The Dilip Kumar-Vyjayanthimala Chemistry Makes Paigham An Ever Renewable Experience

S S Vasan’s Paigham originally released in 1959, was re-released last week. The film, a gritty if somewhat naïve look at the owner-worker relationship in the context of unionism, remains surprisingly watchable.I can recall two other important films on the impact of unionism on Capitalism: B R Chopra’s Naya Daur (which too starred Dilip-Vyajanthi) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Namak Haraam. Paigham never got its due recognition. The DK-Vyjanthi pair, so supremely celebrated in Ganga Jumna, Naya Daur, and Devdas, is never mentioned among the frontliners for the couple’s crackling kinship in Paigham.There is a prolonged romantic episode at the beginning of the film in a garden where the couple Ratan and Manju sit together smiling and laughing. He even plays the flute for her. They just don’t seem to have met recently. The two are so comfortable in each other’s company! I mentioned this to the great Dilip Kumar once, and he replied with a twinkle in his eye, “Oh, I would look just as comfortable with a lamppost. It is called acting, my dear Subhash.” Also Read: Sorry, I am not buying that. There is another sequence on the road where DK first teases his beautiful co-star about her jealousy towards her friend Malti (hammy-as-hell B Saroja Devi), the mill owner’s daughter who is soft on Ratan. He then offers to teach Manju how to ride a bicycle. She pretends to fumble on the bicycle and then speeds away on it. For a film that is 65 years old, it is astonishing that the leading lady has a mind and job of her own. Paigham gave us a heroine in charge of her life. However, Paigham is not about Manju. It is about Ratan and the clash of ideology with his simple-minded peace-loving brother Ram (Raj Kumar). Actually, it’s not about Ratan and Ram either. It’s all about Ratan alone, who is portrayed by Dilip Kumar as a kind of all-purpose hero. When we first see him Ratan supports his education in Kolkata by plying a manuel rickshaw. In his village, Ratan immediately wins the trust of the factory owner Sevak Ram (the brilliant non-actor Motilal, surprisingly exaggerated and ineffective here) and is appointed a handyman. When the workers of the mill are shortchanged Ratan quickly harnesses their collective energy for a rebellion. Dilip Kumar is angry, romantic, tormented triumphant and oh, so, charismatic! As for the clash with Raj Kumar, it is not even worth considering. Raj Kumar plays the kind of roles Shashi Kapoor used to in the Amitabh Bachchan starrers; not even that. More like Vinod Mehra in Bachchan’s KhudddarPaigham at over three hours is not a waste-watch. Some parts of the film have undoubtedly dated: when Manju’s mother is dying Manju sings a long dirgeful song, and not a very impressive one at that. The great C Ramachandra’s music is surprisingly lackluster, probably because Lataji had stopped singing for him by the time Paigham blew into sight.