Revisiting Pradeep Biswas’ ‘Parineeta’ As It Completes 20 Years

There’s no getting away from Devdas in this Parineeta a fascinating absorbing and largely sensitive rendering of Hindi litterateur Saratchandra’s other study of the male ego and its tragic repercussion on matters of the heart, set within a feudal backdrop. Parineeta had been done on several occasions in the past with actresses as varied as Meena Kumari and Sulakshana Pandit playing Lalita, the protagonist.

Debutant Pradeep Sarkar’s adaptation of the complex original material is as far removed from Bimal Roy’s Parineeta as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was from Bimal Roy’s earlier classics.

Literary classics are open to more than one interpretation. Sarkar’s take on Saratachandra proves it with bridled élan. While Saratachandra according to Bhansali was far more emotionally and optically extravagant, Sarkar’s Parineeta is more reigned-in, at times almost inhibited …And then like a flower opening its petals, it is also prone to sudden fits of extroverted aesthetics. The Lolita-Shekhar love-making sequence(an add-on that may leave the purists gasping indignantly) is done as a smooth transitional process from banter to bed between the childhood pair.

The contradictory moods are well-balanced and preserved. It’s unclear why the original novel has been shifted from the early 20th century to the 1960s, unless this dizzying translocation was done so that the hero can play jazz on the piano and savour the songs of Elvis Presley, or Rekha (in a thorough redundant appearance) breaks into a smouldering jig at La Moulin Rouge and even plonks herself into a visibly embarrassed Sanjay Dutt’s lap.

Oooh…Hot, baby, hot. Too hot for Saratchandra or his earlier screen adapator Bimal Roy to handle. Pradeep Sarkar instils a smouldering intensity into the story of a hero who’s too arrogant and self-absorbed to say yes to love. Unlike Saratachandra’s Devdas, Shekhar finally stands up to his conscience, heart and tyrannical father in the nick of time.

This Sartachandra hero is no walk-over. And neither is the film.

The sequences between father Sabyasachi Chakraborty (as nasty and self-serving as entrepreneurs can get in our movies) and son Saif Ali Khan would immediately remind audiences of the father-son whiplash war of words in Bhansali’s Devdas…Both dads refer to their rather spoilt and decadent sunny-boy’s childhood sweethearts as whores.

Not a nice thing to do. Saratchandra suffered from a pronounced patriarchal complex. Both Devdas and Parineeta are coloured by a filial prejudice that seeps into the romantic arteries of the plot, rendering the hero almost impotent.

In fact, Shekhar’s autocratic father calls his son ‘napunsak’. The provocative expletive triggers of a masculine reaction in Shekhar leading to a rather strange and strident climax where we encounter Saif Ali Khan literally breaking down the wall between him and his beloved, as in lookers egg him on, “Tod do, tod do!”

Break a wall, don’t break a heart, huh? Well, so much for literal literary transcreations. There is a lot that is soft delicate poised and palpably contemporary in Sarkar’s Parineeta.

The Shekhar-Lolita sequences possess a quality of understated naturalism. Childhood love is omnipresent in both of Saratchandra’s classic. To the director’s credit Parineeta succeeds in giving a twist to the tale…a tormented but ecstatic romantic twist. Saif and newcomer Vidya Balan look perfectly compatible. And Sanjay Dutt who plays Lolita’s older benefactor, now looks mature and self-deprecating enough to play the rakish slightly over-the-hill Other Man.

Cast in place, Sarkar gives the backdrop a body and a face. With exceptional help from editor Hemanti Sarkar, art director Keshto Mandal/Tanushree Sarkar/Pradeep Sarkar and most of all cinematographer N. Nataraja Subramaniam, the director re-constructs the bustle and social life of the idle rich in Kolkata in the 1960s. ..the clubs and cards sessions, the flirting and innuendos…The film takes us back to a lifestyle when an existential crisis meant you had to choose between two beautiful women, one for wealth and the other for romantic health.

The world of Parineeta is cloistered and yet liberating. The characters are dressed for the occasion but not suffocatingly bound to the period that they represent. The melodrama is often played at a step crescendo. But the down-scaling of the emotional pitch is done with stealth and grace. Except for the climatic rapping-on-the-wall (Saif looks far more convincing banging the piano in a frenzy of unfulfilled passion) the drama always moves with a ballerina’s footsteps.

There is a certain elegance and old-world charm to the narrative. We can almost hear the characters breaking hearts on the elaborate but uncluttered soundtrack.

The narrative, pacing and dialogue delivery are shaded and opened out. Though shot indoors the effect is of a liberating light rather than an unventilated darkness.

Vidya Balan in her first full-fledged lead, is a refreshing change from the conveyer-belt heroines of today. She looks like would rather stroll in the garden than pant over the treadmill. But she fails to comprehend the innermost nuances of the character. Her performance skims the surface with prideful spontaneity. To her credit the debutante is surrounded by beauty and harmony, both in the cast (Raima Sen and Diya Mirza are pretty wallflowers) and the production design so that she comes across far more effectively than she would have otherwise.

Dutt, though looking strangely tired, gets the sur of the era right. But it’s Saif Ali Khan who walks away with the acting honours. Expressing the rancour, petulance, arrogance and insensitivity of a spoilt rich heir he lets the bile and tears flow unabashedly. His grip over his character’s sensitivities is apparent though not in any come-see-how-good-I-am way.

Parineeta works as a romantic drama and a period piece mainly because the cast and crew seem to get the point of the literary source without making a song-and-dance of scrupulousness. Sure, there’s tender care and a furious focus on period details and consistency of characterization. But most of all, there’s a sense of nostalgic stock-taking in the way the three people in the triangle react to their environment and social circumstances.

Though the striking resemblances stare you in the characters, plot and rich colours don’t look for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas in Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta. And you’ll come away a richer cineaste from this ode to a romantic era.

Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta was memorable on many counts. For Saif Ali Khan it brought out the Bengali side of his personality.

In an exclusive conversation on Parineeta, which was released on June 10, 2005, Saif says, “I loved connecting with the Bengali side of me and getting to act in a screen version of a Saratchandra novel. It was a mature and strong role. Something different for me …and so well shot! Pradeepda took special care of me and made me feel like a star. I got a great review. It was a lovely time. We shot in Old Kolkota and the same train my mum(Sharmila Tagore) shot Mere sapnon ki rani (Aradhana) on. I’m doing a film with Priyadarshan and he said to me. “I’m thinking of Parineeta. So it meant a lot, and still does. I played the guitar and piano and treated the instruments like a professional. It was great fun. Priyan talks about Parineeta to me. It makes me happy. Pradeep Sarkar made a period film look natural and modern. Vidya Balan was lovely to work with and very very sweet. Dada really pushed her to excel. Parineeta was such an important film to me for so many reasons. It broke a certain image and allowed me to play the lead with a very different energy.”

Recalling Pradeep Sarkar’s directorial skills, Saif says, “Dada only shot my left side because he loved that profile! He encouraged the Bengali side in me to be more artistic. His framing and design were beautiful. You had the feeling you were working in proper cinema: artistic, beautifully lit. His face would light up with childlike joy when you delivered something good. Films like Omkara and Parineeta still resonate with makers. Dada (Pradeep Sarkar) was very sure he wanted only me for the role. His confidence really boosted mine. I had done 80-odd ads by the time I came to an acting career. He was sure no one else could play Lolita. The producer, Vinod Chopra, wanted a well-known actress. He rightly thought she’d add to the film’s commercial value.