Learning English from movies – British and American
Another nationally liberal and lenient policy adopted by “Chacha” (Uncle) Nehru in his Fabianistic Socialistic fiefdom called Nehruvian India was to allow Indians to enjoy American and British movies regularly in cinema halls. Import of “phoren” celluloid prints remained unchecked in those Indian states, cities and towns where western lifestyles and modern sensibilities were more prominent and in vogue than in other parts.
Cosmopolitan Darjeeling District in the 1950s and ’60s was such an example of Indian diversity. Darjeelingtown, for example, had a fluid population of some 50,000 residents, and perhaps 10,000 of them were students from foreign lands – Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand and other countries – and from various diverse cities and regions of India itself. When I was at St Joseph’s College (North Point), I counted 13 nationalities of students and teachers there during our academic years. Even foreign Indians, only much later to be prominently called NRIs (non-resident Indians), were already studying in our college as a result of their parents being forced to leave General Ne Win’s Burma, Idi Amin Dada’s Uganda and other xenophobic countries.[break]
Therefore, obviously, foreign films were a regular feature of lifestyle in a variegated place like Darjeeling.
The town had two popular movie halls, both managed by the Avery family. One was the Capitol at the Darjeeling Municipality complex, and the other was the Rink. The two halls together screened six foreign films on average every week, and the daily schedule ran like this: Hindi films from 2 to 5 pm, foreign movies from 5:45 pm, and the 9 pm-midnight show again had Hindi films on cue.
British and American movies arrived in Darjeeling within three months of their release in Hollywood and London. We could watch six foreign movies every week, except the “A” Certificate or “For Adults Only” ones which we preteens were not allowed to enjoy. The tickets cost less than half a Rupee in the third class and Rs.1.40 guaranteed a First Class seat.
We of the young generation in Darjeeling hardly watched those three-hour “longer than life” (as defined by Shirley MacLaine) Hindi films except when blockbusters arrived in town. “Shree 420” (Raj Kapoor, Nargis), “Mother India” (Nargis, Sunil Dutt), “Taxi Driver” (Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman?), “Madhumati” (Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala), “Naya Daur” (Dilip, Nutan?), “Mughal-e-Azam (Dilip and Madhubala) were some of the Hindi hit movies of those years.
In Nehru’s otherwise confined India, it was the foreign movies which taught us many things about the world at large. We learnt about famous Hollywood, British and European actors and actresses, great directors, geographical locations, current styles in clothes and fashion fads, and so forth and so on. We also learnt to distinguish between various British English and American English accents and variants.
Many films were based on novels, and I watched many of them before I read the books. I saw Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones in “Farewell to Arms” before I knew about Ernest Hemingway’s epic novel on the First World War. So it was with John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” with Henry Fonda. TE Lawrence was portrayed by Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia” and was based on Lawrence’s “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” and directed by David Lean, with Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Quale, I.S. Johar and other international actors. Graham Greene’s many novels (“Our Man in Havana” etc) were turned into major movies. Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” and other thrilling whodunits, Boris Pasternak’s “Doctor Zhivago” with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, Thomas Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd,” and Alan Bates and Anthony Quinn in Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, “Zorba the Greek,” were other highlights of those times.
The list is rather long, from Pearl S Buck to Han Suyin, from Richard Mason and Alberto Moravia to Herman Hesse, from James Michener to James Jones, from Lev Tolstoy and Norman Mailer to James Agee, from Tennessee Williams to Eugene O’Neill and Harold Pinter to Arthur Miller.
This was how landmark films led me later to the iconic books on which they were based. For example, I read TE Lawrence’s “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” in Kathmandu. I borrowed the book from The British Council while I had already watched the film in Darjeeling years ago. Sometimes, I enjoyed various versions of the same work. I mentioned “The Prisoner of Zenda” above; I not only read the novel but also enjoyed its graphic version (comic) and finally watched the film based on it.
Learning English from Western Music
Pundit Nehru as India’s entrenched prime minister was also generous in allowing foreign travel-restricted Indians to enjoy imported western music, especially Pop, Rock n’ Roll, Jazz and other genres.
There was one gramophone and record company called His Master’s Voice, popularly known as HMV, with its manufacturing base in Dum Dum near Calcutta. HMV marketed such labels as Decca, Parlophone, Capitol and Mercury and their records in 78rpm, 45rpm (EP, extended play) and 33rpm LP (Long Playing) formats, the latter pressed on in High Fidelity (hi-fi) and Stereo soundtracks.
Both American and British sounds were available in these records with various accents, twangs and drawls, allowing us to imitate the Yankee and Redneck tones of Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, and Little Richards while the London lilts were provided by Cliff Richards, and the Liverpool British Invasion belting-outs and shouts were blared out by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five and Herman’s Hermits – not to talk about Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Grace Slick who burst onto the sonic scenes later on.
Musicals
Having public cinema halls screening both Hindi (sometimes Bengali too, and once Nepali) and western movies in Darjeelingtown brought many fancies to people of all walks of life. The social ethos of the two halls in town brought a sense of fairness and equality, in that people in general had access to what the films catered: Whether one could afford to live life depicted in them was one thing, but even the less fortunate could at least imagine such possibilities.
One such distinct genre was musicals.
The first docu-musical I remember seeing at the Rink was a live-show film of Bill Haley and the Comets through which we heard “Rock Around the Clock” and other White American Rock ‘n’ Roll hits being performed on stage. How a show can be mounted for public consumption was one idea the documentary provided.
Another movie was called “Because They Are Young” with Fabian and other American teenage idols, which was also notable for the appearance of Duane Eddy playing his guitar in his original Twang style.
Then came a series of movies with Elvis Presley, beginning with his “Jailhouse Rock,” followed by “GI Blues,” Blue Hawaii” and others, all replete with his hits. He was followed by Britain’s own Cliff Richards with such teen movies as “The Young Ones,” “Summer Holiday,” and “Expresso Bongo” which, too, had all the international hits by Cliff and his backup group called The Shadows. Norrie Paramor’s orchestral arrangements were other highlights in these British musical films.
The above film musicals were of popular tastes and were Pop extravaganzas. Film musicals of operatic high plateaus were the next arrivals.
One particular musical of such serious and classical ranges we saw in Darjeeling was the memorable American work of cinematic art: “Westside Story,” with Natalie Wood, George Chakaris, Rita Moreno, Richard Beymer, and Russ Tamblyn. Its music was provided by Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim while the dance choreography was created by Jerome Robbins. The work in its totality of youth culture is simply indescribable in this short space.
Likewise, there was yet another musical milestone on film. It was “The Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews in the title role and even a younger cast of characters, except Christopher Plummer. Its music was composed by Richard Rodgers and the songs were written by Oscar Hammerstein II. What more can be said of a musical film when many of its songs are considered “standards” today?
One musical that has still remained with me is “Black Orpheus,” or Orfeu Negro in Portuguese. It was largely a non-white work with Brazilian actors of brown skin and filmed against the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first time I knew something about a composer called Antônio Carlos Jobim, and a musical genre called Bossa Nova.
It all started with a musical called “South Pacific” but I must confess I was too young to appreciate such musical styles in films, including “Oklahama” and “Anne Get Your Gun” and the music-and-dance pirouettes of Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers in the previous decades.
Some films were memorable for embedded songs that became the unofficial theme and anthem of the said film. One was “Rio Bravo” wherein Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson sang “Purple Light” while the principal character played by John Wayne remained in the shade. Another movie was “Island in the Sun” where its actor, Harry Belafonte, left his evergreen theme song. Later, Bobby Darrin came with some iconic songs and tunes in the film “Come September” which had Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida and Sandra Dee.
Other musical movies to follow were “Porgy and Bess,” “Hair,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Godspell” and others. But, by the time they arrived in Darjeelingtown, I had also left town.
•••
In the meantime, the 1956-1966 decade described herein also had some local victories in Nepali songs being “borrowed” and plagiarized (going “viral” in today’s web lingo). One was an old Darjeeling Hills folksong called “Kanchhale Kanchhilai lagyo, banko bato laltinai balera” and it found a dance passage in the blockbuster film called “Madhumati,” starred by Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala. The other was Amber Gurung’s “E Kanchha, malai sunko tara khasai deu na” sung to glory by Aruna Lama and Rudra Mani Gurung, which was conveniently “copied” by Rahul Dev (RD) “Pancham” Burman for a super hit song called (you know what!)
To be concluded next week.
The writer is Copy Chief at The Week/Republica.
pjkarthak@gmail.com
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