Like always, the first rains drew me to the window and the spectacle of the droplets, dancing with the breeze, made me sing in ecstasy. Thanking the magical power of the environment to lift my sagging spirits, I was drawn to the sight of a young couple sharing an umbrella on the road. I was arrested by the man’s tender concern for his lady, lest she be drenched in the heavy downpour. I almost called them inside but didn’t as it was their moment of bliss and reared on cinema, I was sure the rain would make the constricted sphere of the umbrella strengthen their bonds of affection.
It is no secret that if rains have crafted elation and sorrow in life, the swirling drops have also scripted some magnificent moments on celluloid. Of course, rain has evoked exquisite poetry and songs but its significant ‘role’ in many Hindi films has lent credibility and poignancy to the stories. And as no romance is ever complete without a rainy night, the magic of the pouring rain is still best remembered by the interactions of Bharat Bhushan and Madhubala in “Barsaat Ki Raat”. Igniting passion when they meet at a shelter to escape the fury of a storm, rain becomes the motif of their thirst as well as fulfilment. Through subtle flashbacks, P. L. Santoshi exhibited rain as an inspiration for love and poetry wherein the spontaneous twirling of the heroine into the hero’s embrace, after a thunderclap, is a visual highlight. In that shot, like Shakespeare did so often, Santoshi captured eternity in a frame and despite many imitations in later years; none could match the delicate grace of this film.
But one of the earliest films where rain seizes attention is the introductory scene of “Mahal” when the new owner comes in to his haunted mansion. Only a Kamal Amrohi could make the scene look weird and wonderful by the way he gradually lights up the scene, revealing Ashok Kumar’s countenance only when the chandelier is pulled up by a servant. The deliberate build up, alongside raging shower and blistering wind, is used by Amrohi to hold viewers by the scruff of the neck with none realising the tentacles had been tightened with Joseph Wirsching’s photography and Khemchand Prakash’s music.
A similarly inspired opening is the car breakdown scene of “Madhumati” wherein rain, playing a spoil sport, forces Dilip Kumar and Tarun Bose to take shelter in a hill top mansion. An integral element in this Bimal Roy classic, rain, is also a major ‘character’ in the climax of this breezy romantic thriller! In fact, the late arrival of Vyjayanthimala due to incessant rain is the master stroke of the writer Ritwik Ghatak since it stumps all conjectures of cine goers.
Another film where rain and thunderstorm propel the story forward is “Amar”, inciting Dilip Kumar into an exemplary anti-hero act of rape. Enhanced by brilliant lighting and camera work by Faredoon Irani, rain becomes the metaphor as well as fulcrum to convey the evil deed. You applaud Mehboob Khan’s genius as he uses rain, thunder and lightning to heighten the tension, hurtling the protagonist to his doom. But if Dilip is doomed as a sinner by the tentacles of rain, Dev Anand is resurrected as a saint in “Guide” by the torrential downpour that comes in the wake of his abstinence from food. Here rain is a providential blessing; if it quenches the earth from the scourge of drought, it also delivers the ordinary man with the supreme gift of ‘moksha’ (nirvana)! In fact, drought and rain outline the pain, quest, awakening and fulfilment of the protagonist, providing the movie with an aura of sublime greatness.
Frankly, good films always try to depict the emotional and physical conflicts of human relationships in conjunction with the rains. Gulzar’s “Ijaazat” had rain as a prominent catalyst in the accidental meeting of two former lovers at a rural railway station. Throughout the complex story, rain is a subtle reminder of the barriers that have arisen around them, denying their companionship its logical consummation and fulfilment. As a writer-director, Gulzar uses several delicate intermissions of rain to signify the multiple layers of their relationship that has been fractured due to their external and internal conflicts.
Police statistics reveal crime spurts in darkness and rainy nights provide the perfect foil for illicit activities. No surprise that directors like Raj Khosla, R. K. Nayyar and Yash Chopra used night time showers to telling effects in “Woh Kaun Thi”, “Ye Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke” and “Ittefaq”. If Khosla utilised rain as a backdrop for some spooky happenings, Nayyar and Chopra made rain an active participant in the activities of the assassins and even though scores of directors used the same tools, somehow they couldn’t produce the same results, proving ingenuity is the virtue of superior minds.
Misery is compounded by rain and millions in the Indian sub-continent are affected each year by the flow of flood waters. While not many producers have shown the ravages of floods in films, Mehboob Khan in “Mother India” and Raju Nawathe in “Sohni Mahiwal” shot the swirling rain waters to depict tragedy. While rain and flood waters set the tone of subsequent events in “Mother India”, they brought the shutters down upon the epic love story of “Sohni Mahiwal”. See the two films today and you realise nothing much has changed for farmers and lovers as they still suffer from apathy as well as hostility of the society.
If indeed life is a bubble of water, why not bask in rain as well as memories for the sake of good times!
