Raj Kapoor and Shailendra.. Birth Anniversary and Death Anniversary..The Irony

Today is the Birth Anniversary of Raj Kapoor. He would have been 98 today.

Ironically it is the Death Anniversary of Shailendra Ji

who has penned Lyrics for many R.K.Films and also made the doomed film Teesri Kasam in 1966.

Teesri Kasam has been analysed by Mona Chaudhary and Katyayni Jha Thakur  last year and I won't go in to the details but will share excerpts of my comment on this

This is a classic which was discussed earlier but can be discussed again and again.

Basu Bhattacharya had made all off beat classics irrespective of their BO performance.

1966

Teesri Kasam is also arguably Basu Bhattacharya’s best (Though it has been put on record that most of the direction was done by his first assistant B.R.Ishara).

The rhythm of the film is lyrical and ever so gentle and rarely has rural ethos been captured so beautifully on the Indian screen. The film, refraining from conventional drama, flows like the song  in the film (Duniya Bananewale) – beautiful, eternal and moving. Though Basu Bhattacharya went on to make some significant films as part of the parallel cinema movement in India in the 1970s and 1980s – Anubhav (1971), Aavishkar (1973) and Grihapravesh (1980) to name some, they never really matched his work in Teesri Kasam.

Coming to the content..

You have beautifully penned the movie..

The blossoming of the bond between Hiraman (Raj Kapoor) and Hirabai ( Waheeda ji) is warm, wistful and charming and is extremely delicately handled. What draws the nautanki dancer to the rustic cart driver is his simple philosophy of life and his natural aesthetic sense which he expresses through his moving songs. Only as the final parting appears imminent, does the intensity strike.

While Teesri Kasam might just have been a tale of another doomed love story, the social status of its protagonists, and its melancholic tone, added layers to the film’s texture.

In the climactic sequence, as Hirabai’s train departs and the parting becomes real, Hasrat Jaipuri’s words float over images of separation — “Sapne jagaa ke tune kahe ko de di judaai, Kahe ko duniya banaayi…”

Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman literally live their roles in the film. Though much, much too old for the role, Raj Kapoor more than compensates with his performance as the naive country bumpkin. One cannot help but smile with him each time he blushes and goes ‘iss’ or be moved emotionally looking at the hurt on his face as Hirabai bids him farewell. Waheeda Rehman responds with perhaps the best performance of her career even considering her films with Guru Dutt.

The Year 1966 has 2 films with the Prefix Teesri..

Teesri Kasam

Teesri Manzil

And as fate would have it the latter was a blockbuster and the former an unfortunate failure.

Teesri Kasam, in spite of its box-office failure, went on to win the President’s Gold Medal  (National Award) as the Best Feature Film of 1966.

However the film had taken its toll on Shailendra and he passed away, a broken man, on December 14, 1966 on good friend Raj Kapoor’s birthday at an age of just 43.

🙏