Playing House-House. Review on Gharonda

1970s Mumbai. Huge influx of settlers from all across the country into the land of dreams. Increasing demand for housing. Reclamation of land. Builder-politician nexus. Rising real estate rates. Lack of a developed home loan market.

In such a situation, buying a house was the most stressful aspect of life. Young couples used to plan their marriages only after there was some provision of a suitable accommodation in place.

Bhimsain’s “Gharonda” (1977) very poignantly explores the lives of one such couple. Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab both belong to the middle class and work in the same office. They plan to get married as soon as they have a house made for themselves. In this process, they save every penny to build a corpus for buying a house. They go house hunting looking for an abode which will suit their budgets. After finally investing in one, they are all excited about their future. After a few months, the builder who is constructing their building runs into financial difficulties and commits suicide. The building project is abandoned and all the money of investors is down the drain. The couple is shocked and does not know how to react. They just cannot imagine having to start once again from scratch.

In the meantime, the owner of their firm Shreeram Lagoo, starts taking an interest in Zarina and eventually proposes to her. Lagoo is a rich, ageing widower who is also a heart patient. Zarina is aghast at the proposal but Amol sees a big opportunity in this. He tells her that since Lagoo is a heart patient, he is expected to die within a few months. After that, they can get married and their problems of house and wealth would be solved for ever. Zarina is disillusioned with Amol for even suggesting such a thing and with a lot of reluctance accepts Lagoo’s proposal.

Lagoo and Zarina’s married life starts awkwardly but soon Zarina takes on the role of a dutiful wife. Amol keeps visiting her on some pretext and also to check on Lagoo’s health. He is dismayed to find Lagoo in the pink of health. Lagoo infact after marriage cheers up and this has a positive effect on his physical condition. Zarina rebukes Amol about his constant visits and Amol feels like he’s lost the gamble. Eventually, they have a confrontation which is overheard by Lagoo. He gets a heart attack – an event which once again stirs hope in Amol’s heart. But Zarina very patiently nurses Lagoo back to health and Amol finally decides to go his own way.

The direction is quite sensitive in portraying all the three principal characters – the scheming Amol who is at his wits end, the disillusioned Zarina who sees a thankless situation in both cases and Lagoo, who gets a new lease of life after meeting Zarina. The performances are flawless. The music is very unconventional with music director Jaidev and lyrics writer Gulzar giving out the delightful “Do deewane sheher mein” (Bhupinder and Runa Laila), the bleak “Ek akela is sheher mein” (Bhupinder) which is an antithesis of the first song, as well as the matter-of-fact “Tumhe ho na ho, mujhko to itna yakeen hai”(Runa Laila).

The state of the real estate market may have been a base for this story – but then it takes a life of its own and the overall treatment makes for delightful and interesting viewing.