Catholic characters From Amitabh Bachchan in Amar Akbar Anthony to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: Memorable Catholic characters from Bollywood : Bollywood News

From Amitabh Bachchan in Amar Akbar Anthony to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: Memorable Catholic characters from Bollywood : Bollywood News

December 26, 2024 News जन मंथन

There have been several eminently memorable Christian characters in the past in Hindi cinema. For instance, Lalita Pawar’s Mrs D’Sa in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anari and of course Amitabh Bachchan’s Anthony in Manmohan Desai’s (Manji as he was called) Amar Akbar Anthony.

From Amitabh Bachchan in Amar Akbar Anthony to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: Memorable Catholic characters from Bollywood

The Big B once said about the experience, “It was a pleasant departure. The very name Amar Akbar Anthony for a film came at a time where there were more sober and domestic titles. So, it was surprise to me, particularly because Manji was starting his home production with this film and I felt he was making a grave mistake. But he was right as always. The attitude of Anthony, his lingo, style, and clothing were all Manji’s brainchild. I merely followed what he demanded. The character detailing all came from Manji and I think it came from his keen observation of the Christian community, living mostly out of Bandra. One of his most important sequences was shot in the backyard of this very unique suburb. He himself was very conversant with the language of this community. Yes, it was a language style that was alien to me, but if you have lived long enough in Mumbai, it is unlikely that you can miss it.”

Katrina Kaif got a chance to play a Catholic girl in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. She did her research, bought her own clothes from the pavements of Bandra, studied how the Catholic girls behaved, what clothes they wore to parties and to church. At that point of time, she had been working very hard to get rid of my accented Hindi. But for Jenny’s character both Santoshi and Katrina felt her Hindi was just fine.

Said Katrina, “I wanted to dress and talk like a typical Catholic Bandra girl. I didn’t want her to come across as stereotypical, but still typical.”

Aparna Sen’s 36 Chowringhee Lane focussed on the desolation of a Catholic single woman. The film’s fabulous authentic detailing of Jennifer Kapoor’s character, her inner and outer lives served to mirror the community’s ethos with unparalleled integrity.

One Bollywood filmmaker who has spent a very large part of his creative time in the Christian-Catholic community is Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The epic filmmaker’s first directorial venture, Khamoshi: The Musical was set in a Goan Christian family. Manisha Koirala played Annie the beautiful daughter to a deaf and mute couple Joseph (Nana Patekar) and Flavia Braganza (Seema Biswas). The attention to getting the cultural and religious details right was amazing. Again in the highly acclaimed Black and Guzaarish, Bhansali returned to the Catholic community.

Said the filmmaker, “My fascination for the Christian religion and the community go back to my childhood. We lived in a chawl. For me, my school and my teachers and the whole quiet, spacious environment of my Christian school was symbolic of a life I couldn’t live at home. My love for churches and the religion is unconditional. In Black, I actually paid homage to my Anglo-Indian teacher in school.”

Sanjay Bhansali lights candles at a church in Bandra every Wednesday. His production, My Friend Pinto (which he did not direct) again featured Catholic protagonists played by Prateik Babbar and Kalki Koechlin. Prateik as Michael Pinto paid a tribute to Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai. At some point in the film, Prateik referred to Albert as his uncle. Mirza’s film is the uncle of all Hindi films on the Catholic community. It was a rare attempt to look at the problems faced by the community with candour and conviction.

Naseeruddin Shah’s portrayal of Albert Pinto remains an exemplary effort to play a Catholic character stripped of caricatural characteristics. Naseer was believable because he wasn’t bothered about getting the accent right.

Neither was the talented Lilette Dubey who gave a sterling performance as a hyper-strung Anglo-Indian woman Emily Lobo in Anjan Dutta’s Bow Barracks Forever. The film, based on a real life story, shows the trials and tribulations of the Anglo-Indian community living in Bow Barracks – an old dilapidated building in north Kolkata. The narrative largely scans the decaying tenement with ruthless directness. A lack of romantic yearning translated into the presence of a captivating candour.

What the saucy screenplay lacked is subtlety. The characters are as broadly bravura as they are uninhibited in their expressions. The one tenement in Anjan Dutt’s plot seems to encompass characters of every kind – from the rebellious housewife (Moon Moon Sen) to the battered wife (Neha Dubey) and from the footloose boy (Clayton Rodgers) who sneaks into Neha’s bed to the strong and dignified mother (Lilette Dubey) who continues to believe that her elder son will call her to Australia though he hasn’t spoken to her for four years. These are real people given that cinematic tweak which separates the mannequins from the flesh-and-blood types.

The other imposing performance comes from the irrepressible Victor Banerjee. It’s a joy to watch the veteran actor essay the role of a twinkle-eyed trumpet player who chuckles loudly in the face of adversity. He even asks Lilette for a little kiss just to remind you that life goes on … come what may. Bow Barracks Forever turns the marginal stereotypes into something distinctly glorious, if not grand.

Said Lilette, “As a rule in the earlier films specially, the Christian community was pretty much stereotypical. They were portrayed as goodhearted people who spoke funny Hindi, like Lalita Pawar in Anari or Prem Nath in Bobby. But the characters in films about the Anglo-Indian community have become more nuanced. Emily in Bow Barracks Forever, was a layered character with a range of emotions. I even won the best actress award at the Madrid International Film Festival for my performance.”

Filmmaker Ken Ghosh voices the malaise that afflicts portrayals of minority communities, “It used to be very caricatural. In recent times I can only think of Arjun Rampal and Shahana Goswami’s characters in Rock On!! These were done effectively and without exaggeration.”

Going by the recent track-record it is easy to see why Albert Pinto would have smiled had he seen the way Prateik Babbar playing his imaginary nephew Michael Pinto portrayed their community in Raaghav Dhar’s My Friend Pinto.