Bawarchi

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Bawarchi
Directed byHrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced byHrishikesh Mukherjee
N. C. Sippy
Romu N. Sippy
Written byTapan Sinha
StarringRajesh Khanna
Jaya Bhaduri
Harindranath Chattopadhyay
Asrani
A. K. Hangal
Durga Khote
Manisha
Kali Banerjee
Usha Kiran
Narrated byAmitabh Bachchan
Music byMadan Mohan
Release date
7 July 1972
(India)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Bawarchi (translation: The Chef) is a 1972 Indian Hindi musical comedy drama film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and produced by Mukherjee himself along with N. C. Sippy and Romu N. Sippy. Released in India on 7 July 1972, the film is narrated by Amitabh Bachchan and stars an ensemble cast of Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Bhaduri, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Asrani, A. K. Hangal, Durga Khote, Manisha, Kali Banerjee and Usha Kiran. The film is a remake of Rabi Ghosh starrer Bengali film Galpo Holeo Satti (1966) by Tapan Sinha[1] and was remade in Tamil as Samayalkaaran with M. K. Muthu. The film was remade twice in Kannada - first as Sakala Kala Vallabha starring Shashikumar and second as No 73, Shanthi Nivasa starring Sudeep. The film served as a great inspiration for the 1997 Hindi film Hero No. 1 and was ranked the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972.

In an interview, Khanna quoted "In Bawarchi, I did exactly the opposite of what Hrishida had made me do in Anand (1971). He allowed me to interpret the role and perform my way. I had done enough intense roles, and Bawarchi gave me the opportunity to interpret and perform the role the way I wanted. So I let myself go."[2] Mukherjee's style here is typical, in that the film contains no violence, and focuses rather on "the milieu of the Indian middle-class who have larger-than-life foibles and whose major concern is to survive the day [...:] which bahu will cook, which brother will use the bathroom first, who will get up first to make the morning tea, [etc.]"[3] Khanna won his second BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) for his performance in this film.

Synopsis[edit]

The story is centered around the squabbling Sharma family, headed by their eccentric Daduji (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), which has a dubious reputation of the inability to retain a cook for more than a few months due to their ill treatment of their domestic helps. The family's disrepute spreads to such an extent that no person wants to be employed as a cook in their home, named Shanti Niwas (abode of peace).

Then one day a young man named Raghu (Rajesh Khanna) offers to work as a cook, and is hired. Raghu, however, lives up to this challenge and becomes the apple of the eye of every inmate of Shanti Niwas. He even defuses the internal squabbles and re-unites the family. But is Raghu's slate clean, or is there more to his character?

Plot[edit]

Unlike most Indian films that open with credit titles, the film has the narrator Amitabh Bachchan's booming voice introducing the cast. Satirical in tone and treatment, the fast-paced narrative opens in a noisy, crowded household, paradoxically named "Shanti Niwas" ("Abode of Peace"). No domestic work sticks in this household, consisting of the elderly, widowed patriarch, the retired postmaster Shivnath Sharma (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), affectionately called Daduji, and his three sons and their extended families. The first son is Ramnath (A. K. Hangal), a lowly-paid clerk, with a cantankerous wife Seeta (Durga Khote), and their daughter Meeta (Manisha), a Kathak dancer of sorts. The third son is Kashinath (Kali Banerjee), a pompous schoolteacher, with his quarrelsome wife Shobha (Usha Kiran), and their young son Pintoo (Raju Shrestha). The fourth son is Vishwanath (Asrani), an unmarried aspiring music director, and the last member of the Sharma family is Krishna (Jaya Bhaduri), the talented but reclusive, orphaned daughter of Daduji's second son and daughter-in-law, who both passed away in a car accident several years ago.

Into this tensed up household enters a fun-loving multifaceted character, Raghunandan (Rajesh Khanna), also known as Raghu, who just appears on the doorstep one day, volunteering to be their new domestic worker. Raghu is a master of all, a smooth-talker, boasting of mastering various skills while working with real-life legendary characters, and a singer, dancer, and a no-mean musician as well. He loses no time in winning everyone's hearts through his cooking expertise and insistence on a low salary. Raghu also teaches each of the family members the truths that doing something for someone is a pleasure, that joy grows from sharing it with others, that there is no greater happiness than making someone happy, and reprimanding elders is an expression of their love. The family does not notice when the daily arguments over who uses the bathroom first stop, Shobha massages the pain of the sick Seeta, who in turn pleases her by preparing her favourite delicacies. Meeta, who was previously only practicing dancing and partying, also appears in the kitchen and Ramnath no longer has to drink away his sorrows every night. Shivnath finally leaves his bed for a walk as well, unable to praise Raghu's service enough, and the constantly abused Krishna finds the figure of mothers in her two aunts. The family begins to meet not for arguments but for shared meals and praises life through singing and dancing together and Shanti Nivas truly becomes an abode of peace.

All the while, Raghu constantly keeps an eye on the family jewellery box chained to Daduji's bed when a casually thrown-in single comment about the presence of a thief in the vicinity keeps the characters as well as the audience speculating about his identity. Meanwhile, Raghu is also well-aware that Krishna is in love with Arun and that the Sharma family is strictly against her union with him. Amongst all the tangle, Raghu suddenly disappears from the house while the Sharma family is aghast to discover that the jewellery box is missing as well. At the same time, Arun arrives at the house with the jewellery box, stating that he witnessed Raghu in a suspicious condition with the box, and managed to retrieve it from Raghu in a fierce fight between them both. the Stunned by these unexpected turn of events, the attitude of the Sharma family towards Raghu immediately changes and they all agree to get Krishna married to Arun out of gratitude, although Krishna and Meeta refuse to buy the story.

When the Sharma family begins abusing Raghu, Arun is not able to suppress his emotions anymore and decides to confess to them what had really happened, explaining that he actually met Raghu at his own wrestling ground and had a little friendly match with him where he suffered minor injuries. Further, Raghu instructed Arun to take the jewellery box to the Sharma family and lie to them that it was stolen by him, so that Arun can get his place in the house and win Krishna and the family over. When asked about his true identity, Raghu revealed to Arun that his real name is "Professor Prabhakar" but he took the fake name of Raghu and posed as a cook as he had seen many families like the Sharmas which were on the brink of breaking up and hence decided to use his knowledge to stop this. Meanwhile, Krishna spots Raghu outside the house and manages to stop him in time from going somewhere else but Raghu tells her that this is the mission of his life and that now he has to go. The film ends with a scene of Raghu travelling to a new destination and Amitabh Bachchan narrating that "Raghu is going to a new home. Let's hope it's not yours."

Cast[edit]

Crew[edit]

Music[edit]

All lyrics are written by Kaifi Azmi; all music is composed by Madan Mohan.

Songs
No.TitlePlaybackLength
1."Bhor Aai Gaya Andhiyara"Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Nirmala Devi, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Lakshmi Shankar9:29
2."Kahe Kanha Karat Barjori"Lakshmi Shankar3:53
3."Mast Pawan Dole Re"Lata Mangeshkar4:52
4."More Naina Bahayen Neer"Lata Mangeshkar5:03
5."Pahle Chori Phir Seenazori"Kumari Faiyaz4:09
6."Tum Bin Jeevan"Manna Dey5:33

Awards[edit]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1973 Rajesh Khanna BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) Won
1973 Paintal Filmfare Best Comedian Award Won

References[edit]

  1. Narayan, Hari. "The family as a microcosm of the nation".
  2. KOHLI, SURESH. "Bawarchi (1972)".
  3. Rammesh, Human Cinema: The Films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Chennai: Notion Press, 2018), 141-43. ISBN 164324955X and https://books.google.com/books?id=azlpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT141

External links[edit]