Time to get reel

I have just realised a major ambition of my long life. I have seen Khazanchi after 58 long years! I had thought this Pancholi picture from L...

I have just realised a major ambition of my long life. I have seen Khazanchi after 58 long years! I had thought this Pancholi picture from Lahore was gone when its studio was destroyed during the Partition riots. But, no. A copy still remains and it is showing on the small screen.

Also, I succeeded in procuring a few still pictures of it from Pune8217;s Film Institute. The payment I made for these pictures was nothing compared to the joy I received in return. I saw Khazanchi, made in 1940 by Pancholi Art Films, four times between 1942 and 1944. I then corresponded with its hero Narang and with its supporting female lead Manorama Erin Daniel, an Anglo-Indian who then lived with her father, a professor, at the M.E. College hostel in the Moghalpura area of Lahore. She sent me picture cards of her city8217;s historic monuments. Years later, in 1955, I met her and her family in Bombay, and we got to talking about the good old Lahore days and of the city8217;s cultural heritage.

The theme of Khazanchi was at once simple and true to life. The lead actors, M. Ismail, Mohammed Ajmal, Janki Dass and Durga Mota, looked as though they had been picked up straight from the streets and courtrooms. The heroine, Ramola, was a 8216;8216;plain Jane8217;8217;, so unlike today8217;s glamorous stars. Most of the scenes were shot outdoors. What was special about the cast was their abundant acting talent.

I have, in my file, an ad from Filmindia put in by Dalsukh Pancholi who called his picture 8216;8216;a manual of romance8217;8217;.

The film8217;s songs were the rage back then. 8216;8216;Saawan ke nazaare hain8217;8217;, 8216;8216;Ek, kali, naazon ki pali8217;8217; and 8216;8216;Naino ke baan8217;8217; echoed throughout British India 8212; from the Himalayan heights to the sands of Cape Comorin, from Baluchistan in the west to Burma in the east. That was the India of my boyhood; that was its length and breadth.

Khazanchi impressed me so much that I resolved to visit Pakistan just to see Lahore8217;s famous sites, its Shalimar Gardens and the Anarkali Bazaar. My plan has not yet materialised: I haven8217;t been granted even an eight-day visa despite my best efforts.

There is a silver lining to my story. Once in a blue moon, as I switch on my radio, I hear Khazanchi8217;s fading songs in 8216;8216;Purani filmon ke geet8217;8217;. The laughter of its heroine and hero and the mannerisms of the hated villain come alive on my mental screen. And I sink back into my early teens.