Breathing space.

I like a bombastic action movie as much as the next guy, but sometimes, I'm in the mood for something else.  Sometimes I want a movie in which absolutely nobody gets punched.  And when that happens, I can always turn to Amol Palekar.  And that brings me to Naram Garam (1981).

Ramprasad (Amol Palekar) returns to his native village for a visit with his old teacher Vishnuprasad (A. K. Hangal).  Vishnuprasad has an ulterior motive; money is tight, his son Birju (Anand) has run off to become an actor, and his daughter Kusum (Swaroop Pasat) is so beautiful and talented that any suitable groom's family will be in a position to demand a sizable dowry.  Vishnuprasad asks Ramprasad if he would kindly consider marrying Kusum, and while Ram and Kusum have already rekindled a childhood spark, Ram can't think about marrying unless he can support a family, and he simply does not have the money, so he politely declines.

 

Ram works for Bhavani Shankar Bajpai (Uptal Dutt), a notorious miser who is obsessed with astrology.  Bhavani has finally resolved a decades-long legal dispute over a country house (thanks in part to Ram and no thanks at all to his astrologer) and he asks Ram to fix up the place and convert it from a bleak house to somewhere he can sit and remember his late wife.  

One day Ram returns to the house to find that Vishnuprasad and Kusum have moved in!  Vishnuprasad explains that they have finally been evicted and since Birju is a wandering actor, they have literally nowhere else to go.  Ran explains that it's not really his house, and the actual owner will be moving in within a month, but until then they should stay while he tries to figure something out, and hope that nobody else from his work finds out.

 

Somebody else finds out.  The estate manager, Gajanan (Suresh Chatwal), rushes down to the house to evict the squatters, but when he gets there, he's so smitten with Kusum that he offers to let them stay if Kusum marries him.  Vishnuprasad is initially thrilled, because he doesn't know how much of a creep Gajanan is, but Ram and Kusum are not thrilled.

 

Ram decides to go to Bhavani's younger brother Babua (Shatrughan Sinha) for help.  Babua is a tough-talking man of action, so he scares Gajanan off, then goes out to the house to evict the squatters . . . and immediately falls for Kusum.  Again, Ram and Kusum are not thrilled, so Ram has no choice but to appeal to Bhavani.  Bhavani's a respectable middle-aged widower and father of an adult daughter, so he's not likely to fall for Kusum, right?  Ordinarily, that would be the case, but Bhavani was just told by his astrologer that he will gain great wealth if he marries a woman whose name begins with 'K', so as soon as he sees Kusum, he's ready to propose.

 

The plot of Naram Garam is basically the romantic comedy version of "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly;" every apparent solution leads to an even bigger problem.  With a plot that simple, execution really matters, and the movie delivers.  Ram and Kusum have an easy, relaxed chemistry, and their relationship builds slowly and gently.  It's not a grand passion, but Ram is clearly the man for Kusum, because out of all her suitors, he's the only one that sees her as herself; the others all drift into fantasy sequences as soon as they lay eyes on her, using her as a peg for their silly notions of what a woman should be, to slightly misquote Forster.  

 

This is not an epic tale about star crossed lovers and a blazing passion that cannot be denied, it's a quiet story about two ordinary people trying to carve out a place in a world that is not always kind and often absurd.  Though I have to admit that Babua does punch a few people.  It's a mistake and he feels bad afterwards.