Category: Movie Review

Title of the Movie: Avtaar

Director: Mohan Kumar

Story By: Mohan Kumar

Starring: Rajesh Khanna, Shabana Azmi, Sujit Kumar, A. K. Hangal, Sachin, Gulshan Grover, Shashi Puri, Pinchoo Kapoor, Yunus Parvez

Release Date: March 11, 1983

Country: India

Language: Hindi

Age Group: MYP, IGCSE, AS & A Level, IBDP grades (10 to 18 years of age)

Genre: Social Issue/Ageism/Discrimination against the Elderly/Feminism/Women’s Issues/Economic Inequality/Income Inequality/Class Distinctions

IBDP and IGCSE Subjects Covered: Global Perspectives, Sociology, Global Perspectives and Research, Global Politics, Individuals and Societies, TOK (Theory of Knowledge), Social and Cultural Anthropology, Philosophy, and English Literature.

Review Written By: Fiza Pathan

Introduction

Nahee nahee yeh zindagi toh mehnato kaa nam hai,

Waqt hai bahut hee kam aur bada kam hai.

Kaisa yeh riwaj hai dooniya ke saraye me,

Ped jala dhup me log baithe saye me.

Marta hain admi sau bar janam leta hain,

Himmat kee kokh se avtaar janam leta hain.

नहीं-नहीं ये ज़िंदगी तो मेहनतों का नाम है,

वक़्त है बहुत ही कम और बड़ा काम है|

कैसा ये रिवाज है, दुनिया की सराय में,

पेड़ जला धूप में, लोग बैठे साए में|

मरता है आदमी, सौ बार जनम लेता है,

हिम्मत की कोख से, अवतार जनम लेता है|

No, no, this life is all about hard work,

Time is limited, yet the task is immense.

What kind of custom is this in this world’s inn?

Trees burn in the sun, while people sit in the shade!

A man dies and is reborn a hundred times,

From the womb of courage, an incarnation is born.

Song ‘Zindagi Mauj Udane’ from the Bollywood movie Avtaar (1983), lyricist Anand Bakshi

Before starting the analysis of this 1983 Bollywood social issue fiction film Avtaar, let me bring to your attention the lines from the title song, especially as sung in a heartfelt manner by the stellar scholar-singer and music legend Mahendra Kapoor. The music of the movie Avtaar, including the song, was composed by Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar (Laxmikant Pyarelal) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (Laxmikant Pyarelal). The song shows a contrast of lives, where Rajesh Khanna, as the aged Avtaar, has to slog it out in his old age with one lame hand to create a new kind of carburetor while working full-time by day as a menial garage mechanic at his ramshackle shanty or hut. Whereas, after having usurped Avtaar Kishan’s property and wealth, not to mention after ungratefully scorning his love and leaving his shadow and sacrifices for the power, glory, and wealth of the privileged or so-called privileged life, Avtaar’s two sons Ramesh and Chandar with their corrupt wives waste their father’s earnings in luxurious living, indulging in various vices and living lavishly.

Avtaar Kishan, played by Rajesh Khanna or Kaka as we in India love to call the actor, is determined to create an invention to cover all the losses he has made in the past by putting all his trust in his ungrateful and treacherous sons whom he in the past considered as his pride and joy—and most importantly—his ‘avtaar’ or his ‘instruments’ to work and come up in life as well as to create a sustainable future for the citizens of his area and then probably his country. Notice the lyrics above by Anand Bakshi, especially the last two lines sung by Mahendra Kapoor. You will notice the word ‘Avtaar’ has been played upon intricately and beautifully by the lyricist.

Avtaar there in that context of the song ‘Zindagi Mauj Udane’ means several things, and this is important for IBDP and AS & A Level students to understand the meaning of words, motifs, and word imagery in appropriate contexts to create various images in the minds of the cinematic viewer. Here, ‘Avtaar’ means:

1. Avtaar Kishan himself, who has undergone a resurrection of an existential sort akin to that of the writings of Albert Camus, but where he does not give in to despair like Nietzsche, but transcends his predicament to create something new and vital for posterity despite his many setbacks in life.

2. The innovation or the new carburetor itself, which could make a car travel at 15 km/hour instead of the earlier 10 km/hour with just 1 litre of petrol, and using this new and improved carburetor. This seemingly slight improvement would have been spectacular in 1983, when the movie was released, and, in the story, Avtaar Kishan becomes rich by successfully developing and obtaining a patent for this new carburetor. He then starts a successful business manufacturing engine parts based on this invention, eventually building an industrial empire called Avtaar Industries along with Sewak Industries and Radha Industries, which were his two sister industries named after his faithful adopted son, Man-Friday Sewak, and his dutiful wife Radha, played by critically acclaimed Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi. So, through hard work and sheer perseverance, a new invention is created whose ownership, unlike that of human children, goes directly to the maker or creator of the invention, or ‘avtaar.’

3. The deliberate and conscious descent of a fully liberated, divine being or the Supreme Being itself into the material realm for the spiritual upliftment of humanity and the restoration of cosmic order, which is defined by the same Sanskrit word ‘Avtaar.’ Such a being comes into the world only after many reincarnations, as mentioned in Hindu philosophy, especially the many Dharmashastras, as mentioned in Category 1: Ancient Philosophy and Texts of the NEP 2020 Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) Plan. Avtaar Kishan seems to be such an ‘Avtaar’ because not only does he develop a new carburetor but also starts a nationwide movement to create many activity and vocational training homes for the elderly and hospices for them, which in totality was called ‘Apna Ghar.’ This revolutionizes the way the elderly were looked at in Indian society of the 1980s, and after his sad demise, his bereaved wife continues his legacy and manages to install at the end of the movie an ‘Apna Ghar’ institution in every corner of India.

4. An inner transformation akin to ones done by following the Yogic path or practicing yoga, living and working in Christian retreat centers, relocating to a Buddhist, Jain, or Catholic monastery, or by simply looking beyond the many external frills and fancies of the materialistic and fickle-minded world—and creating a new life for oneself. This would be similar to the Biblical allusion of a Resurrection Principle in English literature where death and rebirth were not required to transcend the materialistic but a simple inner transformation through perseverance, hard work, dedication to one’s vocation and studies and, not to mention, closing the distance between you and your ego, leading to a person becoming a new creation or being. And the second resurrected self, as the IBDP subject Philosophy teaches us, is always better than the former first life!

5. In a new style or new ‘avtaar’ in the way Rajesh Khanna or Avtaar Kishan appeared in the wake of the success of his new invention. The focus is on the sub-topic or theme of ‘patent’ or ‘parent’—a meaningful, almost satirical alliteration with postmodern influences in its presentation. The indication is that, where the lower-middle-class garage car mechanic Avtaar had once, as it were, thought he had ‘patented’ his two ‘avtaars’ or his two sons, he realized they were treacherous and not worthy of his love, care, sacrifices, and money. He thought that by just being their father or ‘parent,’ which almost rhymes in the IB or IGCSE sense with ‘patent,’ he automatically could rely on them and trust them with his life, and they would be his reward for the love he had showered upon them. However, he was wrong in that regard, and so when the time came for his ‘resurrection’ through his new invention, with the help of his mentor and Parsee employer Bawaji, played by Sujit Kumar, Rajesh Khanna or Avtaar this time makes sure that he patents his invention lest it too is treacherous to him and his elderly wife Radha or Shabana Azmi. Thus, this time, he becomes super-rich and one of the most influential and richest industrialists of India. He appears in a new ‘avtaar’ or new style, but with his old charm and value system intact, examples—he still smokes his old poor brand of cigarettes and takes them on hire from the paanwala and his old friend Ram Dulare Chaurasia played by Yunus Parvez, still eats on the ground like he did when he was poor, still meets up with his old friends like Ram Dulare Chaurasia and his best friend, a Muslim elderly gentleman called Rashid Ahmed Mia played by A. K. Hangal, etc. The non-living avatar, therefore, was more loyal than the two living ‘avtaars.’

With this introductory analysis of the song and the title of the movie, inadvertently, we now commence with a detailed analysis of the 1983 Bollywood Hindi movie titled ‘Avtaar.’ The film was a box office success and was nominated in many categories at the 31st Filmfare Awards. Rajesh Khanna, for his convincing performance, was awarded the All-India Critics Association (AICA) Best Actor Award. The producer of the film was Mohan Kumar himself, and K. K. Mahajan, a well-known figure in parallel and mainstream cinema, handled the cinematography. The music for the film was composed by the superhit duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and Emkay Pictures produced the movie. The performances of Rajesh Khanna and Shabana Azmi were highly acclaimed, and the non-linear, fragmentary movement of time, along with the many scenes and episodes in the film, made it a highly skilled, early example of postmodernist cinematography and storytelling in Bollywood. Though the non-linear storytelling was not there to indicate trauma per se, it was merely there to replicate the human thought processes of Radha, the grieving elderly wife of Avtaar Kishan, who experiences several varied emotions at once while she at the beginning and then at the end of the film garlands Avtaar’s bust outside the latest Apna Ghar home for the aged institute and recreational-cum-vocational center. It highlights the theme of realistic flashbacks by a flawed female protagonist or a controversial female protagonist, making the 1983 film ‘Avtaar’ more than just a mundane story of an aged couple who have gone through hell in the course of trying to keep their family together and who face the social evil of ageism as well as ostracism and discrimination against the elderly. This aspect is also seen in a parallel setup in the life of Avtaar’s best friend, Rashid Ahmed Mia. But where Rashid Mia has no agency in him and is pushed around by all and sundry because of his old age, Avtaar shows not only a great sense of agency for himself but also for his best friend as he rehabilitates Rashid Mia into the first Apna Ghar for the elderly and destitute. This is thus important for IBDP and AS & A Level literature students, especially for analyzing the sense of agency of all the characters in this film.

Plot

Radha Kishan is elderly and surrounded by her two sons, their wives, her husband’s old friends, and her husband’s mentor and boss. She is standing outside the latest Apna Ghar, which was the brainchild of her late husband, to build a shelter, hospice, recreational home, and, most importantly, a vocational training and work-house-cum-home, or center for the elderly. He especially instituted this institution called Apna Ghar or ‘Our Own House’ because of the treachery he received from his two sons once he and his wife grew old. Radha goes on to recall her past and her life with her husband, the genius inventor Avtaar Kishan, which she does in non-linear flashbacks of a very fragmentary nature, imitating the postmodernist style of trauma narration in cinematography, very usual for the personage of parallel cinema cinematographer K. K. Mahajan of the ‘Swami’ fame, also starring Shabana Azmi. Radha remembers her 25th wedding anniversary spent with her husband, who chooses his ‘me-time’ over working overtime at the garage where he works constantly, fixing cars almost miraculously and thereby day by day establishing his genius and ethical sense of honesty and dedicated service to his employer, mentor, and great supporter, the Parsee Bawaji. He is asked to fix a car for a reputed businessman, Seth Laxmi Narayan, but Avtaar wishes to spend that evening with his wife. While spending the evening with her, they recall, or rather Radha recalls, their youth 25 years ago, when she was a wealthy industrialist’s only daughter and when she fell in love with the young and dashing Avtaar Kishan, but who was merely a genius garage mechanic as he was still post-25 years on. Though poor Avtaar had captured Radha’s heart, her father, Seth Jugal Kishore, locks her up in her room in the quintessential Bollywood manner, ordering the couple never to wed. He tries to buy Avtaar’s love by asking him to put any amount on a blank check. Avtaar, disgusted by Radha’s father’s cheap antic, pricks his index finger in the usual filmy fashion, writes Radha’s name on the dotted line, and demands that the Seth ‘honor’ his cheque and hand his paramour, Radha, to him, her consort ‘Kishan.’ The Seth, instead, is furious like most rich fathers of Bollywood heroines are, and he beats Rajesh Khanna black and blue. However, Radha finally leaves her wealth, prestige, and father behind forever and marries Avtaar. She never regrets her decision to leave her father’s home, and their 25-year marriage remains happy. They then come back to the evening of their 25th wedding anniversary and spend a night in each other’s arms.

The next day, we realize that the so-called Seth Laxmi Narayan, whose car needed to be fixed and who does eventually get his car fixed by the talented Avtaar Kishan, is actually the elitist and controlling, not to mention corrupt, father of Renu Narayan who is the girlfriend of Avtaar’s younger son Chandar Kishan, who is still unmarried and studying at college. Both the parent parties learn of the two lovers, and both are quite ready to marry them off to each other. However, Seth Laxmi Narayan’s wish was that Chandar should become a son-in-law who resided with his father-in-law, not with his parents. This system in India is called the ‘Ghar-Jamai’ system, where Chandar would be called the ‘Ghar-Jamai’ or the son-in-law who lives in his wife’s house instead of her living with his parents in his house. Seth Laxmi Narayan felt it would be advisable to do so because he had grown fond of Chandar like a son and believed that Chandar had no future living with his poor or lower-middle-class parents in their old house, which also housed Sewak, the elder boy Ramesh, and his wife Sudha Kishan. This may seem like a small inconvenience to a person in India or in the world today, but back in 1983, such a setup would make the boy and his family the laughingstock in India and among his distant cousins because of the intricately patriarchal setup of a Hindu family. However, there is more than just mere patriarchy involved in Avtaar Kishan’s refusal to let the alliance take place on those conditions—there is the stronger case of class divisions and economic inequality between the rich and the poor evident in the way the father of Renu dismisses Avtaar’s family off as not an appropriate place for his daughter to live or his son-in-law to live in or with as well. The Seth does not actually respect his in-laws; he is just tolerating them for the sake of his only daughter and wants to buy Chandar’s love and be the ‘parent’ or ‘male parent’ or buy the ‘patent’ (see the repeated play of the theme patency!) of Chandar from Avtaar, who has brought Chandar up with his own sweat and blood—to now benefit the family of another instead of being loyal to the father of his youth who sacrificed so much to educate, nourish, and bring him up to such a level that he was considered being worthy of being ‘bought’ like a non-living thing or machine by Seth Laxmi Narayan.

Radha then recalls the time when, where her elder son was concerned, the day he was about to die as an infant, when all else failed, his young parents Avtaar and Radha took the dying infant to Vaishno Devi Ma so that, through her miraculous powers, the child might be healed. This is a very moving part of the movie, which most moviegoers from that time remember fondly because of the Bhakti angle, the catchy sacred hymn to Vaishno Devi, and the theme that the Kishan couple are also realistically depicted like most parents who go to all kinds of suffering and extremes and make all kinds of sacrifices for the life of their child. The realistic depiction of the difficulties Avtaar and Radha endure on their way to the Vaishno Devi Peetha Temple in the mountains during the height of winter is the height of excellent acting, cinematography, and, of course, direction. The pain is evidenced in the faces of both Rajesh Khanna and, of course, Shabana Azmi. Their bare feet are covered in blood or wrapped in bandages that are tearing or falling apart, and their climb is rough and tiring. This scene resonates well with the audience, and finally, we see that, through a miracle, baby Ramesh is instantly cured.

However, fast-track back to 25 years later after Ramesh’s miraculous cure, he starts to ill-treat his parents by not putting their names as owners of their own home, mismanaging the finances of the house in favor of himself and his selfish wife, and also dares not to book tickets for his elderly parents to make a pilgrimage back again to Vaishno Devi Mata’s Chowk where he himself was saved from certain death. Later, Avtaar’s younger son also revolts against his father and walks out of his life and house forever to be ‘adopted’ by Seth Laxmi Narayan as his son-in-law and business partner. Afterwards, Avtaar also sees Ramesh’s treachery and is forced to witness the ever-faithful Sewak also being accused of robbery by Ramesh’s money-hungry wife, all because poor Sewak, played by Marathi blockbuster actor and famous television director Sachin, broke the safe’s lock to get 50 rupees. He did so to get some medicine for Radha, who was ailing after Chandar left the house in a huff, having rejected his parents and their relationship with him merely because he craved the wealth and prestige of Seth Laxmi Narayan. Sewak is repeatedly accused of thievery by Ramesh’s wife, Sudha. In the bargain, Avtaar leaves the house he built with his own hands without anything, except his wife, Radha, and Sewak, his faithful adopted son and Man-Friday.

Thus begins the lavish living and expenditures of the traitor sons Chandar and Ramesh with their wives as they waste everything that their father held dear and neglected all the sacrifices he had made for them, including the selling of his wife’s simple gold bangles which indeed was the last relic of her mother-in-law whom she revered, especially for having coaxed Radha and Avtaar many years ago to visit Vaishno Devi Ma to cure the infant Ramesh. This reckless spending and waste go on with the two young boys, while Avtaar, in his old age, starts from scratch and opens his own ramshackle garage with Sewak. He works like a dog in the heat of the sun at 50-plus in the day, and at night with Sewak or alone, he works on his pet project, a new invention or ‘avtaar’—the carburetor. Years or maybe months pass, and Avtaar achieves success. He applies for the ‘patent’ or the ‘patency of his invention’ and thus rightfully earns what he deserves for his hard work: becoming one of the country’s biggest industrialists.

His two sons, on the other hand, have wasted most of what they had. An avenging Avtaar to teach his two sons a lesson on how not to neglect one’s parents when they grow old, or to highlight the truth in the proverb ‘what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,’ refuses to help them. In the bargain, Ramesh is jailed for money-laundering, Chandar and his father-in-law go bankrupt, Ramesh is without a job, Chandar is thrown out of Seth Laxmi Narayan’s house, life, and business, Renu breaks her frivolous marriage with Chandar, Ramesh is without money, and now both the boys are left destitute. They come to Radha to ask for her aid, and she gives in to them, to the horror of her husband, Avtaar. He tries to refute her motherly claims about the two ungrateful sons, to which she calls him heartless and, for the first time in her life, talks back to Avtaar in a cruel manner that cuts him to the core. He immediately gets a heart attack and dies in the midst of Radha and his children, but after having written his will where he requested Radha to create in every urban and rural area in India an ‘Apna Ghar’ or institute, and not to stop till every elderly person had an ‘Apna Ghar’ to go to in case like Rashid Mia and Avtaar, their parenthood is rejected, their property is confiscated, and they are left destitute because of their children’s abuse. He also orders that his funeral pyre will not be set alight by either Ramesh or Chandar, but by his adopted and ever-faithful son Sewak who had always stood by him and who also gave his blood for money at a blood bank several times to get the equipment or tools required by the then destitute 50+ Avtaar to start his own garage in his ramshackle hut and to start working on his new invention.

Radha is heartbroken when Avtaar passes away, because she realized that it was he who had secretly given money for Ramesh’s bail from prison for her sake through his mentor Bawaji. Bawaji tells her that Avtaar did this because he could not bear to see Radha cry over Ramesh’s plight, and so gave him the money to bail Ramesh out of jail, so that, once the case appeared in court, Ramesh would probably avoid an even worse prison sentence. Radha’s mind returns to the present, where she stands with the garland before Avtaar’s bust. She garlands him with a dazed look in her eyes, indicating the postmodernist sense of an almost existential crisis for Radha which she lives every day of her life while she goes about the whole of India seeing to it that an Apna Ghar is established in every nook and corner of the country—because a mother could forget what her children had done to her, but Avtaar their father and first sole breadwinner of the family could never forget the pain he and his wife endured on being left destitute because of the treachery and abuse of their adult children, simply because they were elderly and they trusted their ‘patents’ or their ‘parentage’ more than reality, the reality that elderly parents cannot trust their adult children anymore in India and that the elderly across the country are abused in various ways by their adult children.

Movie Analysis

‘कैसा ये रिवाज है, दुनिया की सराय में,

पेड़ जला धूप में, लोग बैठे साए में|

What kind of custom is this in this world’s inn?

Trees burn in the sun, while people sit in the shade.’

Song ‘Zindagi Mauj Udane’ from the Bollywood movie Avtaar (1983), lyricist Anand Bakshi

‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.’

Greek Proverb

‘To honor our elders is to honor the roots that hold us upright.’

African Proverb

If you notice in most of Indian cinema, whether it be the 1983 blockbuster hit Avtaar or the 2003 status quo-breaking film on the elderly titled Baghban, you see that India is very obsessed with trees. You see tree imagery, motifs, and allusions, all linked with elderly abuse or discrimination against the elderly or aged cinema. We see the tree motif and others here too in the movie Avtaar because not merely in the idea of a father begetting his sons through his sperm or ‘seed’ but also that the ‘seed’ of an idea to generate growth or sustainable growth that benefits all and is for the betterment of all appears in Avtaar or the brain of Avtaar like a seed which would later ‘grow’ into the invention or ‘avtaar’ the non-living. You see, therefore, that Rajesh Khanna or Avtaar Kishan is a farmer twice in life, once when he begets his children and in the second life after he begets his invention.

The ‘seed’ of the ‘invention’ grows into a ‘fruit-bearing’ tree that points directly to the roots that nourished it and gave it life. This is the non-living providing testimony to the roots or the farmer that gave it birth. Whereas Chandar and Ramesh, who came from the womb of Radha, are ‘seeds’ who bore ‘weeds’ and not ‘fruit-bearing plants or trees.’ These weeds did not know their father or mother, nor acknowledge them; in fact, they abused them and then forced their father to become destitute without a roof over his head. I can write a whole MA level thesis on this topic of ‘farmer,’ ‘seed,’ ‘tree,’ and ‘fruit’ etc., but for now, we will focus on only certain aspects useful for AS & A Level students and IBDP students worldwide in the subject area of English Literature, English proper, and the other Humanities subjects I can teach efficiently and effectively at these levels right from the MYP level to the IBDP and AS & A Level.

So I will focus merely on the ‘Biblical allusions’ of the movie Avtaar as not only an authority in English literature but also an expert in theology, religious studies, and philosophy. This ‘seed-weed-fruit’ idea is nothing but the entirety of Matthew’s Gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ, from his time in Galilee to his journey to Jerusalem. The tree parables of Jesus appear several times in all four Gospels, no doubt, but they appear first and in their total fullness (like a fruitful fig tree) in the Gospel of Matthew, which Vatican Biblical theologians have now reconsidered to have indeed been the first Gospel ever written and not Mark as it was thought post the Second Vatican Council.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ theology is very simple—the fruit does not tell you about itself, but about the tree that bore it. If it is tasty and sweet, then the tree was a good tree, worthy of being kept and nurtured. If the fruit was bitter and overripe, that speaks to the nature of the tree—or its roots—as in my African proverb above. Such trees need to be cut down and burnt. But Avtaar and Radha were good trees that gave birth to well-educated and well-brought-up children. However, this Biblical motif in Avtaar goes deeper, because though the fruit was good, it did not ‘point’ or ‘witness’ to the sufferings and sacrifices of the ‘tree’ or the ‘roots.’ Chandar decided to be adopted by Seth Laxmi Narayan, while Ramesh disowned his father and mother from their own money and property and put it all in the name of his wife! The topic of ‘witness’ in English at the IBDP level is very important, so students must take note of this aspect. The fruit was good and pleasant to eat, but they did not witness, testify, or give credit to their parents or their tree or roots for their goodness.

Thus, Avtaar realizes in the words of Matthew’s Jesus, that he thought he had planted seeds which would bear good fruit, but then he realized that some enemies, like Seth Laxmi Narayan or Sudha or Renu, had come in the night when Avtaar’s back was turned and had grown ‘weeds’ with his ‘good crop.’ And now, at harvest time or when he was elderly and wanted the fruits of his hard work, he sees the weeds have come up with the good crop, thus corrupting them. Also, he realizes, in the words of Jesus, that he had invariably sown ‘bad seed’ that were ‘choked’ by the wealth, power, prestige, and pleasures of this world, and so died before they could see the light, in turn bankrupting the farmer. Jesus always focuses on the seed and the plant that grows in the parable of the Sower, but he forgets the poor plight of the Sower, or the Baghban, to get his message across after the Beelzebub accusation.

But one must never forget Baghban, because ‘Rab hai Baghban’ (God is the Farmer!)—and to forget your parents is to ignore your God, your own dignity, your heritage, and your truth—let alone humanity! We can see many of these tree parable Biblical allusions cropping up in Avtaar and taking on a life of their own throughout the movie; Mohan Kumar’s film is rich in this Biblical motif.

Then the tree imagery as probably a banyan tree that gives shade to the helpless, like Avtaar and Radha gave shelter to Ramesh at Vaishno Devi when he was dying and left for dead by the medical fraternity or like Radha in the name of Vaishno Devi gave her precious golden bangles owned first by her mother-in-law to Avtaar so that he could fund Ramesh’s entry into the world of banking to become a big officer in the bank, but eventually a corrupt one.

Jesus narrates various tree parables to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew; some have been noted for you here: The Sower (Matthew 13:3-9), The Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), The Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32), The Leaven (Yeast) (Matthew 13:33), The Barren Fig Tree (Matthew 21:18-22), The Fig Tree (Budding) (Matthew 24:32-35) and Good and Bad Trees (Matthew 7:16-20). All these can be indirectly or directly noticed in the movie Avtaar.

Another significant Biblical allusion that is identifiable over here in this movie would be the main social issue being tackled in the film, that is, ageism, or abuse or discrimination of the elderly. In the Bible and in every Christian tradition, prime importance is given to the young respecting their elderly parents, especially when the so-called elderly parents are now dependents of the adult son or daughter. Since this movie primarily focuses on a patriarchal family setup, which is a sociological issue and a quandary in itself, we will ignore that theme for now and focus mainly on parents who reside with their sons by blood and the wives of their sons. Even though the parents are elderly and dependents, the Bible and Christian theology of any denomination will condemn any abuse of the elderly and reinforces every day at church service or Mass respectively about the importance of honoring one’s parents and especially elderly parents; especially when they are no longer in their senses or in control of their senses and are deteriorating in health or are so ill and crippled by their old age that they cannot work anymore, then the Christian adult of the house should remember the time when he was nourished by the parent when he was a helpless and dependent child. Just as the father and mother of the adult then carried him faithfully upon their backs as a happy burden, or rather a joy, so also must the adult son now do for his parents in gratitude. His reward then will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Honoring parents is of such prime importance in Christianity and in the Bible that it is even part of the Ten Commandments of God, which Yahweh, or the Hebrew God, wrote with his own finger on two tablets of stone for Israel to remember.

The following are some Biblical readings pertaining to respect for the elderly, especially aged parents:

‘Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.’

Exodus 20:12

‘And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.’

Exodus 21:15

‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ ‘And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!”

Deuteronomy 27:16

‘The eye that mocks his father,
And scorns obedience to his mother,
The ravens of the valley will pick it out,
And the young eagles will eat it.’

Proverbs 30:17

‘Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.’

Proverbs 23:22

‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Ephesians 6:1-3

‘Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.’

Psalm 71:9

‘O son, help your father in his old age,
and do not grieve him as long as he lives;
even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance;
in all your strength do not despise him.
For kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
and against your sins it will be credited to you.’

Sirach 3:12-14

‘For the Lord honored the father above the children,
and he confirmed the right of the mother over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and whoever glorifies his mother is like one
who lays up treasure.
Whoever honors his father will be gladdened
by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard.
Whoever glorifies his father will have long life,
and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother.’

Sirach 3:2-6

This theme, therefore, is central to Christian Biblical theology. But in the movie Avtaar, the elderly parents of Ramesh and Chandar, after their 25th wedding anniversary, are scorned, cheated of their rights, their property, their money, their home, and even their rights as parents of their two ungrateful sons. The sons are eventually punished for their crimes against their parents, but in a postmodern setting, we see elements that suggest the complex nature of the relationships among all these characters, especially between Avtaar and Radha. That is when the next social issue arises: patriarchy, and the feminist stance Radha finally takes towards the end of the film for her rights and wishes.

We realize then the complex nature of the plot of this movie. We realize that, in fact, Ramesh did not necessarily order Avtaar and Radha, or even Sewak, to leave the house; he only put all the money and property in his wife’s name and reminded Avtaar that he could stay with them as long as he wished. Avtaar, in rage and with a broken spirit, in a huff, left the house and, taking the hand of Radha, he led her out of the house gates without even asking her opinion on the matter, whether she actually wished to leave the house forever with him or not. Sewak faithfully is not coaxed by Avtaar to follow him, but he does so, indicating his undying loyalty to his master and adopted father.

We realize later that Radha probably, at that moment, felt like a calf or a ‘dumb calf’ being led by her cowherd away from her cowshed without her consent. She does not question nor refute Avtaar’s authority over her at that time and quietly follows Avtaar out of the house with the ever-faithful Sewak. Towards the end of the movie, we tend to wonder whether Radha would have actually left the house if she had been given a choice, or if her husband had deigned to ask her opinion on the matter. One tends to think that Radha would not have left the house and would have rather stayed like an unpaid servant in the home of her son Ramesh, now overruled by her vindictive and vicious daughter-in-law.

We see therefore in the realm of AS & A Level as well as the IBDP English literature a weird sort of complex ‘dance’ of sorts of the agency factor displayed by Shabana Azmi or Radha in the 1983 Mohan Kumar-directed film Avtaar. She has agency to taunt and challenge her husband when she wants to unite the family together and allow her impoverished and almost destitute sons to live under the same roof as Avtaar and her. However, she lacked agency when Avtaar led her like a helpless, dumb calf or sheep away from her home. She meekly just followed him, a submissive Hindu wife who follows wherever her husband takes her. However, this is contradictory to Radha when she was young, and when she then had a strong sense of agency when she left or abandoned her father’s wealth, vast empire, and mansion for good to live as Avtaar’s wife forever and never to look back.

The theme therefore of the submissive patriarchal-dominated Hindu wife emerges here, and probably most people in the audience would have (like me!) hated Radha for accusing Avtaar of ruling over her and being selfish or ‘heartless’ where her opinions and feelings about her relationship with her sons were concerned, but in hindsight, we realize as scholars of sociology at the AS & A Level and the IBDP level that she was right and bold to stand up for her opinion on this particular matter.

This, therefore, is a strong feminist theme, hard to digest, but cannot be ignored. Perhaps if the movie instead was an Arundhati Roy literary fiction novel like ‘The God of Small Things’ or like the latest international bestseller ‘The Covenant of Water’ by Abraham Verghese or my perennial favorite ‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri, there may have been no vindication for Avtaar the leading hero of this film by Radha finding out that it was he who aided in the speedy release of Ramesh from prison. It happened in this Bollywood film, probably because, among other things, heroes in those days, such as Rajesh Khanna, were always shown in an almost divine, righteous, and highly moralistic light, akin to the Victorian novels of the whole 19th century. A director or scriptwriter in India or Bollywood could not portray Rajesh Khanna, of all people, as being demonized or accused by his wife, who throughout the film seemed like his mute shadow, with no willpower or personality of her own, apart from that which she shared with her husband as his wife.

I can even picture Rajesh Khanna himself probably indicating to his director Mohan Kumar to add that crucial detail in the plot or the script to vindicate him, lest the postmodernist ethos of the movie does not go down well with the Gen-X moviegoers of that day, who wished to see a ‘Ram-like flawless hero’ and not a character with shades of gray, like was shown in the controversial Rajesh Khanna movie ‘Red Rose’ which bombed at the box office, though its Tamil version with Sridevi and Kamal Hassan was a superhit called ‘Sigappu Rojakkal.’ ‘Red Rose’ starring Rajesh Khanna was released in the year 1980 and it failed; I can picture Kaka not wanting to make such a mistake again and so wanting his character to be somewhat vindicated and yet, since I am aware Kaka was a thorough intellectual and great lover of modernist as well as postmodernist theatre, art and, of course, Hindi literature, he must have requested the vindication to be somewhat ambiguous leaving the thinking audience in the cinema theater perplexed at the end more than comforted.

We see this element in the way, at the climax, Shabana Azmi seems to be startled out of a frightening dream rather than fond memories of her life with her husband, and then, almost in a hurry to get away from the situation, she garlands his bust. In the bust itself, Rajesh Khanna, or Avtaar, seems to stare at Radha, accusingly yet tenderly, as if quizzing her about the futile nature of all family relationships, love, the nurturing of children by a father, and, of course, his wife’s real thoughts about him, Avtaar Kishan.

We notice in the climax that, even behind Radha, Renu too stands with Chandar, Ramesh, and Sudha, all those whom Avtaar hated and despised and did not forgive, even on his deathbed. I can almost see Kaka with gifted director and writer Mohan Kumar reflecting over the way Avtaar the character would have been pained every time an Apna Ghar would be instituted in every part of India, because he would see all that he stood against yet again invariably bearing the fruits of a tree who did not get to enjoy his own shade and so in death yet again was left destitute, this time by his own wife.

‘कैसा ये रिवाज है, दुनिया की सराय में,

पेड़ जला धूप में, लोग बैठे साए में|

What kind of custom is this in this world’s inn?

Trees burn in the sun, while people sit in the shade.’

Song ‘Zindagi Mauj Udane’ from the Bollywood movie Avtaar (1983), lyricist Anand Bakshi

Yet again, the now rich but dying and then dead Avtaar Kishan only slaved, but his sons, who did not serve him even once properly while he lived and slogged, yet again received the benefit of his ‘shade.’

That is why I state that the Biblical parable or allusion to the ‘tree’ seems to face-punch a viewer of the 1983 movie Avtaar every time Rajesh Khanna is betrayed in multiple ways by the family he thought was his ‘avtaar.’

Other Points of Note

When Avtaar Kishan wants to restore an old, expensive car to its former glory to fund his son Chandar’s MBA education, he manages to fix it, but in the bargain, after many sleepless nights, he dozes off on duty, and his right hand is brutally cut. It is then in the hospital that he realizes that he can never use his right hand again. Notice that at first he decides to sit idle at home or ‘retire’ now from service, like someone getting forced to take an early VRS (nobody ever does this willingly, especially in our poor country!). But after he leaves his house, he learns to use his left hand (his weak hand)to do everything his right hand used to do. My point is that nowhere in the film does Rajesh Khanna state that his ‘right hand’ was his real ‘avtaar.’ He generously gave that credit in the hospital to his two sons, who later were treacherous. Probably, he knew he could use his left hand to work with his cars just through sheer determination and perseverance, but he thought he would not have to go through that struggle because of the ‘beej’ or the ‘seeds’ or his ‘sons’ which he had sown in the heart of his house. But that obviously backfired. Yet again, though, when he was destitute, no importance was given to the left hand either as an ‘avtaar.’ I found that highly commendable and a sign of resilience or a kind of transcendence over the physicality of a maimed hand or a weak body, evident in this movie. This is thus a vibrant Albert Camus concept taken from two of his books, ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ and ‘The Rebel.’ I have taught students at IBDP-1 Podar International School, Santacruz, about both these books and the existential concept of transcendence; please check the lesson plan on this website portfolio. I have just completed my PGCITE course from Podar International School, Santacruz, under the mentorship of Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am.

I have mentioned before that Rashid Mia is a parallel sub-topic or theme in this movie, echoing or prophesying to the audience what will also happen to Avtaar Kishan. Rashid Mia, or the ever-virtuous, but always the victim in dire or sore distress, A. K. Hangal replicates victimhood in the movie rather than agency or transcendence. He is the ultimate existential-suffering soul element in this movie, who is totally vanquished by suffering but is uplifted not by his own agency but by the aid of his best friend, Avtaar Kishan. The idea that victimhood and suffering make someone stronger is seen in the existential writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, which is, yet again, important for IBDP students of English as well as philosophy.

The consistent theme of religious harmony in this 1983 movie is conveyed through multiple characters who are friends but come from different religious communities. There is a UP Hindu Paanwala Ram Dulare Chaurasia, then a middle-class banker or white-collar Muslim Rashid Ahmed Mia, then the mentor of Avtaar and his boss, who is a vivacious Parsee called Bawaji (played by actor Sujit Kumar, who is invariably always the mentor and close ally of Rajesh Khanna in most of his superhit films). The 1970s and the 1980s in Bollywood cinema were the times when, indeed, communal harmony and love were celebrated in this typical manner. Most individuals or moviegoers who have lived on these films find it difficult, nay impossible, to comprehend the banal and toxic religious intolerance in cinema in the current era, which I term as globally ‘The Second Dark Age.’ Think of Bollywood movies like ‘Amar, Akbar, Anthony,’ ‘Naseeb,’ ‘Shankar Hussain,’ ‘Noorie,’ and you’ll comprehend what I mean. This era also marks the birth of one of my favorite genres of cinema, namely parallel cinema.

The Vaishno Devi Mata Chowk angle to the movie

This angle is very important for the NEP 2020 Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and those international schools or IGCSE or IB schools that have opted for subjects in Category 1, that is, ANCIENT INDIAN PHILOSOPHY and TEXTS. This topic about the Vaishno Devi Mata Chowk angle falls under the Puranas, especially the Shiva Purana and the more popular Shrimad Devi Bhagavatam. This focuses on the story of how Sati immolated herself to rid herself of her father’s body that was given to her because her father, Daksha, had insulted her husband, Bhagwan Shivji, or Lord Shiva, during his Daksha Yajna. After she, through Yogic powers, immolated herself willfully, Lord Shiva mourned her loss in the form of Bhairava, who was practically destroying not only the earth but the entire cosmos by his perpetual mourning for Sati. To stop his mourning period and to save the cosmos, Lord Vishnu, with the help of his Sudarshan Chakra, cut the dead body of Sati into 51 parts, which fell upon several different places on the earth, especially around the Indian subcontinent. The places where the separate body parts of Sati fell became known as Shakta Peethas, or Shrines to the Goddess Shakti. These shrines, to date, are pilgrimage destinations for all devotees of the Mother Goddess and the Shakti power in various avatars. The movie’s Vaishno Devi Mata Chowk is home to the skull and right arm of Sati and is located in Jammu and Kashmir. DID YOU GET IT?!—the right arm and the skull—the right hand of Avtaar or Rajesh Khanna in the movie, and his skull or brain, which was constantly watched over, blessed, and I’m sure even created and nourished by Vaishno Devi Mata, bringing a significant and crucial beautiful Hinduism allusion to this 1983 Bollywood movie. The BRAIN that invented the ‘Avtaar’ not of Lord Bhairava who did the Tandava Dance, but the ‘avtaar’ that is the carburetor. Mata Vaishno Devi blessed the left hand of Avtaar with her miraculous right hand to invent his machine, and even earlier to save infant Ramesh from certain death. I’m sure the Vaishno Devi devotees in the theater many decades ago did not overlook that element of the plot, which made the movie a superhit. It ultimately became a mainstream Hindi Bollywood movie that almost resembled the rich existential and even religious movies of early parallel cinema. Therefore, one can see this part of the movie from a strong Hindu scriptural angle, focusing on the holy Puranas, which are part of the ‘Epic Literature’ section of the NEP 2020 Knowledge Systems (IKS) Policy. I am offering to teach and create a curriculum, as well as content-based lesson plans and secondary resources, not only for the Puranas but for the entirety of Category 1, as well as other categories and subjects I offer and am highly proficient in.

Conclusion

In conclusion, many topics of interest have been covered regarding the AS & A Level, the IBDP subjects of the International Board, and the NEP 2020 Policy through this movie review-cum-analysis of Rajesh Khanna (Kaka) starrer ‘Avtaar.’ It was a movie that has always focused on ageism or discrimination against the elderly; I also thought it best to bring out some of the other aspects of this seminal 1980s Bollywood film, which I don’t often see content creators online talking about. This fuels critical thinking among International Board students easily and is perfect for TOK questions and extension essays under the main heading of The Arts. I hope to watch and analyze more great films in the coming days and weeks.

Special Note

If you are interested in some book reviews, indie author interviews, book analyses, short story analyses, poems, essays, essay analyses, and other bookish content, check out my blog, insaneowl.com. If you are interested in purchasing my books, you can check the products page of my blog or on Amazon. There is a lot of good stuff to buy! Happy reading to you always!

©2025 Fiza Pathan