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I don’t follow world cinema much, thus my favourite has to be a popular Hindi film. My pick is Manoj Kumar’s Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) — a landmark film that delivers a strong, relevant message and is representative of the social problems of its era. And it manages to do this with its commercial format intact.

The film holds my attention even today. It talks about unemployment tempting the youth to take to wrong routes like smuggling and black marketeering. It reveals the fact that despite perceived misfortune and poverty (it’s set against the pre-emergency period), there was enough wealth in the country for people to horde. The dichotomy is beautifully presented in its theme track — Mehangai maar gayi. A telling statement scathingly made with a touch of satire in one of it lines that goes something like – ‘Pehle muthi mein paisa leke jaate the, aur thaile mein aata lekar aate the. Par ab thaile bhar paise leke jaate hain aur muthi bhar aata lekar aate hain…’ The lyrics are so relevant today as our economy is battling inflation.

The rape of Moushumi Chatterjee’s character by the suppliers of roti (food), kapada (cloth) and makaan (shelter) is wonderfully symbolic — it underlined the fact that the poor are always raped by their needs.

The romance in the film is unconventional too. At a time when most stories talked about pure love and sacrifice, the decision of Zeenat Aman’s character to leave her poor lover for a rich man, though shocking, wasn’t shown as unnatural. How conventional notions of romance fall prey to a socially unstable, weak society is beautifully brought about in the dilemmas faced by Zeenat’s character.

All the performances, including Prem Nath’s memorable cameo, have perfect characterisation. While Manoj Kumar’s character takes the story forward, Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan are stunning. Newcomer Moushumi Chatterjee benefited the most by making an impact as a performer.

Though Manoj Kumar’s films are often perceived to be loud and obvious today, one shouldn’t forget that this film’s sensibilities were reflective of its times. It was a huge commercial and critical success and its title became a slogan for many political parties. Roti Kapada Aur Makaan’s timelessness lies in the many layers of its story, observations about the state of the society then and the believable changes in each of its characters’ journeys.

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