Durga Khote’s feisty turn as a pirate in Amar Jyoti (1936) – Special

Described as a 'wonder of wonders', V Shantaram’s Amar Jyoti or Immortal Flame (1936) is a landmark film. In it, he gives us not one or two but three formidable women who signify different generations and match one another in strength of will and ferocity.

With the success of the social films made by Calcutta's New Theatres, Prabhat Film Company, which was set up in Kolhapur and moved to Poona in 1934, started to examine social issues and portray them on screen.

Shantaram, one of the founders of Prabhat, was particularly concerned about the position of women in society and Amar Jyoti explored that theme in earnest. Although the treatment of women and their oppression is more allegorical in this film, Shantaram took it up in a robust manner in Duniya Na Mane (1937) and Aadmi (1939), making these films a trilogy of sorts.

V Shantaram, pioneer of woman-orientated cinema – Anniversary special

Set in an imaginary kingdom by the sea called Swarnadeep, Amar Jyoti, a thrilling and fast-paced marine romance, was imbued with dramatic power by the stellar cast that included Durga Khote, Shanta Apte, Vasanti, Chandramohan, Nandrekar and K Narain Kale, all of whom gave commendable performances, capturing the intensity of the narrative.

Saudamini (Khote) is a woman who is driven to rebellion as she is ill-treated by her brutal husband and denied custody of her son, Sudheer. When she appeals to the highest authority in the land, the queen and her minister Durjaya (Chandramohan), she gets no relief.

Durga Khote, the formidable trailblazer of Hindi and Marathi cinema: Anniversary special

Enraged and dejected in equal measure, she vows to take revenge and fight for the rights of all women against the patriarchal order, mounting a rebellion by becoming a pirate. Her band attacks a royal ship and captures Durjaya to punish him. What she does not know is that the queen’s daughter, Nandini (Apte), is also aboard the ship.

Nandini is in love with a shepherd, Sudheer (Nandrekar), now grown up. But when she is captured by Saudamini and her men, Saudamini tells the young princess the truth about love and the ways in which women are oppressed through the institution of marriage. Nandini, too, joins Saudamini and her cause.

Through various events, Saudamini comes face to face with Sudheer and realizes he is her long-lost son. She blesses the union between him and Nandini and decides to entrust the struggle to the next generation.

With shots taken at Bombay harbour and Malwan port in the Konkan, Shantaram deploys the image of waves crashing against the rocks to depict Saudamini’s struggle crashing against the ossified views of society. In the end, he leaves us with the image of a flame, a torch that symbolizes the struggle, and the need to carry it forward, though in a less turbulent way.

While Amar Jyoti is a thriller, what grounds the film is its discussion of ideals and principles, mostly between Saudamini and her adviser and companion Shekhar (Kale), who vocalizes her internal turmoil. She wonders if she is cruel and asks if the uprooting of the established order can be achieved without force. He advises her that her personal vendetta with the queen needs to be sacrificed if she is to achieve her true goal.

Remembering Shanta Apte, the 'stormy petrel' of Indian cinema

Princess Nandini reminds her of her youth and, in a critique of patriarchy, Saudamini informs her that although the young princess has a rosy-eyed view of love; real life and societal conventions are very different. She tells her that marriage is like bondage, where every rule of society and tradition deems that women be ruled by men. Even if a woman is a queen, she is ultimately ruled by her husband, who will use every method to bring her to heel. Nandini is traumatized by the picture painted and Saudamini informs her that terrible as it may seem, it is the bitter truth and that she wishes to break stereotypes and fight for a greater cause.

Khote’s dignified demeanour, a hallmark of her craft, is befitting of a queen and many of her roles took advantage of her regal personality. Through moments of heroism, tyranny and self-sacrifice, we see various shades of her character. We understand her harsh anger as she rails against the injustice done to her, but we also appreciate her emotions when her heart melts at the sight of her son, and she crumbles.

Although at the beginning of the film, we see her in masculine attire, she gradually moves to wearing feminine clothes, as she realizes that she does not need to destroy her feminity to fight for an equal society.

Khote demonstrated a certain daring and courage off screen as well. A report in The Times of India newspaper in 1935 describes an incident when shooting a scene for a film that involved lions. One big cat went out of control and attacked actor Maruti Rao, clawing his shoulder. Khote caught the lion by his mane and yanked it, getting hurt herself in the process. The trainer arrived and subdued the animal, but Khote had effectively saved her co-star’s life.

There is a technical finesse in every aspect of the film’s production — the dialogues, music, songs, the set design which realistically depicts the grandeur of the palace as well as the ships, the costumes of the pirates and in the royal court, all are perfectly calibrated to lend verisimilitude. The fighting scenes are also realistic and well executed, a remarkable feat for the time when the film was made. With the leaps made in sound technology by then, sound recordists were able to control the pitch and quality of dialogues as well as the background music, enabling for finer nuances in sound, which are evident in the film.

The songs of the film, especially the ones sung by Apte, became very popular. Besides Khote, Apte is charming as the young princess portraying a naivete that brings a naturalness to her acting. The youngest, Vasanti, too, is delightful as the feisty young pirate.

Amar Jyoti fared well at the box office, with audiences flocking for repeated viewings. A review in The Bombay Chronicle newspaper in 1936 was filled with marvel at the movie and its popularity, calling it the 'wonder of wonders'. The film was released at Krishna Talkies and the reviewer remarked, “Krishna Talkies is today a place of pilgrimage and thousands are thronging the theatre every day at every show... this remarkable production, Amar Jyoti, is the talk of the day.” In her autobiography, I, Durga Khote, the actress writes about how the success of the film brought her several offers from Bombay.

Amar Jyoti remains one of the best known roles of Khote's remarkable career. Click here to watch the full movie.