Sarkaar bidhwaa banaawale
Posted on: November 8, 2023
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
|
Blog Day : |
5591 | Post No. : | 18065 | Movie Count : |
4911 |
Azamgarh district lies in the Purvanchal part of Uttar Pradesh (UP) which is identified by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as one of the 34 backward districts of UP. In the absence of medium and large industries in the district, the main source of income for the inhabitants is from the agricultural and allied activities. So, the size of the landholdings becomes a crucial part in generating income for the landowners. With the divisions in the large-sized joint families, most of the landholdings have got fragmented. Hence, there is motivation for those who continue to stay in the district to augment their landholdings, if necessary, by dubious ways, especially from the close relatives who have migrated to cities and have become the absentee landowners. One of the dubious ways of grabbing the land is to bribe the district revenue officials to declare the absentee landowners dead and grab their lands.
There is a true case of Lal Bihari, a farmer of Amilo village of Azamgarh district who was officially declared ‘dead’ in 1975 in the government records and remained ‘dead’ until it was rescinded in 1994. He came to know this only while applying for a bank loan for which, he visited the District Revenue Office to get a proof of land holding. His uncle had bribed the official to declare him dead to get his landholding of less than one acre to his name. He had to fight with the bureaucratic red tapes for years. During this period, he added ‘Mritak’ to his name to highlight the problems of hundreds of persons who are alive but have been declared ‘dead’ for the same reason. He also formed a association of such ‘dead’ persons and unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 just to prove that he was alive. His case has been extensively reported in Indian newspapers. Even TIME magazine covered the news. Finally, in 1994, Lal Bihari got his ‘life’ back from the Government and land back from his uncle. However, he was magnanimous in giving the land back to his uncle who begged him for forgiveness.
Based on Lal Bihari’s case, Satish Kaushik wrote the story for the film ‘Kaagaz’ (2021) which was produced and directed by him with Salman Khan joining as joint producer. The cast included Pankaj Tripathi and Monal Gajjar in the lead roles supported by Mita Vashisht, Amar Upadhyay, Brijendra Kala, Neha Chauhan, Vijay Kumar, Satish Kaushik, Sandeepa Dhar etc. The film’s major shooting was done in Kanduni village in Sitapur district of UP. There were locals who acted in the film in smaller roles. Due to Covid Pandemic, the film was premiered on 07/01/2021 on the OTT platform. Thereafter, it was to be released in a few theatres. However, due to second wave of Covid, the film did not get the full-fledged theatrical release.
The film’s story has, more or less, followed the sequences of the real story of Lal Bihari with some dramatisation of associated characters. The biographical film has been presented as a satire on the bureaucratic system. The story of the film is as under:
The story of the film begins around 1975 when Bharat Lal (Pankaj Tripathi) who runs a musical band, wants to upgrade his professional needs for which he seeks the bank loan. For this purpose, he requires to give a collateral of his one acre of land to bank. Bharat Lal visits the district office to get a certificate of his land holding. However, the official tells him that on office records, Bharat Lal has been dead for a decade and the ownership of his land has been transferred to his uncle. Surely, the official recognises Bharat Lal as he was his classmate, but he is helpless as according to him, Government paper (Kaagaz) does not lie. Obviously, a decade ago, his uncle has bribed the revenue official to make him dead on Government records.
For Bharat Lal, more than the bank loan and the ownership of his land holding, his immediate concern is how to prove himself not dead but alive.
Even after taking all remedial actions including writing letters to DM, Police and the local MLA (Mitha Vashisht), Bharat Lal has not been able to change the Government record of he being alive. He is so frustrated that he feels that in India, more than Prime Minister, it is the official of the District Revenue Office who is the most powerful person.
Sadhuram (Satish Kaushik), a lawyer takes pity on Bharat Lal and tried to help him. He suggests that his wife, Rukhmini (Monal Gajjar) claims pension for widow as per the Government scheme. By claiming widow pension, the government officials will be forced to correct the record of her husband, Bharat Lal from dead to alive. But when Rukhmini goes to the district revenue office to claim the pension, she is driven away by saying that she is not a widow as she has mangalsutra in her neck and she had put vermilion on her forehead. The official can see her husband, Bharat Lal standing outside. Rukhmini feels so insulted by the treatment she received from the revenue official that she leaves Bharat Lal alone and shift to her maternal uncle’s place with her two children.
Bharat Lal takes this challenge as a matter of principal more than reclaiming his land from the uncle. Just to invite attention, he arranges his own mock funeral. He sets up an association of persons all over from India called ‘All India Mritak Sangh’ who has been declared dead on Government records, but they are alive. His movement gets attention from the media. He even unsuccessfully contests Lok Sabha election against Rajiv Gandhi because the acceptance of his nomination as a contestant itself is a proof that he is alive. He goes to visitors’ gallery of UP Legislative Assembly and drops leaflets for justice to those who have been declared dead on government records but are still alive. He is reprimanded for his act. Still, the red tapes in bureaucracy refuse to budge.
It is once again the lawyer, Sadhuram who brings a good news to Bharat Lal who was leading a huge procession, breaking the barricades and entering the record room of the district revenue office to get hold of his land holding file. The good news is that the Chief Minister has issued an ordinance declaring Bharat Lal alive and ordering the deletion of his death from the Government record. The film ends with reel hero, Bharat Lal (Pankaj Tripathi) travelling with the real hero, Lal Bihari on their cycles to his village.
The film has to be watched for the excellent performances of Pankaj Tripathi and Monal Gajjar. The serious issue has been well presented as a satire on the system of bureaucracy. The entire film gives the audience a feel of the real rural setting. This was the last film directed by Satish Kaushik but unfortunately not his best. Probably, he may have been too tied up as a producer and actor, besides as a narrator in the film.
The film has 6 songs (excluding a reprise song) of which only 4 songs have been released on the album a the time of the release of the film. The songs have been written by 5 lyricists which have been composed by 3 music directors. I am presenting the first song from the film which is written in Bhojpuri dialect by Lal Bihari ‘Mritak’ and set to music by Pravesh Mallick. The song is ‘sarkaar bidhawa banaawele’ which is rendered by Sharda Sinha.
The song is picturised as a background song when Rukhmini (Monal Gajjar) is advised by the lawyer (Satish Kaushik) to claim widow pension against her own wish. Sharda Sinha’s poignant rendition of the song makes one feel as to how Rukhmini has been put into a piquant situation when her husband is alive but she has to claim the widow pension just to make the bureaucratic system to realise their folly.
Sharda Sinha is a well-known folk singer in Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili and Hindi. She has been conferred with Padma Bhushan and she is often called as ‘Bihar Kokila’. It is said that no Chhath Pooja is complete without the rendition of Sharda Sinha’s folk songs on Chhath Pooja day.
Incidentally, Sharda Sinha also faced bureaucratic red tapes after her retirement as a music teacher from Lalit Narayan Mithila University in 2017. Her pension remained unreleased. The Patna High Court has recently ordered the immediate release of her pension amount.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Sarkaar bidhwaa banaawale (Kaaagaz)(2021) Singer- Sharda Sinha, Lyrics-Lalbihari Mritak, MD-Pravesh Mallick
Sharda Sinha + Chorus
Lyrics (based on audio clip)
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
zinda re sakhiyaan
ki zinda re sakhiyaan…
zinda re sakhiyaaan
ki zinda re sakhiyaan
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaari abhilekh mein mritak dikhaawale
sarkaari abhilekh mein mritak dikhaawale
jiyat pati ke morey murda banaawale
jiyat pati ke morey murda banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
Bharat Laal Mritak sang shikaai le
Bharat Laal Mritak sang shikaai le
kaaryalay nyaaylay mein
khoob daudaawale
kaaryalay nyaaylay mein
khoob daudawale
ke pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
zinda re sakhiyaan
ki zinda re sakhiyaan
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
sarkaar bidhawa banaawale
ki pati morey zinda re sakhiyaan
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 9, 2023 at 6:55 pm
Thanks for introducing me for this film and its song….
LikeLike