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Pebruary^ 1941
PILMINDIA
JAIRAM— THE FOREIGNER'S TOOL
Omkar next addresses the villagers and with the help of Jairam a local sponger, he is on the point of obtaining their consent for the sale of the village lands, but Gokul ignites the opposition which is later on taken by Mirza and Thakur.
While opposing the demands of Omkar, Thakur bursts out into one of the best emotional perorations ever heard on the screen and tells the capitalist what exactly a village means to the villagers. He concludes on a high note, "This is not merely a piece of land. This land is our mother. I have heard instances of starving mothers selling their sons. But never have I heard of a son selling his mother. And if there is such a cursed man among us who says that give me money and I am prepared to auction my mother, let him come out and say so."
This decides the villagers who refuse to sell their lands and Omkar leaves the place in a fury .... After this Shantaram makes rather a crude attempt to show the storm of indignation in Omkar by giving us one of those short-lived, thinking, and made-to-order storms which we are expected to take as symbolisms of the storms within the players. This is at best a clumsy sequence and does not add to the great reputation of the director.
DIVIDE AND RULE
Next day in keepmg with the divide and rule traditions of those in power Omkar dismisses Thakur from his job. For a moment Thakur looks at Mirza with an unexpressed wish that Mirza should follow him. But just then Mirza's vacillating thoughts are suppressed by a stern order by Omkar to resume work, The stern voice of the master nips the budding revolt in Mirza, but as Thakur walks away disconsolate Mirza runs up to him and says "Listen Brother, we have been neighbours through life. Even if you lose work we shall still be neighbours. Even if I work alone we can still share the bread together." But Thakur's senses are benumbed with the shork of losing his job.
And here comes the subtle Shantaram touch in bringing Jairam, the sponger, on the spot and whispering to Thakur, "Oh, now I understand why Mirza had come to see Omkar yesterday."
Like a poison the words corrode the heart of the struggling Thakur and he gives one disdainful look at Mirza going down to work. This particular camera shot taken from an elevation has a psychological importance in showing Mirza not only going down the steps but also going down in the estimation of Thakur.
THE POISON WORKS
The story now comes back to its old setting of the homes and we find Thakur sitting under one tree and Mirza under another. Between their hearts has now come an invisible wall of suspicion. Thakur thinks — due to the poison drops of Jairam — that Mirza had manoeuvred his dismissal. And Mirza though desirous of taking a more broader view of the whole affair is still silenced into submission to the suspicious mood of his friend and meets Thakur's militant silence with
'No, Brother, I shall not leave you again," says Mirza, "We shall now be neighbours through eternity." The final climax between Jagirdar and Mazhar Khan in "Padosi" a Prabhat picture.
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