Saat Hindustani [1969] : K.A. Abbas

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Amitabh Bachchan in K.A. Abbas’ Saat Hindustani [1969] is his silver screen debut as pacifist poet, a muslim, Urdu native speaker from Bihar and an undefeatable warrior to liberate Goa from the Portuguese colony. I was not aware before that “Liberation Goa” and “Anti-Hindi Allegation” during the 60s had been happened on such a great scale.

 

K.A. Abbas is [I will present tense because the creative persons live forever] such a prolific creative persona & auteur both in literature and cinema.  I will not know him if I wouldn’t see his Dhatri Ke Lal [1946] & as his screenplay of Niccha Nagar [1946] won Palme de ’Ore in Cannes Festival as first and only Indian film till now; besides his marvelous collaboration with Raj Kapoor and his films are groundbreaking in Indian cinema.

 

I don’t know if I am right or not. It seems Saat Hindustani may be one of the pioneers of Indian nationalistic political thriller. The forerunner of representing Pan-Indian nature illustrating diverse regions, religions and languages. After watching a wide range of films, I have noticed that I am getting more formalist and structuralist in analyzing any film. I have been finding common grounds apart from noticing pastiche and nostalgia among films. The narrative structures and moods of Saat Hindustani is loosely similar with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti [2006], Indian liberation movement against British empire & Ken Loch’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), similarly a Irish liberation fight and revolt against British dominance.

 

             Saptarishi, the Seven Sages

                                                                   Saat Hindustani



Even the Saat Hindustani resonates with Saptarishi, the Seven Sages in Ancient Indian mythology. I think, in that period, no other Indian film makers like K.A.Abbas had made based on contemporary issues and out of one’s known territory like Dharti Ke Lal in 1946 based on The Bengal Famine in 1943 and Saat Hindustani [1969] sourced from Goa liberation movement in 1961 and Anti-Hindi accusation in 1965.

 

Saat Hindustani [1969]

K.A. Abbas

Hindi, India

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