Shashi Kapoor would have turned 80 on March 18, 2018. He will be always remembered  as the great charmer of the commercial Hindi cinema of the 1960s .

Two of these films were released fifty years ago and are celebrating their golden jubilee. These are Haseena Maan Jayegi and Kanyadaan. Yes, Shashi Kapoor was as well known for his romantic roles of the 1960s  as he was for his roles in cross over films like Heat and Dust, The Householder and In Custody. 

However,  a unique character he played was in Shyam Benegal’s Junoon  which was based on Ruskin Bond’s novella A Flight of Pigeons. It was released thirty nine years  years ago (in 1979) and was critically acclaimed. 

Shashi Kapoor’s  memorable portrayal of the Pathan, Javed Khan , was widely appreciated and  the film is remembered  mainly due to impressive performances by Shashi Kapoor, his wife Jennifer and Naseeruddin  Shah. The film truly stands out in Shashi Kapoor’s career .

The story is set in 1857 (the first war of independence)  and revolves around Ruth (the first person narrator), her mother and  Javed Khan , one of the leaders of the rebellion,who is fascinated by the young Ruth ,an English girl whose father is killed by the rebels in the church at Shahjahanpur . 

Junoon  was a  great hit and won many awards and  remarkable appreciation from critics and audiences. 

Using the backdrop of the  1857 war of independence , this epic film revolves around the relationship between an Anglo-Indian girl and a Pathan nobleman. The film was produced by Shashi  Kapoor

Javed Khan’s passion for Ruth and Sarfaraz Khan’s (Naseeruddin Shah) passion for defeating the British is what Junoon is all about. Authentic portrayals and excellent performances by the entire cast  were the strength of Junoon that lifted the novella to a a completely  different plane , capturing strong emotions in almost each frame.  Govind Nihalani ,the cinematographer for the film, made brilliant use of light,especially in the night scenes.

As in the book, the story in the film starts with the killing of  Ruth’s father in the church  and the subsequent refuge taken by Ruth and her family  in lala  Ramjimal’s house. Soon, they have to shift to the house of Javed Khan and his wife. Javed Khan(Shashi Kapoor) proclaims his love for Ruth and his intention to take her as a wife. His wife- Firdaus (played by Shabana Azmi) is greatly disturbed by this and remains distant from the British family.

The Pathan character has been brought out vividly through the portrayal of  Javed  and Sarfaraz Khan, Javed’s brother-in-law.    Javed’s unrelenting pursuit of Ruth is a powerful emotion  sustained in the book and film till the end. The condition that Mariam places on Javed Khan links the two plots inextricably. She tells him that when the rebels win Delhi, he can marry her daughter.

And this does not happen. At times, the Ravana –Sita situation in lanka comes to mind in the context of  Javed Khan and Ruth. She is at Javed’s mercy as Sita was at Ravana’s mercy in captivity.He keeps trying to get her consent, like Ravana , but never forces himself upon her .

Bond’s description of Javed’s character was brought to life by Shyam Benegal (the director of Junoon) and by Shashi Kapoor’s powerful , controlled acting .

Javed Khan , a pathan and one of the leaders of the rebellion , hears of  some foreigners living in  lala's home.  He enters Ramjimal’s home and  forcefully takes  home  Ruth and Mariam.

The rest of the book describes the various experiences  of the labadoors over a period of one year.Javed Khan proposes marriage to Ruth but her mother places a condition that if the British are able to defeat the Indian rebels,Javed Khan would not marry her daughter but if the British were defeated ,she would give her daughter to him.

The British are able to take the hold of the country and Javed Khan is killed in one of the fights with the British . The  labadoors safely reach their relatives at Bharatpur. The fiery  Javed has set his heart on Ruth and is almost obsessed  with his desire to possess her. Ruth is never at peace after having witnessed  her father being attacked and killed by the rebels and remains distrurbed by the memory of that day.

There is  a subtle indication that  Ruth  did ultimately  develop a soft corner for the  Pathan. When he comes to meet Ruth at Indarkha village near Shahjahanpur  towards the end of the novel, Mariam is reluctant to let him meet her daughter.  However ,Ruth steps forward into the light  and stands before Javed Khan.     

This is the last meeting between the two.  In the concluding  paragraph of the novella, Ruth confides that “looking back on those months when we were his prisoners ,I cannot help feeling a sneaking    admiration for him. He was also very handsome and  gallant ,and there was in him a streak of nobility which he did his best to conceal” .

The love and passion (Junoon) is one sided .But in the end of the tale , we come to realize that Ruth also admired the fiery  Pathan and was not completely unaffected by his intense  fondness for her.The narrator recounts that Javed Khan disappeared and was never seen again .  

Javed Khan keeps his promise of not marrying Ruth if the British were victorious.He comes across  as a good human being despite his insistence on marrying the young Ruth.

He is true to his word and leaves after having a last look at the girl who has mesmerized him with her beauty and innocence.

Had he wished, he could have forcibly taken her as his wife but that was not what he wanted. A brilliant perforamce throughout by Shashi Kapoor!