GRIHA PRAVESH (1979): A Movie that Highlighted Marital Decay in Urban India

A Critical movie Directed by Basu Bhattacharya on Marital Decay as a Reason for Breaking Families

Griha Pravesh is a 1979 Hindi movie directed by Basu Bhattacharya, highlighting the plight of contemporary urban nuclear families, which often begin to struggle once the monotony of husband wife relationship and its consequent indifferences take hold. Devoid of the strength of bonds that could hold a couple together in a joint family in a conservative rural society, urban nuclear families face a decay that they must overcome with proactive efforts, and when such efforts are not there, even the great Indian family may fell apart.

The movie, which was third in a series of movies made by the Basu Bhattacharya and his team, was in many ways ahead of its time. The message in it was somewhat similar to the first two, ANUBHAV (1971) and AVISHKAR (1973), and so was the cast, with Sanjeev Kumar pairing Tanuja in the first of them and Sharmila Tagore joining Rajesh Khanna in the second. GIRHA PRAVESH saw a return of Sanjeev Kumar, with Sharmila Tagore in one of her last appearances as the leading lady in a Bollywood movie. The development of this movie by Basu Bhattacharya and Gulzar tells us something that Indian society was not ready to listen back in 1979. Ironically, its message is even more relevant today!

GRIHA PRAVESH (1979) was directed by Basu Bhattacharya, but also involved Gulzar is also seen in this scene from the movie, where he is his original self trying to explain a song, and by it the theme of this movie.

Families are the glue that hold our society together. It is true that it is our modern social institutions of market and state that have helped create the luxuries which we enjoy today in daily life. One of them maximizes our economic welfare, while the other sustains our individual political rights and empowerment. However, neither of them facilitates the core social bonds on which our civilizations were sustained and survived for several thousand years. On the contrary, by substituting the needs of a family with individual empowerment and market driven gratifications, modern urban life can significantly weaken the strength and significance of family bonds.

Back in seventies, the marital decay was still beginning to unfold, which makes this movie and the sophistication and nuances with which it approaches the subject nothing less than fascinating. Unfortunately, its subject was one which was considered taboo in those times, and so none of these movies, though appreciated by critics for their artistic valuation, could achieve the traction that was required to generate an open and broad discussion within its audience.

The Plot

The movie begins with two couples, Amar (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mansi (Sharmila Tagore), and Shashi (Dinesh Thakur) and Geeta (Priya Darshini) who are neighbors. While Shashi and his wife are planning to go to Kashmir for their honeymoon, Amar does not think they need it, as unlike Shashi and Geeta, theirs is not a love marriage. Instead they plan to save money to buy a flat first. Time goes by and they become parents of a son, Babla (Master Bittoo) who is now eight years old. They have saved some money, but it is still a bit short for what they need to buy a flat in Mumbai. Amar works as an Accounting Officer, while Mansi is a typical urban house wife. Their life is stable and uneventful, and they are blissfully unaware of the storm that is about to enter their lives.

A young and beautiful typist, Sapna (Sarika) is recruited in Amar’s office. She is a good worker, but her charming beauty, confident approach and modern attire becomes a distraction for her co-workers with negative consequences on their performance, which makes the Boss shift her to Amar’s cabin. Sapna, who is used to garner attention, is offended by Amar’s indifference to him and takes it as a challenge to dismantle it, but also begins to like him for his non flirtatious attitude and sincere, reliable personality.

Amar is initially irritated by her advances, and scolds her reminding of their age differences, but Sapna maturely and confidently perseveres. Gradually they become friendly, and Amar is also attracted towards her. Before he realizes, they are dating and having an affair. While he is not so sure, Sapna is sure of what she wants. She asks him to leave Mansi, and though he is torn between her family and her new love, he makes up his mind, and tells Mansi about it. Mansi is shattered, but then accepts the reality. However, she wants to meet Sapna, and invites her. In their brief meeting, a lot is silently communicated between the three of them, and that is what makes the movie a work of a great Director.

Like all great directors, Basu Bhattacharya also knew how impotent words can be in communication between individuals who understand each other emotionally. The climax of the movie does not use any words, and yet so much is said and understood in those few minutes, that it must be shown to every directorial aspirant in Bollywood. All three leading actors have done justice to themselves, as is the case with music composed by Kanu Roy, one of the most underrated composers of Bollywood.

Marital Decay: A Topic Pushed Under the Carpet

The trilogy of Anubhav, Avishkar and Girha Pravesh explores the marital world of urban couples, whose marriage has begun to stagnate, and who are gradually becoming so indifferent to their relationship, that it almost begins to disappear. What Basu Bhattacharya has not done is to compare it with a joint family, or a larger family, where the presence of more members create a network of bonds that is able to support and give strength to the husband wife relationship. Another reason, why joint families strengthen the bond of a married couple, is by creating a competition and struggle between different units of the larger family, which in turn unites the couple and reinforces their relationship. Perhaps, the joint family also helps the marital bond by ensuring on one hand that neither party gets the independence to enter into an adventure with a third party, and on the other hand, also strains the quality time the couple can get for themselves, thereby creating a scarcity that helps in maintaining the premium on their relationship.

In urban Indian settings, fortunately and unfortunately, there are few joint families, and the average family size has been consistently going down, in the process approaching single member families.  These changes are not peculiar to India and are seen world over, but then they are of added significance to the Indian setting because in India, the family still continues to be more important than the individual, although with changing times, brutal individualism is about to take over, as it has almost everywhere else in the world.

This is what makes marital decay of ageing couples in the urban nuclear families a serious matter. Of course, most of the couples are able to walk together the rest of their life in the absence of viable alternatives. Mostly, it is dedication to their kids that continues to preserve most marriages. Yet, marital decay is a rising problem that every couple faces, yet which does not recognized as an issue. In the seventies, Indians were not ready to talk about it, and though they recognized and identified with the problem, the discomfort of their conservatism pushed it under the carpet. However, four decades later, with the society having shed most of those inhibitions, there is a need to talk about it and help people find their own best solutions to deal with it.

Epilogue

There is a view that more things change, the more they remain the same. The same can be said about development and modernization. We replace one aspect of our life with another and it looks great to begin with, till we begin to realize what we have lost. The traditional marital bond is one such priceless asset that we have in the Indian society. We must learn how to maintain it and prevent it from decaying with time. Over the ages, Indians have been the most successful people in the world in doing that. Today, we may not be in a position to do what our ancestors did, but surely, there would be other ways to preserving the bond that keeps a married couple together for life.