Talking to his son Pariskhit, Karan Bhardwaj discovered that legendary actor Balraj Sahni empathised with others’ plight on and off screen
The eighth edition of Habitat Film Festival took off on Saturday, with a tributary retrospective of legendary actor Balraj Sahni. The late actor, best remembered for Do Bigha Zameen, would have turned 100 this year. A discussion about his work, including films and writing, saw the participation of his family, namely his son Parikshit Sahni and niece Kalpana Sahni. In addition to the screening of the film, Pavitra Papi (1970).
“He was an honest, humble man. Hard working and always concerned about the family,” Parikshit said before the show. The actor, who did not receive any famous award for his memorable performances, apparently believed in family values. “He was a second father. He loved his brother (Bhisham Sahni) and treated us like his own family,” commented Bhisham Sahni’s daughter Kalpana. “We kids grew up together. Material things never existed for us. We didn’t have the concept of cousins.”
She added, “I recall him as a wonderful person, who is still relevant. His films, acting, choices he made, still influence us. In Do Bigha Zameen, he was a rickshaw-puller. I view the plight of the poor the same way. Farmers are cheated, killed. Their land grabbed by mafia. Problems still exist.”
Kalpana said her uncle had a great empathy for poor and downtrodden folk. “He could feel their pain. He assumed himself as a common man. That’s clearly visible from the films he did. Once he took part in helping people when drought struck Maharashtra. There were communal riots in Bhiwandi. He stayed with an affected Muslim family for two weeks. He never showed off. He went and lived with the family to provide emotional support. That’s the greatness of his personality.” Balraj Sahni was elected first president of All India Youth Federation, the youth wing of Communist Party of India. He also suffered a jail term in 1949 for six months for supporting communism. Kalpana, an author herself, pointed out that most people of that era were emotionally connected to national issues. “It was independence and people were passionate about things in the country. Their thoughts and ideas were always for the nation, not themselves.”
The lady also revealed that Balraj could read and write many languages like English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati and others. “I found a letter he wrote in Gujarati. It was for a journal. I will get the letter translated.”
Not many people know Balraj Sahni carried a typewriter to film sets to write stories and articles for Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi newspapers and magazines. Talking about her childhood and family’s involvement with ITPA (Indian People’s Theatre Association), she said, “During the independence struggle, my grand parents lost everything. We could have been a bitter family. I was very small. But the whole family was passionately involved with IPTA. For Balraj uncle, theatre was everything. We also become a part. Sometimes we had our chaarpai behind the stage and they would keep things to cover us.” Balraj’s memorable films include Seema and Waqt.
