Long & short of story, Bedi was special

Vandana Shukla

One of the most versatile voices among the 20th century Progressive writers, Rajinder Singh Bedi took to writing fiction in Urdu long before the language became a divisive tool in the hands of politics. Urdu came naturally to him, as it would to anyone born in Sialkot (village Dhalli-ki, now in Pakistan) before Partition. 

Urdu was the language of sophistication, of literature, in the early 20th century. In Bedi’s writings, it underwent a metamorphosis, the way history of the people of this unusual era did, to emerge stronger yet more malleable and democratic. 

(From left) Progressive Movement writers Sultana Jafri, Ismat Chughtai, Vishwamittra Aadil, Ali Sardar Jafri, Krishan Chander, Mahendranath, Mumtaz Hussain, Rajinder Singh Bedi and (in the front) Sahir Ludhianvi and Habib Tanvir in 1946. (Picture from Manjula Negi’s book Ismat Chughtai: A Fearless Voice)

His Urdu assimilated the rustic, regional flavour, as it was spoken by the characters that breathe through his 72 short stories written over a span of 50 years. Partition had changed the landscape of trust and love for the uprooted people like Bedi, yet love for the zubaan remained a unifying factor among writers like Krishan Chander, Upendranath Ashk and Bedi. Ashk, who switched to writing in Hindi later, was the one who reviewed Bedi’s first story published in Lahore titled Hamdosh, and a life-long bond was struck between two great writers, who also remained the worst critics of each other’s creative pursuits.

Even though he was seven years elder, Ashk looked up to Bedi with reverence and wrote a commemorative book as a tribute to one of the greatest Urdu fiction writers, playwright, script and dialogue writer and film director titled Bedi — Mera Humdum Mera Dost. 

Such deep bonding among contemporary writers may have become a myth, but Bedi continues to be celebrated by the lovers of Urdu literature, even though a majority of people are introduced to his writings through translations and celluloid depiction of his stories. 

His career in films as a scriptwriter and dialogue writer of several memorable classics of Hindi cinema like Mirza Ghalib, Devdas, Abhimaan, Anupama, Satyakam and Madhumati often overshadows the writer of literature, who was termed the “king of themes” by his contemporaries. After briefly working as the director of the Jammu and Kashmir Broadcasting Service, he moved to Bombay, post-Partition. 

He had established himself as a prolific writer by then, with two short story collections Daan-O-Daam (The Catch), featuring his prominent story Garam Coat (Warm Coat) published in 1940, and Grehan (The Eclipse) in 1942.

Bedi himself never undervalued his writing for films. Writers were barely paid royalty even for their popular books by the publishers. Most established writers like Manto and Sahir Ludhianvi wrote for films, a few worked as teachers to dedicate themselves to the service of literature. In an interview. Bedi said, “I came to films as a matter of despair simply because there was nothing else to do. It was a matter of earning a livelihood. I didn’t come with the attitude that all these people were churning foolishness.”

He maintained a fine balance between the two; honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965 for Ek Chadar Maili Si — a novella based on the practice of levirate marriage (in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry the widow) in Punjab — Bedi wanted to make a film on it in the 1960s with Geeta Bali and Dharmendra in the lead, but with the sudden death of Geeta Bali the project was shelved. Several other attempts by him also proved to be “unlucky”. After his death, Sukhwant Dhadda in 1986 made a film with the same title. 

After establishing himself as a dialogue writer, in 1954 he joined Amar Kumar, Balraj Sahni, Geeta Bali and others to create a new company called Cine Cooperative. In 1955, it produced its first film Garam Coat, based on Bedi’s short story and starring Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy. It was directed by Aman Kumar. This was his first chance to write a complete screenplay. Ashk recalls in his memoir, “When Garam Coat was released, we stood outside the cinema hall. Bedi had a great sense of humour. Even in those tense moments, he said we are like Santiago of Old Man and the Sea, calling fish to get entangled in our net, but the fish are ignoring our call.”    

His second film, Rangoli (1962), starring Kishore Kumar, Vyjayantimala and Durga Khote, flopped and his financial situation worsened. But, the deeply religious man that Bedi was, his belief in destiny never wavered. He  didn’t allow his passion for writing and films to diminish. Once again he gambled with films, this time with a directorial debut by making a Hindi classic Dastak (1970), based on his radio play Naql-e-Makaani (Moving to a New House), first performed on All India Radio, Lahore, in 1944. 

The story of a young couple who inadvertently rent a house in a red light area starring Sanjeev Kumar and Rehana Sultan had an unforgettable musical score by Madan Mohan. The film won several awards and in 1972, Bedi became an important name of the Parallel Cinema. He was awarded the Padma Shri. 

In the following decade, he directed three more films: Phagun (1973), Nawab Sahib (1978) and Aankhin Dekhi (1978). His short story Lajwanti, based on the plight of an abducted woman, became much talked about among the writings on the theme of Partition. The story was adapted for stage productions several times and was made into a telefilm in 2006 by actor-director Neena Gupta. 

Bedi fell deeply in love with the heroine of his film Aankhin Dekhi, who married someone else after the completion of the film. This took a toll on his life. His health deteriorated after the death of his son, Narendra Bedi who made commercially successful films, and his wife in quick succession. He fought cancer and paralysis, lost one eye, yet kept his spirit.

In a humorous letter, he advises Ashk not to marry the third time, taking a cue from his life! 

One of his finest stories Sirf Ek Cigarette portrays with deep empathy the transition of generations, financial aspirations and attempted transgression of cultural boundaries. A father and son, both smokers, smoke different brands; the father the cheap one and the son, an expensive one. One night the father exhausts all his cigarettes and thinks of taking one from his son’s packet. He spends an entire night of inner turmoil; whether he should take his son’s cigarette or not, till the dawn breaks and he can buy his own brand. The brilliantly-layered short story unravels relationships on the cusp of capitalism.

In his long career as a writer, Bedi too had to make such choices. He says, “I was a person who came from the lower middle class and I have been writing about this class. There was a point in my career when I was told by other men of letters that one part had to be a part of the rising class and all sorts of political and social things like that. When some of us came into conflict with that rising class directly… I, for one, stopped writing. Then again, I thought, I must write about the people I was raised with, life as I had lived it and I went back to writing.”  

 Something must have been good about his choices. Hindi author Virendra Mehdiratta says when he showed his first short story to Ashk in Allahabad University, he advised him to read Bedi to sharpen his craft of short story writing. 

Bedi’s granddaughter Ila Bedi Dutta is a scriptwriter. The storyline continues. 

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