Gunga Jumna (1961)

गंगा जमना

Some movies, I find, do not translate very well.  Gunga Jumna was a massive hit in India - but it left me somewhat cold. 

Ganga and Jumna are brothers living a hardscrabble village life.  Ganga spends his days working with his mother as a servant in the home of the zamindar's obnoxious family, while Jumna, a promising student, focuses on his schoolwork.  After their mother passes, Ganga pledges himself to supporting his younger brother as they grow to adulthood.  The adult Ganga (Dilip Kumar) is a spirited and hardworking fellow, unafraid to take on the zamindar when necessary, while his brother Jumna (Nasir Khan) is more measured and cautious.  Ganga sends Jumna to the city to study, and supports him with funds that he earns driving an oxcart and making deliveries for the zamindar.  But things get complicated when Ganga saves a local girl, Dhanno (Vyjayanthimala), from the zamindar's lecherous assault.  The zamindar (Anwar Hussain) gets his revenge by trumping up a robbery charge against Ganga, landing him in prison.  Upon his release, Ganga learns that his brother has become destitute, and attacks and robs the zamindar in a rage.  Soon Ganga finds himself an outlaw, and, with Dhanno at his side, he joins a gang of bandits camping out in the wilderness.  In the meantime, Jumna meets a fatherly police officer (Nasir Hussain) and becomes a police officer himself.  It isn't long before Jumna's professional wanderings take him back to the village of his birth, where he must square off against his outlaw brother, in a showdown between duty and family.

With its tale of brothers on opposite sides of the law, Gunga Jumna perhaps resonated with the house divided that was India in the years following independence and partition.  There's an allegory in the divergent personalities and approaches to life of the two brothers.  The social message is hinted by the brothers' names - they are named for the Ganges and Jamuna rivers, the mythological and geographical axes of India, the junction of which has a rich symbolism in Indian tradition and culture.  The suggestion may be that the nation's vitality springs from the juncture of the fiery passion of Ganga and the steady, duty-bound earnestness of Jumna. 

For me, though, the film's symbolic content was obscured by the fact that it was just a chore to watch. There were times when I was tempted to fast-forward through some excruciatingly slow, yet utterly predictable, sequences.  And the characterizations were too indelicate; Ganga is an unthinking idiot - he reacts to offense like a three-year-old, except that he's violent and anti-social - and Jumna is a feelingless android.  The result was that I didn't terribly care what happened to either of them, and couldn't get caught up in the allegory either.

Gunga Jumna does have its qualities.  There is enough substance to the story to make it compelling at times.  Dilip Kumar's performance is quite good, despite a lot of shouting - it is not his fault that his character is obnoxious.  Vyjayantimala's performance is outstanding - only during her emotional scenes did I feel any stirring within myself.  And the music is stellar.  A highlight in that department is a mujra by Helen - I've only ever seen her perform this kind of dance once before, and she's great at it. 

Helen:

(Gunga Jumna is available for download at Jaman.com.)

Comments

[Smithie09]

I absolutely adore this film. I think I gave it a five on Jaman, though that's a bit excessive. (I always get carried away with films right after I watch them and exaggerate both their good and bad qualities.) I should probably go change it to a four...

ANYWAYS, back to the movie. Your statement "Vyjayantimala's performance is outstanding" is pretty much spot on. I love her so much...she's my Shabana. ;) She put a lot of oomph and emotion into this film, I think its one of her best roles. As far as Ganga and Jamna go, yes they were exaggerated and a tad annoying at times, but one element that I thought was very important (and compelling) was what made them that way. They weren't simply born as polar opposites, circumstances caused them to grow apart and prevented them from moving back together. I love character movies; this one was right up my alley.

[maxqnz]

Generally your tastes and mine are similar in Hindi films, it seems carla, except for your higher tolerance of artsy dreariness. :-)

Given that, if you were "tempted" to FF through bits you found excruciatingly slow, I'm sure I would give in to that temptation. I can't see an FF button on my Jaman player though. Where is it? In the meantime, I will continue watching Aag.

[carla]

maxqnz: There is a fast forward button in the Jaman player - it's right where it should be next to the play button (when you are watching in window mode rather than full-screen mode). The Jaman player has the nice feature that it continues to show subtitles even when in fast-forward mode, so if you are ever in a hurry to get through a scene but don't want to miss anything ...

Smithie: I chose this film because of the superlative recommendations of others, and so I was surprised that I didn't enjoy it. I always feel a little bad writing negative comments about a film that others cherish, so I am glad you left your comments here to offset mine.

[Amit]

The FF button on jaman only fast forwards at 2x the speed, unfortunately, and not any more faster.

"With its tale of brothers on opposite sides of the law, Gunga Jumna perhaps resonated with the house divided that was India in the years following independence and partition. ... "

Not sure if this allegory is that evident or what you mean by "house divided." If you mean India and Pakistan, then that allegory was lost on me. I saw it more as a statement on the social situation in a village, and how an honest person can be forced due to circumstances (mixed with his own hot-headedness) to break the law.

-Amit

[carla]

Truth is I was too bored and irritated with this movie to think carefully about what it meant, so my own choice of words may not be terribly apt.

Having said that, though the story certainly addresses what you say it's nevertheless still a story about brothers, and brothers names Ganga and Jumna. There is evidently some point being made about internecine conflict as well.

Gunga aur Jumna is one of the best movie that indian cinema has ever produced. However, I think its name should be "Gunga, Jumna and Dhanno." It is because her role was as crucial to the film as the roles of others.

Zia Hasham

[carla]

Thank you for the comments, Zia - and while I don't quite agree about the overall quality of the film I do agree about Dhanno. She was absolutely essential to the story, and Vyjayanthimala's performance was the strongest in the film.

[Amer]

Best film with the greatest star, Dilip Kumar period.