Page 43 - Seniors Today - Oct 2019

As she tells the nurse their addresses, the
viewer is introduced to each of them—Subodh
Sanyal (Malayalee actor Madhu) is a football
referee in Calcutta, and witnesses a riot after
a game. Joginder (Utpal Dutt) is a farmer in
Punjab, with Dina Pathak as his wife, who is
aghast that his beloved state has been divided
again and Haryana carved out of it.
In Madras is a Dalit called Mahadevan
(Irshad Ali), who is caught up in the anti-Hindi
campaign, while in Banaras, Ram Bhagat
Sharma (Anwar Ali—Mehmood’s brother) is
agitating against English, and in Ranchi, the The characters are trained in warfare and sent to Goa
Urdu poet Anwar Ali (Bachchan) faces violent
anti-Urdu protestors. Lastly, is a Maharashtrian
Sakharam Shinde (Jalal Agha—actor Agha’s
son), who acts and sings in a local theatre group,
while the state deals with border disputes with
Karnataka. (Interestingly, Abbas did not make
the actors play characters from their own states.
There is strife and unrest everywhere, as
Maria flashes back to Goa, which was still
under Portuguese rule and a struggle was on to
liberate it (which happened in December 1961).
The actors play volunteers who help the Goan locals
The Portuguese are carrying on propaganda
to convince Goans that Indians do not care is to attack seven Portuguese police posts in
about them, so it is decided to send a group of Goa and hoist the Indian flag (that they are
volunteers into Goa and help the locals in their all carrying) over them to prove the might of
fight for independence. India. The film is about how the seven overcome
Six men are picked, trained in warfare, and obstacles in their way (including torture by the
sent to infiltrate Goa. After throwing a spy off Portuguese cops), as well as differences amidst
the train—which disturbs Anwar and convinces themselves.
the others that he is not tough enough—the The film, obviously inspired by the Japanese
warriors reach Goa and are joined by a young classic, Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa -
woman, Maria. 1954) and Hollywood’s cowboy remake The
The mission assigned to the Saat Hindustani Magnificent Seven (John Sturges - 1960), added
large doses of patriotism, and songs to retell
the classic story of outsiders coming in to help
the local populace. Abbas, always a writer and
filmmaker who wanted his films to convey a
social message, made his point about patriotism
and national unity, even though the film, seen
now, seems shockingly amateurish. It is worth
seeing, however, to see how little has changed
in India in the interim half-century, and, to a
much lesser extent, spot the beginning of several
successful careers – the biggest, of course, being
that of Amitabh Bachchan.
The film starred stalwarts of cinema and theatre

SENIORS TODAY | Volume 1 | Issue 4
43