Bawarchi

Bawarchi
Directed by	Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced by	,Hrishikesh Mukherjee N. C. Sippy Romu N. Sippy
Written by	Tapan Sinha
Starring	Rajesh Khanna Jaya Bhaduri Harindranath Chattopadhyay Asrani A. K. Hangal Durga Khote Manisha Kali Banerjee Usha Kiran
Narrated by	Amitabh Bachchan
Music by	Madan Mohan
Release date	7 July 1972 (1972-07-07)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Bawarchi (translation: The Chef) is a 1972 Indian Hindi musical comedy drama film directed and produced by Hrishikesh Mukherjee along with N. C. Sippy and Romu N. Sippy. Released in India on 7 July 1972, the film is narrated by Amitabh Bachchan and stars an ensemble cast of Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Bhaduri, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Asrani, A. K. Hangal, Durga Khote, Manisha, Kali Banerjee and Usha Kiran. The film is a remake of Rabi Ghosh starrer Bengali film Galpo Holeo Satti (1966) by Tapan Sinha. The film was ranked the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972. In an interview, Khanna quoted "In Bawarchi, I did exactly the opposite of what Hrishida had made me do in Anand (1971). He allowed me to interpret the role and perform my way. I had done enough intense roles, and Bawarchi gave me the opportunity to interpret and perform the role the way I wanted. So I let myself go."

Mukherjee's style here is typical, in that the film contains no violence, and focuses rather on "the milieu of the Indian middle-class who have larger-than-life foibles and whose major concern is to survive the day [...:] which bahu will cook, which brother will use the bathroom first, who will get up first to make the morning tea, [etc.]" Khanna won his second BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) for his performance in this film.

The film is a remake of the Bengali film Galpo Holeo Satti (1966) by Tapan Sinha. The film was remade in Tamil as Samayalkaaran with M. K. Muthu. It was remade twice in Kannada - first as Sakala Kala Vallabha, starring Shashikumar and second as No 73, Shanthi Nivasa, with Sudeep. It served as a great inspiration for the 1997 Hindi film Hero No. 1.

Synopsis

The story is centered around the squabbling Sharma family, headed by their eccentric Daduji (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), which has a dubious reputation of the inability to retain a cook for more than a few months due to their ill treatment of their domestic helps. The family's disrepute spreads to such an extent that no person wants to be employed as a cook in their home, named Shanti Niwas (abode of peace).

Then one day a young man named Raghu (Rajesh Khanna) offers to work as a cook, and is hired. Raghu, however, lives up to this challenge and becomes the apple of the eye of every inmate of Shanti Niwas. He even defuses the internal squabbles and re-unites the family. But is Raghu's slate clean, or is there more to his character?

Plot

Unlike most Indian films that open with credit titles, the film has has Amitabh Bachchan’s booming voice introducing the cast. Satirical in tone and treatment, the fast-paced narrative opens in a noisy, crowded household, paradoxically named "Shanti Niwas" ("Abode of Peace"). No domestic work sticks in this household, consisting of the patriarch retired postmaster, Shivnath Sharma (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), affectionately called Daduji, and his three sons and their families. The first son is Ramnath (A. K. Hangal), a lowly paid clerk, with a cantankerous wife Seeta Devi (Durga Khote), and their daughter Meeta (Manisha), a Kathak dancer of sorts. The second son is Kashinath (Kali Banerjee), a pompous schoolteacher, with his quarrelsome wife Shobha Devi (Usha Kiran). The third son is Vishwanath (Asrani), an aspiring music director, and the last member of the Sharma family is Krishna (Jaya Bhaduri), the talented and sedate, orphaned granddaughter who is in love with a handsome wrestler named Arun whom the Sharma family does not approve of.

Into this tensed up household enters a fun-loving multifaceted character, Raghunandan (Rajesh Khanna), also known as Raghu, who just appears on the doorstep one day, volunteering to be their new cook. Raghu is a master of all, a smooth-talker, boasting of mastering various skills while working with real-life legendary characters, and a singer, dancer, and a no-mean musician as well. He loses no time in winning everyone’s hearts through his cooking expertise, insistence on a low salary, and with his winsome ways, restoring faith and affection of the otherwise disjointed family — all the while keeping an eye on the family jewellery box chained to Daduji’s bed when a casually thrown-in single comment about the presence of a thief in the vicinity keeps the characters as well as the audience speculating about his identity. At the same time, Raghu also tutors the recluse Krishna and brings her talents to the fore. He even helps in clearing up the misunderstandings and calling truces between the family members. Daduji cannot help but think that Raghu is actually a saviour sent by the deity. Meanwhile, Raghu is well-aware that Krishna is in love with Arun and that the Sharma family is strictly against her union with him.

Amongst all the tangle, Raghu suddenly disappears from the house while the Sharma family is aghast to discover that the family jewellery box is missing as well, thus not taking Daduji and Vishwanath time to put two and two together. At the same time, the Sharma family receives a shock when Arun arrives at the house with their jewellery box, explaining that he witnessed Raghu in a suspicious condition with the box and when asked about the box, Raghu tried to run away while Arun tried to stop him, even beat him up, but Raghu threw the jewellery box down out of fear and managed to escape from him. Stunned by these unexpected turn of events, the attitude of the Sharma family towards Raghu immediately changes and they all agree to get Krishna married to Arun out of gratitude, although Krishna and Meeta refuse to buy the story. When the Sharma family begins abusing Raghu, Arun is not able to take it anymore and decides to confess to them what had really happened, explaining that he actually met Raghu at his own wrestling ground and had a little friendly match with him where he suffered minor injuries.

Further, Arun saw the jewellery box with Raghu and questioned him about it when Raghu instructed Arun to take the box to the Sharma family and lie to them that it was stolen by him, so that Arun can get back his place in the house and win Krishna and the family over. When asked about his true identity, Raghu revealed to Arun that his real name is "Professor Prabhakar" but he took the fake name of Raghu and posed as a cook as he had seen many families like the Sharmas which were on the brink of breaking up and hence decided to use his knowledge to stop this. Upon learning this, a stunned Sharma family has to accept that Raghu went out of his way to save several homes like Shanti Niwas. Meanwhile, Krishna sees Raghu outside the house and approaches him, asking him why did he do all this. Even though Krishna manages to stop Raghu in time from going somewhere else, Raghu tells her that this is his life's mission and that now he has to go. The film ends with a scene of Raghu travelling to a new destination and Amitabh Bachchan narrating that "Raghu is going to a new home. Let's hope it's not yours."

Cast

• Rajesh Khanna as Raghunandan (Raghu) / Professor Prabhakar
• Jaya Bhaduri as Krishna Sharma
• Asrani as Vishwanath Sharma
• Harindranath Chattopadhyay as Shivnath Sharma (Daduji)
• A. K. Hangal as Ramnath Sharma
• Durga Khote as Seeta Sharma
• Manisha as Meeta Sharma
• Kali Banerjee as Kashinath Sharma
• Usha Kiran as Shobha Sharma
• Paintal as Guruji (Meeta's dance instructor)
• Amitabh Bachchan as Narrator

Crew

• Director - Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• Story - Tapan Sinha
• Screenplay - Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• Dialogue - Gulzar
• Editor - Das Dhaimade
• Producer - Hrishikesh Mukherjee, N. C. Sippy, Romu N. Sippy
• Cinematographer - Jaywant Pathare
• Art Director - Ajit Banerjee
• Animation - S. G. Naiksatam
• Choreographer - Gopi Krishna
• Narrator - Amitabh Bachchan

Music

All lyrics are written by Kaifi Azmi; all music is composed by Madan Mohan.

Songs

No.	Title	Playback	Length
1.	"Bhor Aai Gaya Andhiyara"	Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Nirmala Devi, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Lakshmi Shankar	9:29
2.	"Kahe Kanha Karat Barjori"	Lakshmi Shankar	3:53
3.	"Mast Pawan Dole Re"	Lata Mangeshkar	4:52
4.	"More Naina Bahayen Neer"	Lata Mangeshkar	5:03
5.	"Pahle Chori Phir Seenazori"	Kumari Faiyaz	4:09
6.	"Tum Bin Jeevan"	Manna Dey	5:33

Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
1973	Rajesh Khanna	BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi)	Won
1973	Paintal	Filmfare Best Comedian Award	Won

External links

• Bawarchi on IMDb