Mere Apne - Film August 12, 2009

Indian Cinema: Thematic Presentation - Mere Apne - Film. Directed by Gulzar. Cast : Meena Kumari, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna and others. Youth is the theme this month. Different generations of youth have been represented in Hindi cinema through varying style icons, the characters' dreams and fantasies, the situations they get entrammelled in, and the music, of course. However, these factors are not usually deeply probing of youth's real dilemmas. Mainstream narratives have essentially been closed-ended and non-realistic in nature. Some films though have periodically sought to give the theme central importance. Here are three shining examples from the last four decades, offering insight into contemporary issues.Mere Apne was Gulzar's debut film as director; he had already made his mark as lyricist and writer. The film focussed on the hard realities that youth face: unemployment, disillusionment with the educational and political systems, the ensuing frustration, disorientation and violence. Social pressures impinge on family relationships as does the urban-rural divide. Gulzar uses two narrative strands: an old widow (Meena Kumari) migrates to the city and gets conned. Two warring clans of unemployed youth (led by Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna) form part of her neighbourhood, and through her compassion and wisdom, she strives to bring them to reason. The satirical song, Haalchaal theek-thaak hai, sums up the mood of the youth. Anil Zankar, who has curated the series, will introduce the theme on the first day. Anil Zankar is a senior professor of film appreciation at the Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. He has also taught film direction at the FTII, Pune, for 15 years, and made 19 short films.

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