Depiction of Real life misery through the lens of Hindi Film Dastak (1970)

The film begins with the knocking door shot and the next one was the wide panorama shot of the Mumbai slum area that appeared on the screen. The story of newlyweds couple Hamid ( Sanjeev Kumar) and Salma (Rehana Sultana). They move into the rental flat near the red light area and the paan wala Akhtar helped them to arrange this flat. The flat had been the former home of a well-known Mujra and qawali singer Shamshad prostitute. Men still come to the door in the hope of seeing Shamshad and every night the bell rang and the same thing happened for a long time. The couple struggles to live with the bounds of their moral conduct. Hamid lives a poor lifestyle in the Bombay slum area. Hamid works as a clerk in Bombay Municipal Corporation and hardly manages all the basic amenities of life. Salma comes from a small village where her widowed father lives with her daughter Zora. The locals specially Akhtar paan shop owner wants Salma to start entertaining as it will increase its paan business. He’s is the one who helped them to search rental flat. When both refuse the other creates ruckus and makes false blame and inform the police that Salma indulges in a prostitution business. Salma spends the whole day in fear and uses to talk with Myna bird. One day Shamshad visits Salma’s place and takes her to her place and she ran after knowing that she is the one because of whom they are in trouble. The couple went to Salma’s father's place to stay for a long time but When Hamid comes to know the father-in-law is destitute the couple return back to Bombay. Salma insists Hamid move out from this place as people threw a stone from the window and try to look inside when she’s alone in the house. Hamid starts searching for a new place and finally after so much struggle he does find one even pays half of it and promise to pay the rest amount in one week. He gets the news that Zora's engagement has been fixed and 1500 Rs are needed, now Hamid suffering from the dilemma, tension, and pressure of arranging money for the flat and Zohra’s wedding. He asked for help from the Company owner but he refuses. Previously, one of the clients of Hamid tries to bribe him for the contract but he always denies but when Hamid doesn’t find it anyway and failed in arranging the money he approaches him and asked for money.The condition was so miserable that he was ready to take the bribe. The depressed condition leads both to great frustration. One day Salma picks up the Tanpura when Brij Mohan one of the clients of Shamshad just came to see her but Salma stops him from going away and starts singing for him. Hamid was so annoyed that he picked up the knife to kill them both but he discovered his wife was pregnant. That is where the narrative comes to an unexpected halt.The story explores the complex world of women and how women have been viewed by Indian men. Though Salma is a trained Thumri singer she’s not supposed to sing as earlier acting singing dancing associated only with prostitutes and courtesans. As it stated that Hindu and Muslim Community-women bear the burden of representing the family or community status and respectability which traditionally has been associated. The film depicts the struggle of a common man to fulfill the basic amenities. The struggle of metropolis life is depicted when Salma continuously asking for shifting the room but due to money scarcity, Hamid is not able to get it. The story was originally penned and produced for radio during the housing shortage in Bombay in the 1940’s”. Rajinder Bedi brilliantly depicts the condition of Salma through metaphor. The caged bird symbolizes the free-spirited young bride forced by circumstances to lock herself in the available narrow confines. Dastak shows some disturbing realities of rape and abuse and constantly shows the fire of the stove which metaphorically represents the fire that was burning inside Hamid because of rumors about his loved one. It’s a film which shows that how the human mind works with the different circumstances of the world and how desolation and frustration can lead people to the most extreme of reactions. This film also explores the ethos of prostitution in its reality and as a metaphor for the outside world. The treatment of the film and the metaphor used at that time were completely different. The themes also focus firmly upon the difficulties of surviving honestly in a metropolis as in one scene when one of the clients try to bribe Hamid he refuses but on the other hand, the worst situation leads him to the way of corruption though he was felt repent on doing this circumstance forced him. “Dastak” gestures towards the cultural and social implications of Salma’s Muslim identity”. The song “Mai Ri Main Kase Kahoon peer apne jiya ki” depicts the loneliness of her heart. She robes herself in a towel and sings this song in her mind and cries over her fate as she cannot do anything that her heart wishes to do. The song perfectly matches the situation of the couple from which they are going through. (Miranda, 2013)Dastak means the combination of psychological and social pressure is embodied by the constant knocking on the door “Dastak” means “the knock”... In one very significant phase of the screenplay, the couple decides to just run away from everything, back to their village. But there too, they witness enough misery to be compelled to return to their cursed urban abode. The film depicts life as full of troubles you can’t escape instead of that you have to face the problem and resolve it. The last sequence of the story, which also includes a song, is a stamp of genius. One of the best Hindi movie climaxes ever for one of the most unique Hindi films. “ Hum hai mataye-kuch-o-bazaar ki tarah, uthi hai har nigaah kharidar ki tarah ” perfectly depicts the suffering. The song perfectly depicts the miserable condition of the couple and their hardship of life that for money only she is doing what which her husband never wants her to do. The film is about the freedom of a woman her dreams aspirations struggle for surviving and the problems in life. The harsh realities of life are perfectly portrayed by Rajinder Bedi in such a perfect narrative.