmputra

As I was reading more about Dharmputra, I came across this very fascinating trivia about the man who made this film - that Dileep is the very reflection of Yash Chopra himself. As a young man, Yash Chopra used to be part of the Rashtriya Seva Sangh (RSS) before 1947, and reportedly made crude bombs during the partition riots.

Better sense, his more secular elder brother and cinema turned Yash Chopra to the path of secularism, which was evident in his first film itself. In Dhool Ka Phool, we had Manmohan Krishna's Abdul Rashid, a level-headed Muslim, raising an abandoned child as his own, but without giving him a religious identity. This is pretty evident in the classic song from the film "Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega, Insaan Ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega". The most apt song that we need to teach our kids these days.

In the finale of Dharmputra, Dileep faces the very bloodthirsty mob that he has incited, as they now bay for his blood. Both his mothers stand in front of him to protect their son from his potential killers. But before further bloodshed happens, the police arrive (unlike the usual habit of coming late, they actually arrive at the nick of time here), courtesy Meena.

Dileep tells Meena that they should leave for a land where no one sees their religion, but just their humanity. As they discuss this, Rajendra Kumar's character is heard making a sermon, reflecting Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Freedom at Midnight speech, that no one need to leave this place. That India is for everyone who sees this country as their mother.

A Still from Dharmputra

Now, that's the India that we have to reinvent for our future generations! And how fitting is that it is the man who glorified love through his movies, gave us this lesson in one of his earliest films! Thank you, Yash ji, for this beautiful film, that, despite being 59 years old, still has quite a few lessons to teach this nation. Dharmputra is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.