‘Mere Paas Maa
Hai !’
Amitabh Bachhan and Shashi Kapoor -Deewar
That the
dialogue ‘Mere Paas Maa hai’ ( I have the Mother) would be
immortalised we could not assess in 1975 when
the film ‘Deewar’ was released and made waves on account of its hard
hitting dialogues and performance by Amitabh Bachhan who plays the gangster .
The elder brother played by Amitabh Bachhan
had asked his younger brother Shashi Kapoor who is a Police officer to
meet under the bridge from where they had
started their childhood journey and to advise
him to take transfer to another city as
his life was in danger from his gang. The younger brother refuses and says that
his ‘Usool’ ( rules) and ‘Adarsh’ ( principles ) do
not allow him to take such a step. Amitabh Bachhan is anguished with the reply
and tries to run him down by saying that his principles and rules give him
hardly any economic sustenance – a four to five hundred rupee pay, a rented
house , a jeep on duty and two sets of uniform . And then he compares his
economic status with him by saying “ Mere paas Building hai ,property
hai, Bank balance hai, Bangla hai, Gaadi hai, Kya hai tumhare paas?”.
It is at this juncture that Shashi Kapoor makes the iconic statement “Mere
paas maa hai”. At the same time there is sound of a train whistle and
two compartments softly colliding. ‘Maa’ ‘ means the ‘rules and
principles’ , idealism , integrity, Truth
and morality. And much more.
It put an end
to the conversation between brothers.
There was no reply to the statement. It was because he spoke the Truth. He had
their mother with him physically and emotionally. He had the legitimacy, he had
the ‘Zameer’ with him, he had the power, he had the ‘veto power’
.He had no money but he had the ‘ideology’ he had the ‘Sanskars’
he had the ‘Brahmastra’ against which all weapons were
ineffective. He hit the proverbial ‘nail on the head’ . Mother gives
‘protection’ both emotional and physical. When
denied justice or fair play or hurt or hit children rush to convey and to the loving arms of the mother
who consoles them and Shields them from the enemies and the opponents. Here too
the younger brother had the protective shield . He wanted no other ‘economic
support’ of which his elder brother was boasting :
“ Choo sakti nahin maut aasaani se isko
Yeh
bachha abhi Maan ki duaayen oedhe hue hai”
( Death cannot reach easily , this child is wearing
the blessings of his Mother) .
-Munnawar Rana’s Gazal titled ‘Maa’.
The words
written by ‘Salim – Javed’ continue to be referred and quoted and have not lost
its shine. What therefore is the force, the foundation, the power behind this
simple statement? How did it capture the hearts and minds of the nation for the
last 50 years and continues to do so? The writers were perhaps not aware of such
a deep societal impact of these words. Since
the release of the film this dialogue; this statement; this sentence is heard
often in conversation in arguments; in
cases before judges while asserting one’s
clinching statement, in seriousness, in jest . It has captivated
and activated the people.
Therefore the
connect; the association to these words was not merely the film scene
which made Amitabh Bachchan famous. It was much deeper. Sometimes a statement
activates a deep dormant memory in our minds. Yes; this dialogue too does that
and continues to do so. It has deep association to our individual and
collective memory; memory which has been built brick by brick with the passage
of time through the numerous works of literature, the People’s movements,
customs, rituals and tradition and struggles which has been at the centre
stage. And therefore we draw our own inspiration and interpretation. And indeed
if we delve deep we discern the immense power of the ‘Mother / Mathrishakti’
in our lives, literature and society.
Adi
Shankaracharya who in the 8th century integrated India culturally by
establishing four ‘Dhams’ . In each of these ‘Dhams’
Shankaracharya established ‘Devi Puja’. He
also gave us some original works and ‘Bhajans’ in addition
to his commentary on Vedanta and other scriptures. In ‘Saundarya-Lehri’
a poetic work in hundred and three
verses is also called ‘Wave of Beauty’
or ‘Ocean of beauty’ . It celebrates the power of the ‘mother goddess’ ‘Shakti’
which is latent and without which ‘Lord
Shiv’ is incomplete. In each of the Ancient
famous temples be it Badrinath ,
Tirupati or Guruvavur though the
presiding deity is Vishnu/Venketeshwar/Krishna there is a shrine for the Shakti
the mother goddess.
Mother is the
symbol of strength , reverence and sacredness. We swear by our Mother ‘Maa Kasam’ meaning that in the name of our mother we shall not waver in my commitment!
Our resolve and strength both physical and moral is on account of our Mother. Our adversaries challenge us to contest and
competition stating ‘Agar Tu ne
Maa ka Doodh piya hai tao ladr’ ( If you have suckled your Mother’s milk then
fight) . Mother has patience, tolerance forgiveness unbound . She is the
provider –‘Annpurna’ ( food giver and nourisher) . No doubt we
Identify our Nation with her. We have devastated our earth by arms escalation
and slaughtered our environment and yet
she feeds us . The Mother earth is our eternal provider. It is believed that ‘Sitaji’
was born from the womb of the Earth to Raja Janak and is worshipped as the embodiment of
‘Mother Earth’ .
There is cinema
history and culture associated with ‘Mere paas maa hai’. It was
established by Mehboob Khan in his 1957 film ‘Mother India’ in which the
mother played by Nargis shoots down her younger beloved son as he had turned a
dacoit to seek revenge and was forcefully taking away the bride from the
marriage Mandap whom he loved. Therefore, Nargis does the most unbelievable
act, she pulls out her double barred gun and shoots her fleeing son. It shook
the audience and the Nation. The movie is landmark of Hindi Cinema , and was nominated for the Oscars. It reestablished the moral standards of society.
The film was a super-hit acknowledging the action of the mother who sacrifices
her son to save the moral standards of her village, and thus embodied ‘Mother India’.
The worship of
‘Mother Godess’ is a strong part of Indian ritual. Twice a year ‘Navratri Puja’
is observed during which Goddess Durga , the Protector is worshipped . Some
devotees perform ‘Paath’ of ‘Durga Saptshati’ ( Durga seven hundred verses ) during this period . Large number of
people observe austerity and fast.
Women procession during freedom struggle
Indeed the
power and participation of women was supreme during the freedom struggle. On
Gandhiji’s call thousands of women came out of the houses to the streets and
offered arrests, participated in ‘Satyagraha’ sacrificed their domestic life.
They participated in the civil
disobedience movement and the 1942 quit
India movement. The participation of women gave legitimacy and strength to the
movement. In modern India it was perhaps the first time that women came out in
the streets despite being tied down to the household work. This was shocking
and surprising for the British regime. When women participate in such social
movements it is the family which participates. Family which is the ‘social
unit’ of the nation and therefore the entire nation is participating in such
movements. Even Subhash Chandra Bose encouraged women to join the Indian
National Army and had a battalion which consisted of women. it was called Rani
Jhansi Battalion.
Mother by Maxim Gorky
No peoples’ movement Is complete without participation
of women. The Great October Revolution of 1917 in Russia apparently was led by
Lenin and his followers the Bolsheviks but what was unseen and unsaid was the Latent support of the
thousands of mothers and families who suffered the atrocities and felt
justified to voluntarily support the
movement. The role of the mothers was the backbone of the movement and has been
vividly captured in Maxim Gorky’s novel by the name ‘Mother’. How a battered
housewife rises to the occasion . She had lived a life of a devoted housewife and has a son. After the
death of her husband her son becomes a
revolutionary and she gradually joins the movement. She learns to read,
she secretly distributes the underground newspaper, she hides the pamphlets,
she disguises, goes to villages and
motivates and becomes the face of the faceless who support the movement from
behind. Being a devout Christian she worships Christ but is also able to relate
to the atrocities by the Czar regime ,the soldiers the police the
administrations. Her son soon becomes a leader and she too rises to the
occasion .
Therefore when Shashi Kapoor spoke the immortal words in
1975 penned by the writer duo ‘Salim-Javed’ in ‘Deewar’ in 1975 he represented
our core values and ideology . And indeed all citizens specially in Public
service should be able to say with confidence – ‘Mere Pass Maa Hai’.
Our National song is Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s ‘Vande Matram’- ‘I
Bow to Mother’. It is the ‘soft power’
of the State. An ‘Ideal’ to live up-to.
कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें