Kohraa

  This mid-1960s film had everything to redefine the horror genre in Hindi cinema but ended up being a glorious failure. Yet, with its scintillating music and interesting subtleties is worth a revisit. Before horror was taken over by the Ramsay Brothers in the early 1970s and transformed into a staple hash of evil restless spirits or bloodthirsty monsters, the genre produced many memorable films that have transcended not just time but also the genre itself. Even though rare and in between when compared to most mainstream genres, horror nonetheless followed the traditional tenets of popular Hindi films such as recognized actors and most importantly good music when it came to production values. Some of the genre defining films included Madhumati (1958) and Bees Saal Baad (1962) and while these two nearly defined the template for the ones that followed there was one could have joined the pantheon of the great ones but came achingly close and… failed. Following the success of Bees Saal Baad director Biren Nag got the same team to make his Rebecca inspired Kohraa (1964) and even though Daphne Du Maurier’s novel had already been filmed successfully by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940, the two and a half decade difference between the making of the two films allowed Nag to relook at the classic. The story was befittingly transposed to a secluded haveli in the middle of nowhere and featured a diminutive Rajeshwari or Raj (Waheeda Rehman) who marries an aristocrat Amit (Biswajeet) with a shadowy past where his first wife, Poonam, mysteriously drowned to her death. Raj finds it difficult to replace Poonam whose aura looms large thanks to Dai Maa (Lalita Pawar) maintaining Poonam’s room and personal effects as if she were still alive. Raj starts imagining that Poonam is playing mind games with her and ends up distancing herself from everyone including the servants, Dai Maa as well as Amit. The more Raj becomes intrigued by Poonam, the more Dai Maa urges her to become like pheli maalkin (the first wife), the more Amit despises her and when she dresses like Poonam to win over her husband, Raj ends up losing him forever. Amit had known about Poonam’s colorful past as well as her closeness to Kamal (Madan Puri) and tired of her ways had even decided to kill Poonam. Amit believes that he killed Poonam in a fit of rage but the real killer’s identity is known only to Ramesh (Tarun Bose), a drunkard, who has his own agenda and his revelation is the only thing that could save Amit from the gallows. Kohraa is today best recalled for Hemant Kumar’s excellent score that features classics such ‘Yeh nayan dare dare’ (Hemant Kumar), ‘Rah bani khud manzil’ (Hemant Kumar), ‘O beqarar dil’ (Lata Mangeshkar) and ‘Jhoom jhoom dhalti raat’ (Lata Mangeshkar) penned by Kaifi Azmi but there is something more in the film that makes it worth revisiting. The interesting thing about Kohraa eventually ended up becoming its undoing as the film’s narrative couldn’t decide whether it’s a whodunit or a supernatural thriller. In his book, 40 Retakes Avijit Ghosh makes an interesting observation about Kohraa by finding it a study in power relations in the garb of a murder-mystery. The manner in which it depicts servants and subordinates attaining power within a feudal aristocratic set-up makes Kohraa a unique treatise. Nag’s background as an Art Director on classics such as Pyasaa (1957) and Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) came in handy and Marshall Braganza’s fluid black and white cinematography visually enhanced the high contrast that are inherent in both the film’s art direction as well as narrative. The sequences where Amit and Raj meet for the first time at the edge of a cliff is an unlikely meet-cute (a ploy to make the protagonists meet) for Hindi cinema – she is considering ending his life and he is embarrassed to see that she might think he’s contemplating suicide – and the one where Amit is battling his conscience that urges him to accept the fact that he murdered Poonam are brilliantly photographed by Braganza. The languid pace of the film also works well for the subtle psychological nuances about relationships, second chances, domesticity, zamindari system and memories of the dead that somehow end up working into the viewer’s consciousness. Besides the music and the hidden subtleties, the look and feel of the film is mesmerizing and so is Waheeda Rehman’s portrayal of Rajeshwari that binds the entire film. There is no denying that Ms. Rehman is one our finest actors and when we think of her we immediately think of Pyasaa, Kagaz Ke Phool (1959), Teesri Kasam (1966) and, of course, Guide (1965) but once you see her here you just might update that list. Had the film not been a box-office failure perhaps it would have been cited more often and not lost to time. Even though by the time it ends Kohraa leaves more questions than answers and besides the fact it’s different from Rebecca, even somewhat of a let down for the lovers of the book, Kohraa’s foray into themes that are not purely horror makes it a trip worth taking. - Gautam Chintamani is the author of Dark Star: The Loneliness Of Being Rajesh Khanna (2014) and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak- The Film That Revived Hindi Cinema (2016) | Tweet him – http://www.twitter.com/gchintamani Images:

1. https://in.pinterest.com/pin/111041947035760023/
2. http-//downloadming.tv/uploads/Kohraa-1964-300x300.jpg
3. http://www.thehindu.com/migration_catalog/article15746398.ece/BINARY/01DFR-KOHRAAFILM

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