Bhawana Somaaya

Ganesh Chaturti celebrations are in full swing. For all the attention we devote to the Elephant God in our day-to-day life, he has had minimal presence in Hindi cinema. It is difficult to think of even ten memorable scenes projecting the God of wisdom.

Humse Badhkar Kaun/ 1980 told the story of families living in a colony and collectively celebrating the festival. The haunting number ‘Devaa ho devaa…’ singing paeans to the Lord proved a chartbuster and is even today chanted at all the pandals. In Takkar, the villains hide the temple treasures inside the idol and hope to escape with the loot, but Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Mehra sing ‘Murti Ganesh ki, andar daulat desh ki…’and expose the villains.

In 1981, Filmwala’s Kalyug portrayed the immersion procession in all its glory. The hero Shashi Kapoor is driving home and gets caught in the festival traffic. The chaos on the street reflects the chaos in the hero’s heart. Ajanta Arts’ Dard Ka Rishta 1983, supposedly inspired from Sunil Dutt’s personal life, delved on a young girl’s obsession with the elephant God. Baby Khushboo is in coma but hears echoes of the Lord coming home. To fulfil the dying girl’s wish, her father brings the idol to her hospital bed and she dies in peace.

In Mukul Anand’s Agneepath/1990, the underworld don hails from a small village Mandva and it has been a family tradition to bring the idol home, the hero continues with the tradition. The film featured Amitabh Bachchan in a dramatic climax where he is stabbed by his enemies amidst excited crowds bidding farewell to the deity at the seashore. In Satya 1998, the hero is exposed amidst the festival, dragged on a noisy street.

The ten-day celebration exudes boundless energy. In cinema it has portrayed myriad moods – pathos, triumph, drama and in some instances, courage. In Dil To Pagal Hai /1997 Aroona Irani gifts identical silver idols to Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit who are unable to express love for each other.

In Hindi films certain deities have come to be identified with certain stars. Dilip Kumar for instance always addressed his anguish to Lord Shiva (Amar or Dil Diya Dard Liya), comedian Mehmood always confided in Lord Hanuman and Meena Kumari wept and sang bhajans before Lord Krishna in Main Chup Rahungi and Kaajal but mysteriously no star was portrayed patronising Lord Ganesha.

It is because our cinema thrives on stereotypes; so Lord Shiva who represents virility is appropriate for the hero and the alluring Lord Krishna more fitting for the heroine. Similarly, Lord Hanuman represents energy and abstinence and is therefore the perfect idol for the supporting actor forever devoted to the hero.

Recently we did watch Shah Rukh Khan sing and dance to Ganesha in remake of Don but barring that the only attempt to immortalize the Elephant God so far has been the animation film My Friend Ganesha.

Bhawana Somaaya
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