Failure is the stepping stone to success free essay sample

?Rahmat (Chhabi Biswas), a middle-aged fruit seller from Afghanistan, comes to Calcutta to hawk his merchandise and befriends a small Bengali girl called Mini (Tinku Thakur) who reminds him of his own daughter back in Afghanistan. He puts up at a boarding house along with his countrymen. One day Rehmat receives news of his daughter’s illness through a letter from his country and he decides to leave for his country. Since he is short of money he decides to sell his goods on credit for increasing his business. Later, when he goes to collect on his money, one of his customers abuses him and in the fight that ensues Rehmat warns that he will not tolerate abuse and stabs the guy when he does not stop the abuse. In the court Rehmats lawyer tries to obfuscate the facts but in his characteristic and simple fashion Rehmat states the truth in a matter of fact way. The judge, pleased with Rehmats honesty, gives him 10 years rigorous imprisonment instead of the death sentence. On the day of his release he goes to meet Mini but discovers that she has grown up into a 14-year old girl and is about to get married. Mini does not recognize Rehmat, who realizes that his own daughter must have forgotten him too. Minis father gives Rehmat the money for travel out of Minis wedding budget to which Mini agrees; she also sends a gift for Rehmats daughter. Summary[edit] Abdur Rehman Khan (Balraj Sahni), a middle-aged dry fruit seller from Kabul (Afghanistan), comes to Calcutta to hawk his merchandise and befriends a small Bengali girl called Mini the daughter of Rabindranath Tagore who reminds him of his own daughter Amina back in Afghanistan. He puts up at a boarding house along with his countrymen. Since he is short of money he decides to sell his goods on credit for increasing his business. Later, when he goes to collect his money, one of his customers abuses him and in the fight that ensues Rehman warns that he will not tolerate abuse and stabs the man when he does not stop the abuse. In the court Rehmans lawyer tries to obfuscate the facts but in his characteristic and simple fashion Rehman states the truth in a matter of fact way. The judge, pleased with Rehmans honesty, gives him 10 years rigorous imprisonment instead of the death sentence. On the day of his release, he goes to meet Mini but discovers that she has grown up into a woman and is about to get married. Mini does not recognize Rehman, he realises that his own daughter must have forgotten him too. Minis father gives Rehman the money for travelling back to Afghanistan out of Minis wedding budget to which Mini agrees; she also sends a gift for Rehmans daughter. The film ends with Rehman travelling back to his homeland. Dinesh Raheja Kabuliwala, a cinematic adaptation of Rabindranath Tagores famously poignant short story, brings a lump to your throat each time you watch it. It makes you wish that more filmmakers would emulate Sanjay Leela Bhansali (who has recently adapted Sarat Chandras popular classic, Devdas) and tap into the rich treasure trove of literary works. The opening frames of Kabuliwala establish an idyllic middle class Bengali family of three, comprising a genial father (Sajjan), a contented hausfrau Rama (Usha Kiron), and their full-of-beans child, Mini, who has an imaginative mind and the curiosity of a puppy. Like in Roys Sujata, the Hemen Gupta-directed Kabuliwala too felicitously captures the ethos of a middle-class but educated and essentially progressive family. When a Kabuliwala (Balraj Sahni) knocks at their door to sell his spices and dry fruits, Mini, dressed in a mini sari and blouse, hides below her fathers writing desk her favourite hideaway. When her indulgent father cajoles her to speak to the Kabuliwala, little Mini innocently asks, Kabuliwala, mujhe jhole mein daalkar le gaya toh? [What if Kabuliwala carries me off in his sack? ] It is a fear that has been encouraged by her mother (Usha Kiron), who does not want the gullible Mini to talk to strangers. But the Kabuliwala soon wins the childs confidence with his gift of the gab. He tells Mini that his sack contains an elephant and produces a fistful of dry fruits for her. Mischievous Mini reminds the lonely-at-heart Kabuliwala of his own motherless daughter who he has left behind in his native Kabul. A close bond is established between Kabuliwala and Mini as he proves to be attentive listener and also a magnanimous admirer. When Mini warbles, he raves, Tum toh bulbul se bhi jyaada achha gaata hai. [You sing better than a Nightingale. ] This portion of the film is touching in its portrayal of an innocent childs unabashed fascination for adults who treat them as individuals; and the need for affection that is common to all humanity. Meanwhile, a disapproving Rama, in a bid to prevent Mini sneaking out to meet the Kabuliwala, makes her wear payals [anklets]. But the sparkly-eyed Mini outsmarts her and tiptoes to meet her Kabuliwala. However, when the Kabuliwala brings red bangles for Mini on her birthday, he is not allowed to meet her. Next morning, she scours the city for the Kabuliwala, while her frantic father anxiously sets out in search of her. Kabuliwala chances upon Mini and kisses her small hands while she feeds him mithai [sweetmeats]. The search party arrives just then and the prejudiced adults, misread the Kabuliwalas intentions they think he is going to kidnap her. They pounce on him and pound him to pulp while Minis cries rent the air. A series of further crisis crisscross their lives, but their bond remains unbroken. The Kabuliwala, in a moment of rage, stabs a debtor. A weeping Mini wants to know why the handcuffed Kabuliwala is being led away. Harking back to an earlier conversation about Mini going to her sasural [inlaws house] after marriage, the Kabuliwala gently replies, Bachchi woh aaj hamare sasural ke ghar ko jaatee hai. [I am on my way to your inlaws house] When the Kabuliwala returns from his jail term, 10 long years have elapsed. The world has moved on, unrelentingly, but time seems to have frozen for the Kabuliwala. He buys red bangles that would fit a toddler and goes to meet Mini. But the realisation that Mini has grown into a girl about to be married, coupled with the fact that Mini now has no recollection of the Kabuliwala, shatters the old spiceseller. He is apprehensive if his daughter will remember him at all. The high point of the climax is Minis father gifting away the money set aside for Minis wedding lights to the Kabuliwala to pay the Kabuliwalas fare to his wattan [homeland] and his eventual reunion with his daughter. As he reasons with his wife, Ek majboor baap ko uski aankhon ka noor mil jaye, toh yehi sabse badi roshni hogi. [What can be better than seeing a hapless father re-unite with his daughter? ] Mini supports him and offers her gold bangle for Kabuliwalas daughter. Please keep a kerchief around to muffle your sobs. As one father prepares to part with his daughter; another father prepares to meet his long-lost offspring. The films biggest strength is the evocative story and the heartfelt performances by Balraj Sahni as Kabuliwala and Sonnu as Mini. Sahnis interactions with Mini are suffused with tenderness, his laughter robust, his walk, regal. To give his character a more rounded feel, he is belligerent and boisterous with the adults including a tuneless singer, and has a philosophical side too as reflected in his response to Ganga aaye kahan se, Ganga jaaye kahan re. Sonnu as Mini is uninhibited, the camera seems to be her best ally. Homespun wisdom and everyday humour is abundant in S Khalils dialogue. When Minis father gently reprimands her for telling lies with, Jo jhooth bolte hai unka chhera bigad jaata hai[Liars end up with a distorted face] Mini spontaneously recalls her domestic Bhola and queries, Bhole ka chehra aisa kyon hain? Woh bahut jhooth bolta hain? [How come Bhola does not look any different? He lies all the time. ] Kabuliwalas philosophy, Pyar mohabbat mein ehsaan nahin hota, sirf pyar mohabbat hota hain [One does not do favours in love, just gives unconditionally] is admittedly not the most eye-opening definition of love. Nevertheless, when woven into a story with as much affection as Kabuliwala mends Minis cloth doll, it holds you enthralled Sidelights: * Before he joined films, Balraj Sahni had taught Hindi and English at Rabindranath Tagores famed institution of learning, Shantiniketan. Its therefore fitting that Sahni be chosen to play the title role of this Tagore story. * Though she plays a deglamorised role here, Usha Kiron had done films with Dev Anand (Patita) and Dilip Kumar (Musafir) in the 1950s and played the crucial role of Raj Kapoors wife in Nazrana in the same year as Kabuliwala! * Director Hemen Gupta had worked with Balraj Sahni earlier in the stark Taksaal [1956]. * Kabuliwala had been made five years earlier in Bengali by Tapan Sinha with the renowned Bengali actor Chabhi Biswas in Sahnis role. Bemen Gupta is the second Indian director to bring Rabindranath Tagores tale about a man and his struggles in a foreign land, to the silver screen. The stranger is from Afghanistan, and when he sets out for India to make enough money to save his farm, he is heartbroken at leaving his little daughter behind. Once in India, the people in the neighborhood where he settles nickname him the Kabuliwala the wala or vendor from Kabul (Afghanistans capital). He finds an emotional stand-in for his daughter in the daughter of a famous poet, and while constantly remembering his own offspring, he showers attention on the adopted little girl. Then one day a corrupt landlord drives him to commit murder and his future with his own daughter and the surrogate daughter suddenly takes a downward turn as he goes off to prison for ten years. Not maudlin or mawkish, this drama by Gupta occasionally still strays toward that emotional end of the spectrum. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi A poor Afghani leaves his family behind to earn a living as a dried fruit vendor in India. Profoundly homesick, he befriends a young girl who reminds him of his own daughter. Meanwhile, the locals are distrustful of all foreigners. Storyline Widowed Abdul Rehman Khan is an Afghani Pathan who lives a simple and poor lifestyle with his widowed mom, and daughter, Amina, in Kabul. He owes money to a money-lender that he had borrowed for Aminas medical treatment, and is unable to re-pay it. He decides to secretly re-locate to Hindustan, without the knowledge of Amina, and he does so in the dark of the night. Upon arrival in Hindustan, he finds that the locals actually fear him and his kind, and blame them for kidnapping young children. A depressed Abdul is unable to get Amina out of his mind, and spends a week without doing any business. After that he sets out to sell dry fruits on the streets. It is here that he meets a young girl, Mini, who lives with her mom, Rama, and her dad, a Writer. Rama is overly cautious and will not permit Mini to see Abdul, while her dad permits her to do so. Abdul sees Amina in Mini and visits her everyday, pampering her with dry fruits. On her birthday Mini misses him and goes to look for him Widowed Abdul Rehman Khan is an Afghani Pathan who lives a simple and poor lifestyle with his widowed mom, and daughter, Amina, in Kabul. He owes money to a money-lender that he had borrowed for Aminas medical treatment, and is unable to re-pay it. He decides to secretly re-locate to Hindustan, without the knowledge of Amina, and he does so in the dark of the night. Upon arrival in Hindustan, he finds that the locals actually fear him and his kind, and blame them for kidnapping young children. A depressed Abdul is unable to get Amina out of his mind, and spends a week without doing any business. After that he sets out to sell dry fruits on the streets. It is here that he meets a young girl, Mini, who lives with her mom, Rama, and her dad, a Writer. Rama is overly cautious and will not permit Mini to see Abdul, while her dad permits her to do so. Abdul sees Amina in Mini and visits her everyday, pampering her with dry fruits. On her birthday Mini misses him and goes to look for him and gets lost. Rama thinks that Abdul has abducted her, so does an angry crowd, who find her with him and beat him. Minis dad apologizes to Abdul when he finds out the truth. But this outing has a serious repercussion on Mini and she becomes very ill, but with prayers from Rama and Abdul, she does recover. Then their lives are again turned upside down when Abdul is arrested by the Police for knifing to death a man named Ram Bharose. Watch what happens when Abdul is found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Synopsis Rehmat (Chhabi Biswas), a middle-aged fruit seller from Afghanistan comes to Calcutta to hawk his merchandise and befriends a small Bengali girl called Minnie (Tinku Thakur) who reminds him of his own daughter back in Afghanistan. He puts up at a boarding house along with his countrymen, which is owned by a rude landlord. One day Rehmat receives news of his daughters illness through a letter from his country and he decides to leave for his country. When the landlord demands rent from him an argument ensues and Rehmat stabs the man. He is arrested and put behind bars for 8 years. On the day of his release he goes to meet Minnie but discovers that she has grown up to a 14-year old girl and is about to get married. Rehmat realizes that his own daughter also has grown up and he sets out for his country after 10 long years Upperstall Review The character of the kabuliwala swathed in his long loose garments and an intimidating but fanciful turban and carrying a huge mysterious sack slung across his sturdy shoulder that contained god knows what, had an iconic presence in the Bengali mindscape till at least 15 years ago. The advent of globalization has gradually displaced this moneylender whose tales of extracting dues by unfair means from debtors at high rate of interests evoked mostly fear and loathing in the minds of the timid Bengali middle-class. To build a story around such an appalling character and his relationship with a little frolicking girl was a masterly stroke of imagination. The story was already there and it was left to the temerity of a young director to take the risk of translating it into the big screen and bring it to huge commercial success, specially since it did not involve a regular boy meets girl stuff. Tapan Sinhas Kabuliwala remains a favourite diet of Bengali cinegoers till date. In fact, the charm of the film lies in its simplistic narration, which is actually not so simple if one looked at the original source material, a popular short story by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagores stories have always been difficult to film because they are not plot driven but read more like a narration told in first person in this case by the father of the little girl. Director Tapan Sinha does a commendable job in working up situations and incidents and subplots and threading them together to form a cohesive narrative despite a tad too long 8-minute exposition of Afghanistan at the beginning. The bulk of the film of course is the relationship between the protagonist and the 6-year old Minnie played absolutely wonderfully by Tinku Thakur, the younger sister of Sharmila Tagore. Undoubtedly, she is the USP of the film and it is a wonder why she was never seen in any other film later. The indomitable Chhabi Biswas who essays the role of the swarthy trader from Afghanistan perfectly catches the nuances and accents of the rugged foreigner despite over done makeup by todays standards. In fact, all the actors deliver commendable performances, be it Radhamohan Bhattacharya as the father of the child who is a writer of romantic adventures or the beautiful Manju Dey as the paranoid and finicky mother who keeps the entire household in tenterhooks with her undue demands on hygiene and imagined tales of child lifting and slavery in a faraway land called Afghanistan. The actress playing the elderly maid servant and fills her mistresss mind against the Afghani stranger and the popular Johor Roy who plays the servant add the right light notes in the film. The whole family represents an old world charm belonging to a bygone era but is identifiable and immensely likable. In fact it is a feel good film with all the correct notes and even the jailors and guards in the jail where the protagonist is lodged come across as nice souls despite their assumed strictness. The main track of Minnie and Rehmat is well worked out, starting from the moment when Rehmat first spots Minnie amongst a group of kids who teases him on the streets and she runs for her dear life when the tall kabuliwala looks at her. Minnie spots him again few days later from her window and runs to her father in panic and it is left to her refined father to melt the ice between the improbable pair. Rehmat begins to bribe her with nuts and raisins and gradually warms himself into her little heart till she has the big man swirling around her little finger. In perhaps the films most memorable scene, she even makes him sing and dance to a popular Tagore song but not with much success. Each time they meet it not only sets off sparks between the two characters where the elderly kabuliwala regales her with fanciful stories and raisins, but also gives rise to a whole lot of tensions in the minds of the kids mother and the elderly maid servant, quite natural reactions in people who have led cloistered lives throughout and suspect people who do not belong to their ilk and language group. It is only the sensitive father who does not bother about this relationship but in fact pampers it; if there is one thing he does not quite like it is the free nuts and raisins that the kabuliwala loads on the little girl and he forces him to take money for it much to the embarrassment of the otherwise no-nonsense trader. The major turning point comes an hour into film when Rehmat refuses to part with the 5-rupee note that has been personally given to him by Minnie on the eve of his departure to Afghanistan; this leads to a scuffle with the owner of the lodge that culminates in Rehmat stabbing the man. He is packed off to jail for a period of 8 years where his good behaviour earns him the kudos and respect of his jailors. Minnie and his family conveniently forget him over the period and when he comes out of jail after 8 years and goes to meet her, it is the day of her marriage. Rehmat thinks that she is still the little girl and is blissfully unaware of the unrelenting passage of time. Realisation dawns on him as the grown up Minnie, now 14 years old, does not recognize him and after a brief unspoken meeting between the two old friends, she turns and goes back inside her house. It is a heartrending climax; he realizes that his daughter, if she is still alive would also be of Minnies age. Rehmat also turns back and is about to step out of the courtyard of the house when Minnies mother has a change of heart; she hands the money saved to put up electric lights on the facade of the house and hire an English band to play at her daughters wedding to her husband and asks him to give it to Rehmat so that he can take it back to his land and meet his daughter. The two fathers look at each other as Minnies father hands over the money to Rehmat. It is a very poignant moment in the film; only a father can understand the pain of another father. Rehmat takes the money and embarks on his long journey back. The few tracks in this otherwise old-fashioned feel-good sentimental tale, which could have been avoided and helped reduce the length, are the subplots of the death of a convicts girl (Kali Banerjee in a cameo role as the convict) and the false charge of theft that is heaped on Rahamat when he is accused of stealing the necklace of a young girl who happens to be the daughter of the jailors boss. One feels that these are overloaded subplots added primarily to underline the protagonists pain of separation from his own daughter and Minnies memories. Ravi Shankars score does not impinge on the film and goes with the subject. But a point here. The use of Tagores songs are more of an obligation since the story belonged to him and perhaps could have been avoided; but then it was prestigious to have a couple of the Nobel laureates songs for commercial reasons and more importantly also to gain respectability. The art direction is elementary and the city of Calcutta is also not well exploited in this urban tale except the scenes set in the parks. The interior scenes look most set-like and stand out like sore thumbs against the real locations of the city. Kabuliwala won the Presidents Gold Medal for the Best Film for the year 1956 and inspired a Hindi remake five years later starring Balraj Sahni and Usha Kiron. The Hindi version was directed by Hemen Gupta and produced by Bimal Roy with music by Salil Choudhury. The Hindi version is a fine film in its own right but die hard Bengali cinema fans still swear by this 1956 film as the definitive version of Tagores short story. The film also won a special mention for its music at Berlin in 1957. synopsis Kabuliwala was adapted from a story by Indian novelist Rabindranath Tagores. The central character is a farmer who hopes to strike it rich in the big city. Forced to leave his daughter behind, the hero all but adopts the offspring of a renowned poet. Sentenced to jail for 10 years for resorting to violence with a crooked landlord, the farmer seeks out his daughter-substitute, only to find that she is irrevocably beyond his reach. Returning home, he learns that his natural daughter has likewise grown away from him. The honest sentiment of Kabuliwala is compromised by the films substandard technical credits.