Massey Sahib

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Massey Sahib
Country of production India
original language Hindi , English
Publishing year 1986
length 126 minutes
Rod
Director Pradip Krishen
script Pradip Krishen
production National Film Development Corporation
music Vanraj Bhatia
camera RK Bose
cut Mohan Kaul
occupation

Massey Sahib is a 1986 Indian tragic comedy directed by Pradip Krishen .

action

In 1929 the Indian Francis Massey worked as a clerk in an office of the British-Indian colonial administration in Seopore - a small town in the central Indian wilderness, which earned him the name "English Type Babu" among the locals. He admires the British, feels particularly close to them as the only Indian Christian in town and imitates their style of clothing. These similarities give him a feeling of superiority over the other Indians, but he fails to recognize the limits of his abilities. In his private life, he has great problems keeping himself afloat financially. He borrows money from all quarters to repay debts due and yet lives beyond his means. Only his talent for improvisation and his persuasive skills keep this way of life going.

When his uncomfortable boss, Hammond, is replaced by Charles Adam, Massey sees a chance to curry favor. He helps Adam with his ambitions to build a paved road through the jungle wherever he can. Both men have a personal sympathy for each other because of their impending marriage - Massey with the tribal woman Saila and Adam with the Anglo-Indian Ruth Thapar. Saila's family extorted money from Massey several times even after the wedding, which Massey had to borrow from Banaji.

In order to remove funding difficulties related to Adam's road construction project, Massey, with good faith, suggests manipulating the bookkeeping. He can't understand why Adam doesn't want to hear about it. During an audit by Hawksbee during Adam's two-month absence, Massey's false account assignments are discovered and he loses his job, although he has not personally enriched himself. He has to get his wife and child through as street vendors.

After Adam is back with his new wife, road construction work is delayed during harvest time due to a lack of labor. The upcoming monsoon threatens the unfinished project. Massey, having learned of Adam's return, serves him again and offers to help mobilize workers. Where Adam tried in vain to engage the villagers, Massey succeeds by means of blackmail. He suggests to the village chiefs that their villages are excluded from using the road, so that they can still provide sufficient workers. At the opening of the street, however, it turns out that Massey has also charged an illegal road toll for financing and kept a record of it. Adam is disappointed in Massey and denies him the intended reinstatement in the colonial service. Massey believes in the honesty of his actions and sees himself wrongly portrayed as a fraud.

At home he sees that the woman has run away from him. He repeatedly sought financial help from Banaji to bring his wife back from her family. This refuses him the money and Massey kills him in his desperate anger. He is arrested for murder. Adam wants to help him and suggests that the manslaughter be declared as an accident in a dispute, but Massey does not understand the "golden bridge" . He insists that he has lost control. His naivety lets him hope to the last that Adam will help him, give him the coup de grace if necessary. But Francis Massey was hanged in Hoshangabad Central Prison on November 5, 1931.

background

Pradip Krishen drew inspiration for the story from Joyce Cary's African novel Mister Johnson . He wrote the dialogues together with Raghuvir Yadav . Massey Sahib was Yadav's film debut, as was Arundhati Roy . The shooting took place almost at the scene of the action in and around Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh .

criticism

Krishen's feature film debut shows many technical deficiencies, but Yadav's excellent acting performance established his screen image, which he has cultivated ever since.

Awards

Raghuvir Yadav was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor at the 1986 Venice Film Festival and the Silver Peacock for Best Actor at the International Film Festival of India 1987 for his role as Francis Massey . Pradip Krishen received the Indian Director's Association Award 1987 for best director.

literature

  • Massey Sahib . In: Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , 1999, p. 476

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Playing time according to NFDC-DVD
  2. ^ My first break - Raghuvir Yadav in The Hindu of October 16, 2009
  3. ↑ Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 476: "Krishen's feature debut reveals many technical inadequacies, but Yadav's fine performance inaugurated a screen image he has maintained ever since."