It was the latter part of 1979 and the country was still reeling from the sudden putting to death by a military regime of the country’s first elected Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Making a quality movie was a most demanding and tiresome task in the days following Bhutto’s death and Gen Ziaul Haq’s martial law.

The army’s sudden interest in the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing war, along with Zia’s ‘Islamisation’ drive, had changed the very dynamics of Pakistani society. Gen Zia’s inclination towards Bollywood stars, films and the influx of the VCR into the homes of the elite, had served to distance him from the local film fraternity.

In such a suffocating environment, the dynamic team of Nazrul Islam, Robin Ghosh, Bashir Niaz and A.R. Shamsi decided to produce a film that could recreate and recapture the magic of Aaina (1977), as well as show a way out to local filmmakers from a hopeless situation.

It began with Jivatram Khemchandani’s visit to Karachi.

The Pakistan-Indonesia co-production Bandish not only ended the dearth of quality Urdu romantic films in Lollywood in the Zia era and gave it breathing space, it opened the doors for Pakistani filmmakers to explore the world, which kept the country’s celluloid dream alive

Jivatram of P.T. Bola Dunia Films in Jakarta, Indonesia, was a close family friend of film distributor and broadcaster Saeed Shiraz. Born in Sindh in 1926, Jivatram had moved to Indonesia from Karachi before Partition. There, he became a successful distributor, producer and importer of both foreign and Asian movies, and would regularly visit Pakistan.

He had been screening movies of Raj Kapoor in Jakarta and had just acquired the prints of Riaz Shahid’s Zarqa, Pakistan’s first diamond jubilee film. “On his visit in 1978, I took him to meet Rauf Shamsi sahib of Kashif Limited, who came up with the idea of making a feature film in Indonesia,” recalls Saeed Shiraz.

Director Nazrul Islam, producer Rauf Shamsi and cinematographer Kamran Mirza went to scout for locations in Indonesia. Shooting was not going to be easy, as the authorities wanted a few major cast members and the entire production unit to be from Indonesia. With the help of local authorities and the tourism industry, however, the selection of an ‘ideal’ island was made possible. The team returned in a month and the lengthy paperwork began, Saeed Shiraz remembers.

The story of Bandish revolved around three characters: Faisal, Shama and Juwita. Faisal, a businessman from Pakistan, played by Nadeem, falls for an air hostess called Shama, played by Shabnam, in Singapore. They get married but, before Shama can disclose her marriage to her family, Faisal loses his memory in a boating accident.

Juwita, a local girl, rescues Faisal and takes care of him. Both fall in love and eventually get married. The climax where Faisal, after regaining his memory, reconciles with his first wife Shama, followed by a montage of songs, still brings tears to viewers’ eyes.

Penned by Bashir Niaz, a journalist-turned-film writer, the basic idea was inspired by James Hilton’s novel Random Harvest, written in 1941. However, Saeed Shiraz, gives Icon a separate account.

“The thin line was taken from Sophia Loren’s and Marcello Mastroianni’s Sunflower,” he says. “Set in the days of World War II, Sophia’s character, Giovanna, reaches Moscow in search of her long-lost soldier husband, living in amnesia with another woman. The scene where both wives meet for the first time is the highlight of the movie, where emotions replace words. The Italian pair of Loren and Mastroianni had worked in over a dozen superhit movies together, and Sunflower was no different.”

Nadeem and Shabnam were cast as the lead pair in Bandish while the title role of Juwita was brilliantly played by Indonesian actress Diana Christina, who won many admirers in Pakistan.

Local superstar Roy Martin was cast as a guide; he had more screen time in the Indonesian version, but was appreciated as a villain in Pakistan, despite being restricted to only a few scenes.

As the movie was simultaneously being shot in Urdu and local languages, actors Talish and Allauddin had to be replaced by local actors in Juwita, the Indonesian version of Bandish. Very few people are aware of the fact that Talat Hussain, who had a guest appearance in Bandish, never went to Indonesia. All his shots were filmed in Pakistan.

“The scene where Talat’s character Faraz finds Faisal and Juwita singing on the beach, was shot on Karachi’s Kashmir Road,” says Shiraz, the outdoor shooting organiser for the film.

Nadeem appeared on screen for the first time in a new haircut. Shabnam was natural in her acting and the scenes where she is seen roaming through Jakarta with a photo of her husband visibly brought the pain of separation from her beloved on her face. The child actor Master Aamir, was made to stay with Shabnam for a long time as it helped in substituting for his mother, a TV actor by the name of Farida.

The reason why Bandish’s music score still sounds fresh is due to the efforts of music director Robin Ghosh who, like his wife Shabnam and Nazrul Islam, hailed from Bengal. Before they left for the recce, Robin asked the team to get some folk tunes’ records from Indonesia. The music director managed to create an Eastern Asian effect in the film and did wonders by creating songs such as Hello Hello Sayangku and Tujhe dil se laga loon.

Upcoming singer A. Nayyar and established singer Nayayra Noor did a commendable job with their voices. There were two versions of Mehnaz and Mehdi Hasan’s Do pyasay dil. However, it was Akhlaq Ahmed’s only song in the movie, Sona na chandi na koi mahal, that took the spotlight. Struggling lyricist Saeed Gilani got the required boom after he penned the lyrics, which were directly from the heart.

Legend says that Robin Ghosh and Dada Nazrul were not satisfied with the options they had for the male ‘solo’ song and asked Gilani to give them something solid. Gilani’s simple yet powerful lyrics cast a spell and his words were immortalised in tune by Robin Ghosh. It resulted in a Nigar Award nomination for the singer and the composer. Gilani eventually lost to Tasleem Fazli for Mehnaz’s solo song Mujhe dil se, from the same film.

“The movie had two endings — in the first suggested ending, Juwita and Shama end up living together with Faisal, while the alternate ending saw Juwita commit suicide,” recalls Shiraz. “Maybe the production team had a little difficulty in gulping the fact that the husband could have two wives, so the other ending was used.

“However, in the Indonesian version, Shama and Juwita manage to live together with Faisal,” reminisces Shiraz, now the only surviving member of the production team that made Bandish.

Bandish’s original soundtrack, fascinating story, captivating dialogues and outstanding acting enabled the Nadeem-Shabnam starrer to run for over 75 weeks, in days when violent Punjabi movies had begun to rule the roost.

Up until 1979, only a handful of Pakistani movies were shot abroad, but Bandish opened the doors for co-productions. It allowed local filmmakers to explore the world and, in the next decade or so, Lollywood managed to make different films with actors from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Russia and even Turkey. Actor-director-producer Shamim Ara literally abandoned making movies in Pakistan and was mostly seen shooting abroad.

Bandish was released on January 11, 1980. Although it met with moderate success in Indonesia, it ran to packed houses all over Pakistan, sending a clear-cut message that nothing could stop a quality movie from being celebrated.

Even today, watching Bandish gives one goosebumps, and reminds us of the courageous decision by A.R. Shamsi and his team, who chose to fight rather than surrender to a dictator.

Like its title, Bandish ended the ‘bandish’ [constriction] of quality Urdu romantic films in Lollywood, and gave it breathing space. This not only helped it survive throughout the dark ‘80s, but also managed to keep the celluloid dream alive.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 11th, 2022