Kalpana review: A magnum opus with cinematic brilliance way ahead of its time

Uday Shankar’s directorial Kalpana (1948), a magnum opus, surprises you with its cinematic and conceptual experiments that were way ahead of its time.

The long dance-drama film comprehensively touches upon so many cultural and social issues that it tends to offer an overwhelming experience. Though made 70 years ago, the film is astonishingly relevant even today.

The film is proof of dance great Uday Shankar’s sincere effort, genius and utmost dedication. Not only did he come up with new ideas every few minutes of the film, but he also made sure to pay attention to the nuances to bring out the entertaining elements comprising love, tragedy, jealousy and comedy, along with the messages he wanted to convey.

The film is a magnanimous portrayal of the spirit of the multi-faceted Indian culture, not only in terms of language, music and dance but also in deep philosophical ideas.

Udayan is a notorious kid in childhood but is firm in his passion of becoming a theatre actor. He eventually learns painting and blooms into an artiste (Uday Shankar) with a creative vision.

His master asks him to step outside the comfort zone of his small village and he lands in Benares. His tryst with dance begins and soon he starts staging productions with his closest friends, including Noor Muhammad. In the process, he comes across Uma (Amala Shankar), a beautiful dancer with grace and talent. Both are smitten by each other at their first meeting, but they do not express their feelings.

In Bombay, Udayan is introduced to a manager who betrays them after the success of their production and asks for money from them instead. A fight ensues and Udayan is believed to have killed the manager. Guilty of his supposed crime, Udayan spends his days in deep mental anguish while his dear friend Noor fights with death.

On his way to fetch water for his dying friend one stormy night, Udayan bumps into a crazy woman called Kamini (Padmini). While Udayan fails to bring water home and Noor dies, Kamini finds her way to his home in a hysterical appearance.

Kamini is later revealed to be a woman of fortune. She stays with Udayan and helps him to travel to different cities and stage his dance drama. When they finally land in Bombay, Uma and her troupe join them.

The growing affinity between Uma and Udayan infuriates and invokes a fatal jealousy in Kamini. She tricks Udayan away from further association with Uma and takes him instead into a party of rich people. The party reveals the ugly and superficial face of the urban rich to Udayan and he leaves the gathering as well as Kamini in deep disgust.

However, a benevolent rich man understands his vision and hands him a cheque for a huge amount to spread the practice of his art.

Udayan, with Uma's help, opens Kalakendra at the foothills of the Himalayas. Kalakendra grows into a massive institution to teach dance of various traditions, theatre and martial arts, with a radio station and a museum.

Kamini again finds her way to Udayan and enrols herself in the institution. She continues to harbour a rage against Uma and keeps playing mind games to create a breach between her and Udayan.

To collect funds to run the academy, Uma and Udayan decide to organize a large-scale spring festival and invite delegates from all over Asia. The depiction of the festival, along with the narrative of the dynamics among Udayan, Uma and Kamini, mounts to a dramatic climax.

The projection of Kalakendra in the film is so nuanced and intricately detailed that its driving spirit is almost inculcated in the audience. However, the most fascinating aspect has to be the several dance recitals on the basis of different ideas and their cinematic representation. There are dream sequences infused in live performances. Even during the live performances, to offer a composite experience, the playing of instruments, the facial expressions and the physical gestures, all are captured in a single frame. None of these experiments appear amateurish either.

The director talks about the adverse effects of industrialization, the monstrous impact of nationalism, and also the liberation of women in the most effective ways. He shows how, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, man, from working machines turns into a machine himself. As nationalism rises, Mother India asks her children coming from different states to not lose their minds in the chaos of highly ambitious political ideas and to care for the needy and poverty-stricken people with compassion. Women dancers come out of the conventional guards while doing martial performances and all the patrons shower wealth on Kalakendra, impressed by them.

While he criticises nationalism, Udayan also emphasizes the authenticity of indigenous culture and makes sure that the prince and the pauper both have the privilege to watch his productions and makes them sacrifice their ego before art.

At the same time, he comments on communism with satire. A character called Madan tries to silence the names of the patrons, when Udayan expresses his gratitude for them for their donations, claiming it to be the people’s money.

Udayan introduces obscure aboriginal dance forms in the spring festival and shows the stereotypical notions surrounding them. He brings up the issue of gender fluidity in the most humorous way. The kings sitting in the audience raise the bar of the sex appeal quotient for getting glimpses of the body parts of the dancers. They assume the dancers to be women but they are later revealed to be men.

The climax begins to gather momentum when they start depicting the various stages of life. The dance sequences reach a point of ultimate ecstasy when the celebration of life reaches its peak as Udayan finally conveys his love for Uma, who is revealed to be his long-lost childhood friend; when the artistes enjoy their success in a heap of money; and also when there remains no distinction between the audience and the performers.

The film ends with a twist as the entire story is shown to have been recounted by an aspiring filmmaker to a producer, who dismisses the content for the lack of 'spicy' elements in it.

The filmmaker, after being thrown away, leaves the audience with the question: when will content of quality be appreciated instead of simply thinking about the box office?

The grandeur of the unique sets and the compositions captured with brilliant and thoughtful cinematography show how clearly Uday Shankar had all the ideas in his vision. Despite the technical advances over the past seven decades, this land has hardly made a film to rival Kalpana’s quality till date. The performances are not very theatrical nor are they very natural; rather they are inspired by dance gestures and expressions. As actors, Amala Shankar and Padmini deliver more convincing acts than Uday Shankar.

The writing of the film is flawless and the scenes of comedy are replete with wit rather than buffoonery. The concept of love presented in the film is also quite spiritual. While Kamini’s love, filled with expectations and materialistic attachments, meets its downfall, Uma’s selfless love dedicated to Udayan and the service of art is shown in full glory. It is also to be noted how he chose the names of the two characters.

The film might be too long for an audience that is not keen on watching different forms of elaborate dance recitals, but the entire experience of watching the film is worth its while.