Dastak (The Knock 1970): A scathing commentary on the

hypocrisy of the human mind and its contorted views on

womanhood
by Rupen Ghosh on Friday, June 22, 2012 at 7:31am
The Hindi film Dastak, released in 1970, was based on a short
story by one of the finest progressive writers of Urdu fiction of the
twentieth century, Rajinder Singh Bedi. He was a member of the
IPTA and is rated as the one of the greatest writers of modern
Urdu fiction, the others in the quartet being Krishan Chander,
Manto and Ismat Chugtai. Bedi was also a noted playwright and a
Hindi film director. Some of his best work as a dialogue writer in
Hindi films could be seen in Sohrab Modis Mirza Ghalib,
Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films Anuradha, Abhimaan, Anupama and
Satyakam and Bimal Roy's Madhumati. He also wrote the famous
novel Ek Chadar Maili Si, which was later made into a well-known
film in the eighties. Bedi wrote 'Naql-e-Makani' aired on All India
Radio, Lahore in 1944 as a radio play, though the film Dastak is
later located in Bombay in the late sixties when the housing
problem in the city had turned so intensely acute that a small
tenement in a densely congested non-descript area remained in
great demand, that even after it was known to the occupants that
the previous tenant was a courtesan and even after they start
getting hounded, they could not move elsewhere, simply because
1

the newlywed couple was too poor to look for another house. The
film draws sympathy for the couple as the unintended victims of
an unjust socio-economic order and for the disadvantaged
predicament they find themselves in, not to their making.
Dastak had quite an unusual storyline where a newly-wed couple
(Sanjeev Kumar and Rehana Sultan) unwittingly rent a flat in a
disreputed area. It starts an unfortunate chain of events, and the
innocent couple gets caught in the murky happenings. The story
chronicles their turmoil, trauma, terrible anguish and misery as
they find their peace and marital bliss disturbed with daily knocks
(Dastak) on their door, as it was the earlier abode of Shamshad
Begum (Shakeela), a well-known courtesan and a dancing girl,
who had moved elsewhere. What starts is the daily hounding of
the newlywed by the courtesans past as those frequenting her
flat and not aware of her shifting, continue knocking on their door,
in search of an elusive and momentary pleasure. What a tragedy
when even after the husband repeatedly clarifies about his legally
wedded wife, they hardly believe him and continue to insist that
the husband-wife duo too are in the nefarious trade, and the socalled husband is only an agent and facilitator for his wife in what
could be the worlds oldest profession.
What follows is deeply tragic that the husband not only prohibits
his wife, Salma, from singing just because the neighbours would
then believe that she is actually a courtesan. His wife who
otherwise sings so soulfully has to stifle her wishes and desires.
He also prohibits her also from going alone even for errands, lest
lascivious, prying eyes start feasting on her. Her position becomes
helpless and vulnerable as the voyeuristic world outside hugely
enjoys their predicament. She finds herself caged in the house
and cannot do anything that her heart wishes. Rehana Sultan as a
harassed housewife was simply outstanding as from a happy,
contented young woman, she turns dark and melancholic,
brooding and silent. Sanjeev Kumar as a harassed husband,
Hamid, was brilliant as, though he is intensely in love with his
2

wife, he is forced by the societal conventions and norms to

restrict his wifes movements and under pressure to move out of
this veritable hell, has to compromise with his ideals and his
character. The adversity brings out the worst in him as he, under
intense pressure from all around, turns a beast, ill-treats and
beats his wife and commits sexual violence on her and then
repents. In the last scene, when Salma is somehow coerced to
sing for an outsider, her husband is livid with rage and his eyes
are moist with tears, but he allows the song to go on, till there is
an outburst and a tragic denouement waiting to happen or that is
what we fear, which, thankfully for a somber film like this does
not happen and the film ends on a positive note with both
husband and wife admitting that they had fallen into moral
depravity, well almost, and there still is a dawn waiting to break
after a dark, dreary, gloomy night.
The film, directed by Bedi, captured the pain and anguish of the
helpless couple, so touchingly. The daily ordeal, the humiliations,
the private moments of the leading protagonists husband and
wife - becoming a source of entertainment and cheap thrill, the
film so tellingly depicts a daily grim battle of survival in the world
of lust, greed and above all voyeurism. That they get entrapped in
their daily ordeal and find it difficult to get away from this
unwanted attention was very poignantly captured on celluloid.
What particularly attracts a viewer is the innovative treatment,
brilliant acting, in particular by Sanjeev Kumar and Rehana Sultan,
powerful storyline, outstanding editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee,
and some sublime music. How the circumstances force even the
best of humans to desperation, frustration and even extreme
reactions, plumbing to low, morally questionable behaviour,
compromising with their dignity, self-respect and character, is a
sad reality which dawns on the viewer as the films draws to a
close and evokes his sympathy, which, of course, ends on a
positive note that there is always hope amidst despair and the
proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, which could brighten
3

their (the hapless, star-crossed couple) dreary, grim and bleak

existence, with the only hopeful news of Salma expecting a baby.
The film dealt with the hypocrisy and double standards of the
human mind and the distorted views on womanhood. It is a
terrible and damning indictment of the patriarchal societys
outdated norms and lays bare the hypocrisy that heaps misery
and misfortune on people when they are hopelessly down and in
crisis. Rajinder Singh Bedis presentation of the idea and its
execution was way ahead of its time and the film hits the right
note when the idea of a couple in an identity crisis is touchingly
portrayed.
The film deservedly won a number of national awards in 1971 Best Actor and Actress to Sanjeev Kumar and Rehana Sultan, Best
Music Direction to Madan Mohan - and Filmfare Best Editing Award
to Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The film is remembered, above all, for
memorable and sublime music by Madan Mohan and for the
stunningly realistic portrayals by the main protagonists evoking
the surrounding asphyxiating tragedy. The claustrophobia and the
brooding darkness and the living hell the house had become were
so poignantly and touchingly captured, the black and white
medium heightening the tragedy and the darkness, that had
engulfed the lives of the hapless couple. Sanjeev Kumar being a
seasoned performer was expected to do justice to this complex
character, but Rehana Sultan was a revelation; she was simply
superb, as a relative newcomer, having had the tag of a
controversial heroine in her earlier film. She is sensual without
even trying to be so. She is supposed to be a happy girl, in love
with her husband, supposed to be living a blissful and happy
married life with her husband, Hamid. Instead. she finds herself
caged in the house, cannot go out (lest people accost her with
their lewd offers and inappropriate comments), she cannot sing
(lest her neighbours think that she is trying to attract customers
thus proving them right about her status in society) and she
cannot do anything that her heart wishes for. Through her song,
4

she dreams of breaking free and running away from this

miserable existence, in search of that elusive peace, satisfaction
and freedom. She cries in pain and helplessness, her anguish and
sadness expresses itself in the following couplet:
Na tadapne ki ijaazat hai, na fariyaad karne ki,
ghut ke mar jaaun yeh marzi hai mere saiyaad ki
The film established Rajinder Singh Bedi as an important force in
the Indian parallel cinema. As a writer of progressive leanings and
known for his sensitivity in portraying characters and for his
realistic and stark depiction of the tragedy of partition, Bedi's deft
handling and compassionate understanding of the torture
undergone by the main protagonists saved the film from being
dubbed as a prurient and lustful tale of vice, voyeurism and
sexual suggestiveness. It rightly disappointed the audience
looking for cheap thrills and sexually explicit scenes, dialogues
and innuendos, and even though Rehana Sultan had earned some
notoriety from her previous film for being 'bold' and
unconventional, Dastak could never be bracketed to cater to the
baser instincts and to the lowest common denominator. What
finally stands out is the poignant music of Madan Mohan that
perfectly fits in with the ambience and the depth of the film.
Whether its the helpless cry of 'Maae Ri mai ka se kahungi' or the
divine rhythm of 'Baiyaan na dharo' or the ironic ham haii
matay...en kutcha bazaar ki tarah', all sublime Lata Mangeshkar,
or in Rafi's sensuous voice 'tumse kaho ek baat pate ki, halki,
halki', the music was perfect for every mood. The ethereal
classical music, with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, remains a
landmark, unparalleled in its splendour, even after 40 years. The
film, though, has passed into oblivion and has been erased from
the public memory, but the classic movie on a controversial
theme like this depicted so poignantly the way human mind works
facing the circumstances in daily life and how society's obnoxious
habits and characteristics drive even normal human beings into
losing control and compromising with their principles and dignity
5

as Sanjeev Kumar and his wife find themselves trapped in a cage

which heap misery and untold agony and humiliations on them.