A SAINT OR A SINNER?. Review on Meera - Bollywood

THE magnum opus by gulzar is a very underrated movie as it was a critical acclaim but commercial flop when released in 1979, it is historically accurate and the making was immaculate too, but our audiences want massala and that was absent,hema malini was devoid of her nakhras, wigs and elborate sarees or dancing, especially post -sanyasi, so it was rejected but it remains gulzars best effort and the only historical movie he has ever made .

Unfortunately the only 2 historical movies which are accurate like meera were flops too, like shatranj ke khilari and jahan ara.

It was a movie based on the real life of meera, the rajput princess who was in love with a god and this was not traditional as such she was found guilty and punished for being in love, even when the love was neither human nor physical but merely spiritual and metaphorical, the account of the trial is one of the most creative moments in indian cinema, as well as the very subtle ending which has never been seen  in hindi cinema before or after.

The cast is headed by hema as meera andvidya sinha as her cousin who is pledged to marry the neighbourly prince rana [vinod khanna ]but as circumstances have it she has to sacrifice herself and meera takes her place as the bride although she has vowed herself to the lord god krishna for eternity.

The drama unfolds in a very natural manner without any hysterics or melodrama till meera is banished from the palace and takes to the road barefoot with an ektara and in a simple white saree which then gives inspiration to her to create her immortal bhajans or spiritual poems as an offerring to her lord which will live forever in human memory .

The rest of the cast includes amjad khan in a stellar role as akbar the great and shreeram lagu as meeras uncle, the backdrop of the wars and politics between mughals and rajputs is brilliantly captured by gulzar without intervening with the main theme of meeras astonishing devotion to a god .

The fact is meera was hemas best role ever but as her songs were dubbed by vani jayaram , instead of lata mangeshkar, so  the brilliant musical score bypandit ravi shankar did not find favour with the masses, as hemas voice was synonymous with latas voice, but it takes nothing away from vanis great rendition of meeras bhajans

* mere to giri dhar gopal dusro na koi

and the colorful yet simple

main to tere rang rachi

and the absolutely ravishing but simple choreography where hema sings and sways to the rhythm of the ektara is  memorable itself, but since it didnt work at the box -office, it has been relegated to the archives of the quality movies which never get seen again .

Its a pity as this deserves to be seen and cherished as one of the only accurate historical epics ever made by bollywood, but then you have to have a different audience to appreciate the truth portrayed in a tasteful and artistic manner, and its difficult to find that from an audience fed on spaghetti westerns like sholay and spoofs like dharamveer, which create history at the box office .

Anyway its a great achievement from gulzars artistic mind and pen and hopefully will one day find its true pedestal .

AMEN

thanks for reading .

it was nominated for filmfare as well as national awards in 1980