Nartaki (नर्तकी) 1940

Published on December 12, 2012 in Cinema

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Banner	New Theatres Limited
Director	Debaki Kumar Bose
Writer
Producer
Orginal music	Pankaj Mullick
Cinematography	Yusuf Mulji
Film Editing
Art Director
Camera Operator
Assistant Cameramen
Playback Singers	Pankaj Mullick

Character	Actor / Actress
Roopkumari	Leela Desai
Satyasunder	Najmul Hussain
Seth Heeralal	Jagdish Sethi
Gyananand	Wasti
Swamiji	R.P. Kapoor
Bhutnath	Nandkishore Mehra
	Dhruba Kumar
Ganga	Rajani Rani
Jamuna	Kalabati

Period movie apparently set in the 16th C. The story pits the famous dancer Roopakumari (Desai), backed by the court, against a temple monastry ruled by the authoritarian ascetic priest Gyanananandiji. The temple forbids the entry of women and Roopkumari is determined to avenge such an insult. She seduces the priests son Satyasunder but she also falls in love with him. The film suggests that love transced both political and religious authoriatarinism. The Bengali version uses extensive songs by the 15th-C. Bengali saint poet Chandidas. *.* The time was the 16th century. The place was the city of Champa. . Along the streets, heading for the outskirts of the city, six bearers carried a decorated tanjam of palanquin. Inside was seated an exquisi- tely beautiful woman. Four armed horsemen escorted the palanquin. . The processio stopped outside the gate of an ancient monastery. But when the woman sought entry, the watchman refused it, for women were forbidden to enter the monastery. . Very angry, the woman cried "Do you dare to refuse me entry? Do you know who I am? I am Rupkamari," she said. . Rupkumari was the most famed danseuse of those olden days, sought by kings and noblemen and adored by all. But in the monastery the name had ilttle significance. Its chief priest Jnananandaji demanded absolute celibacy of his students. Only strict discipline and hard susterity could purify the soul. The monastery getes remained closed to Rupkumari. . In Champa, Rupkumari was the honoured guest of Seth Hiralal, a wealthy millionaire and a close friend of the King. With the Kings permission Rupkumari tried again to visit the monastery but the chief priest ordred her out at once. Humiliated and enraged Rupkumari swore revenge on Jnananandaji. . Kishore was a rebellious Brahmachari who had been turned out of the monastery for indiscipline. From him Rupkumari learnt that Jnananandajis affections and hopes centred Satyasundar, a young Brahmachari who was to succeed the chief priest. . There had perhaps never been a more guileless man than Satyasundar and never a more wily and enticing woman than Rupkuamri. Assuming an air of divinity and putting on some saffron robes, Rupkumari easily deceived the innocent disciple. In love with her, he did not reject her even when she disclosed to him her real identity. I have he said to her, glimpsed divintiy through you I have experienced an unknown joy and surely these cannot be unreal. . Jnananandaji had just returned from a visit to his Guru, who had said in parting "Always do what you think best mans best guide is his own conscience" Stirct disciplinarian as he was, when the chief priest learnt of his disciples affair with a dancing girl, he drove Satya- sundar out of the monatery. That night a dreadful storm swept through Champa. That sam,e night Rupkumari was celebrating her `victory over the chief priest. . All her gaiety left her when Kishore brought the news that Satyasundar had been turned out into the streets. She suddenly realised that she loved him. Deserting her bewildered guests she ran out into the storm driven night. . Much later the unconscious Satyasundar was carried into her house. He had been struck by a falling tree. Through many days and nights she nursed him. All her previous triumphs as a dancing girl seemed nothing compared to the happiness that she now felt. . Seth Hiralal her patron and friend watched this transfromation with philosophic acceptance. But the Poet who composed and sang songs for her, shook his head disapprovingly. The union of a dancing girl and a sanyasi could never come to any good, it seemed to him. . To Sayasundar, love was a new experience. He found himself living in a dream he had never dared to dream before. Rupkumaris devotion touched his soul. . But as the weeks passed by he found nothing could replace in his heart the monastery, its ideals and the search for ultimate happiness in the knowledge of God. He was like a fish out of water and uneasy amidst the luxury of Rupkumaris hosehold. . Rupkumari noticed the rising unrest in Satyasundars soul, But by now the hunter was ensnared by the prey and Rupkumari was prepared to give up everyting for this new happiness.