It was said, only half in jest, that a film starring Rehana Sultan would manage to lose in a one-horse race at the box office! Post “Dastak” and “Chetna” she had not had the run she would have desired, or her fans would have expected. She had fallen so far behind in the race that she agreed to act in a devotional, a sure sign that top notch mainstream directors were not queuing up to sign the actress. Well, director A. Shamsheer’s “Deen aur Imaan” made with much love and little else, did nothing to help her sinking graph. At a time when devotionals of all hues and faiths were raking it rich, “Deen aur Imaan” arrived in a low key fashion, and departed as quietly from the screens.
Even as films like “Jain Santoshi Maa” and “Bhakti Mein Shakti” were being lapped up with great fervour by cinegoers, “Deen aur Imaan” had no such luck. Released at theatres which were far from the first choice of most banners, the film managed to appeal only in certain pockets. Little wonder, over a year ago when a researcher was putting together a very laudable book on Hindi films and Indian secularism, he tried his best to lay hands on information about the film’s storyline and cull together circuit details but met with little success.
Yet it would be a travesty to heap the blame on Rehana, charming and appealing as she was in both “Dastak” and “Chetna” and endeavoured to create a slot for the new age brave heroine comfortable with her body and ready to flaunt it. Her co-actors, notably Jalal Agha and Tabrez, the faithful allies of devotionals, proved little help. The less said about Jairaj and Birbal the better.
If the film, relating the story of a Muslim family’s and its test of faith, had so many negatives why are talking about it? Simple. It came at a time when the box office was married to Amitabh Bachchan, his films drove away all competition, they ran for weeks, months, even a year. Forget “Amar Akbar Anthony” even a “Ganga Ki Saugandh” refused to move from certain theatres! At such a time, Shamsheer managed to put together a movie that spoke the language of a pluralist society. Here Muslims were not token cardboard characters, a Khan chacha with a rosary here or a Rahim Chacha on a prayer mat there. They occupied centre space without the film falling into the Muslim social bracket. Nor did the characters work in a social vacuum. So it had its positives, not the greatest of them though was the time-tested story of friendship, love, intrigue and jealousy – It relates the story of Maqsood and Nazima, children of two close friends, a jeweller and a priest. The children grow up, get married to each other. It is then that the story takes a turn. The jeweller dies, the moulvi goes on a Hajj. It is then that the story develops into a triangle. Maqsood and Nazima’s life turns upside down with scheming people around. Life becomes a test of faith and belief. Yes, it is time for deen and imaan.
The film had a couple of hummable numbers by Muhammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle and some good situational humour besides plenty of stereotypes – students in a skull cap, women with gaudy patchwork on their dupattas, flowing ghararas, pandaan and the rest. Amidst all this was poor Rehana Sultan trying to save a sinking ship. Almost like a little beacon. But she fails; her only success being she is better than the film.
As for the purpose behind the film, well, it was simple. Not everybody watched Bachchan. Not everybody got a ticket to watch him. And there were old faithful Muslim audience who liked to see on the screen what they did not see in real life. The idea made sound economics, the intent was pretty good too. It is the execution that went awry, making “Deen aur Imaan” a film you watched only in good faith. Not many knew about the film when it released in 1979. Little wonder not many remembered it when the earnest researcher went about putting his tale of Hindi movies and Indian secularism.
