MAIN GAUHAR JAAN HOON!

Fil​ ​m Treatment
BY Partha Chatterjee

Based on the biography

My name is Gauhar Jaan

The Life and Times of a Musician
By Vikram Sampath
[Type text] Page 2
A Film Treatment On Gauhar Jaan

( Original Dialogue in Hindustani)

Black Screen – Voice-Over (Female Voice)

“L
​ utf hai kaun si kahani mein

Aap beeti kahoon ke jag beeti?”

{Which story would you like to hear? My own or about this passing-show
called life?}

As the first two words of the first line are uttered, a vintage Ram Narayan air in
the raga Todi on the sarangi, is heard softly on the soundtrack.

Slow fade in

To a garden in the Maharaja of Mysore’s palace, the sound of Ram Narayan’s

Todi on the sarangi is still on the soundtrack even softer than before. The
camera tracks forward slowly towards the palace.

Invisible cut on motion

Gauhar Jaan, in gracious middle-age looking lovely, seated on a carpet,

surrounded by the her musicians, singing her famous ​chhota khayal ​in the rare
Raga Lakshmi Todi, set to Jhap tala.

“Tum hazarat khwaja,sab rajan ke raja, hoon aayi hoon tero darwaja

Gauhar pyari ki araz yahi hai, jag mein raakho meri laja.”

A slow dissolve on her face to

The Maharaja sitting on a resplendent chair completely in thrall of Gauhar‘s

singing.

The camera pans away towards the left to catch a concerned doctor and a
nurse, looking at a fast sinking Gauhar in a hospital in Mysore.

[Type text] Page 3

Cut to

An upper class man in his late fifties reading aloud from the Calcutta edition of
The Statesman ​about Gauhar Jaan’s death. The last line from her ​khayal i​ n
Lakshmi Todi is heard clearly but softly on the soundtrack

“Gauhar pyari araz yahi hai,

Jag mein raakho meri laja.”

The same man remembers a mehfil from Gauhar Jaan’s prime when he too was
young. She is singing with great verve a thumri in Khamaj Raga, “​Tan Man Tope
Karu Vaar.” S​ he is also revealing the meaning of the lyrics through her facial
expressions, which is known as ‘​Bhav Batana’​ in Kathak dance. Her listeners,
including the man through whose mind’s eye we see Gauhar, are clearly moved
as the song comes to an end.

Invisible or zero cut to

The same man in his late fifties, putting away the newspaper on a side table, by
his chair. His face has a wistful expression, as he whispers under his breath,
“What an exquisite voice, what a sadly wasted life. Poor girl, she did not stand
a chance.”

Cut to

The HolyTrinity Church in Allahabad. A simple wedding is being formalised

between Robert William Yeoward and Victoria Hemmings. The groom is all of
twenty and the bride, just fifteen. The priest Rev. J. Stevenson, asks of the
groom, “Do you Robert William Yeoward take Victoria Hemmings for your
lawful, wedded wife?” “I do,” says Yeoward.

The camera pans away​ from them and the meagre wedding party comprising
Rukmani, Victoria’s Hindu mother, and sister Bela.

As the camera circles slowly around the church interior, revealing empty pews,
we hear the priest’s voice uttering, phrases like ‘love, honour and cherish her
and through sickness and health’. ​The circular pan ​of the camera ends on the
register of the church, with a voiceover, reading out the contents of the page,

[Type text] Page 4

“Robert William Yeoward: twenty-years-old, bachelor son of William Henry
Yeoward. Robert William Yeoward’s profession: In charge of ice engines.
Robert William Yeoward was married to Victoria Hemmings: 15-years-old,
daughter of Elijah Hemmings. Marriage by Bans. Married by J. Stevenson,
Official Civil Chaplain, on 10​th​ September 1872. Residence at time of marriage
for both – Allahabad. Rukmani, to herself, “Hardy Hemmings, our daughter
Adeline Victoria ...

Three Frame Dissolve

To an English face, wearing an army officer’s cap on his head,

Superimposed

Over sea water VO of Rukmani carries over the smiling face of the man
addressed by her as Hardy Hemmings, ‘married Robert William Yeoward today.
He is a personable young man of means and shall be able to look after our
daughter well. Bless them from your perch in heaven so that they find
happiness in each other’.

Zero cut to

Hardy Hemming’s face with his Army officer’s cap on, ​superimposed​ on the
horizon, a serene sea in the foreground, slight change of perspective, he is now
joined by Rukmani in a mid-close two-shot. They are in partial profile, and they
smile at ​each other in gentle but not too slow a motion​. Rukmani’s​ VO​ “The
story of Victoria and Robert was a typical fairytale. Victoria was deeply in love
with the young man and so was he. Their love was rewarded with a baby girl.
Their bundle of joy was born on 26 June 1873 in Azamgarh. A little baby
delightful to look at smiles at the camera, on that, dissolve to, a two-year-old
girl, laughing, ​running towards the camera

Cut on motion to

Interior of Allahabad Methodist Episcopal Church. The little girl is being

baptised as Eileen Angelina Yeoward

Cut to

[Type text] Page 5

A montage of domestic bliss that Robert Yeoward and Victoria share. Then the
first seeds of discord being sown: Robert is offered the job of senior supervisor
by one Safizzul Hussain on his indigo plantation, four miles from Azamgarh.
Victoria’s loneliness and friendship with Jogeshwar Bharati, a man of letters
and well-versed in music – Robert’s absence making her seek Jogeshwar’s
company platonically, to discuss her poems in Urdu and Persian and to get
some basic lessons in music. Robert’s objection to their friendship; her
demurring at first, and then soon after, going back to meeting Jogeshwar.
Robert paying a surprise from the indigo plantation and finding Victoria and
Jogeshwar singing a song together. Robert’s decision to divorce Victoria. The
entry of Khurshid in her life. Journey to Benaras. Victoria changing to Malka
Jaan, giving concerts, her young daughter, Eileen Angelina, now re-named
Gauhar, showing precocious talent for vocal at ten.

Zero Cut To

Gauhar Jaan, in the full bloom of her youth, giving a concert. Appreciative
listeners. She sings her famous composition

Ras ke bhare tore naina

Listeners in thrall. Rai Chaggan, a young man of a family of wealthy music

connoisseurs from Benaras, is clearly smitten. He is going to be her first great
love.

Gauhar’s Thumri, “​Ras ke bhare tore naina” continues on the soundtrack as

Rai Chaggan proposes to her silently. Gauhar telling her mother.

Cut to

Benaras (Varanasi): Gauhar and Chaggan’s love-nest. They seem to be

deliriously happy with each other. As Chaggan caresses Gauhar’s cheek
t​hrough a cut on motion

We find a fifty-five-year-old Gauhar involuntary stroking her check​.

The camera pulls back to reveal,

A young man, doing a pen-and-ink sketch of her. He is Deviprased Garg, the

soon to be Raja of Mahishadal, in Bengal. She looks at him and says,

[Type text] Page 6

“Ho gaya? Zara dekhen to.” (Finished? Let’s have a look at what you have
done.)
The young man without realising the import of his act, shows the sketch to her.
She looks at it and smiles quietly to herself.

Some beautiful, intimate moments between the young Gauhar and Rai
Chhagan, also young, including on a Bajra (boat) on the Ganga in Benaras.
There is a bandish in Raga Kedar “​Peari Peari Mori Jiya Men” s​ ung by her on
the soundtrack.

Mysore 1928, Gauhar’s arrival there. Exterior Dilkush Cottage surrounded by

the Chamundi Hills. There are jasmine flowers everywhere and their fragrance
fills the air. The surroundings are quite, idyllic. She takes a deep breath to fill
her lungs with the fragrance of jasmine and she mutters a prayer, “Allah! Make
this my last destination. I cannot travel anymore. I need rest, I need shelter,
and I need your mercy!”

Bombay 1905: Gauhar meets Amrit Keshav Nayak, a rising star of the musical
stage. They fall in love. He asks her to sing for him, She begins to sing,
“Aan baan jiya mein laagi, Pyari chit Kyan diya, aan basi kaise phasi. Padam
laagi chaab ke paiyyan, Meherban Saiyyan. Tum bin mohe kal na pade,
Tumhare Kaaram Jaagi. Aan baan jiya mein laagi…’’ .
It is a dadra in Raga Gara. As she sings, we are transported to a recording
studio from those times with all the primitive paraphernalia of gramaphone
disc recording. As the song comes to an end, we see Gauhar at fifty-five, she
takes the record off gently from the machine. She, record in hand, looks out of
the window towards Chamundi Hills in Mysore.

Gauhar in hospital in Mysore, She appears to be lost in herself as she lies in

bed. She seems to hear her mother call out to her, “Yes! Ammi! I am coming,”
she says in a young girl’s voice on the soundtrack.

Malka Jaan singing a ghazal exclusively for her young daughter. Through the
window, one can see the Ganga in Benaras. As the song moves in to its second
verse, Malka Jaan is seen singing it in a mehfil to an appreciative audience of
male listeners, obviously rich.

[Type text] Page 7

Gauhar with Rai Chaggan, in their little cottage of bliss. Gauhar receiving news
of her mother’s failing health in Calcutta; Gauhar coming back to Benaras,
hearing news of Chaggan’s keeping company with a Punjabi Saraswat Brahmin
girl, well-versed in English. Gauhar’s parting from Chaggan, who offers to
maintain her: She declines politely. Gauhar returns to her mother in Calcutta,
who looks after her tenderly. She returns to music after many months. She
sings in Raga Bhairavi,

​“More nahak laya gavanva re,

Jabse gayi mori, sudbudha lini,

Betee jaaye jobanva re,

Nahak laya gavanava re”

{He left me, and never cared to enquire about my well-being. Here I am,
pinning for his return, my youth withers away!}

Gauhar, in her prime, at a mehfil (soiree), singing with great feeling and
pleasure. The man shown in an earlier sequence reading out Gauhar’s obituary
from ​The Statesman ​(of 28​th January 1930) is seen here in his early thirties. He
too is greatly admiring of Gauhar’s singing like others. She is rendering a Khayal
in the Raga Adana.

The camera here does not move but captures composite group shots
including that of the singer and her accompanists.

Gauhar Jaan, dressed to-the-nines, drives through Calcutta in a stately phaeton

drawn by six, white, Arab stallions. The British Viceroy of India, also out for a
drive, mistaking her for a princess, stops his own carriage and lets her pass
while doffing his hat. Beautiful Gauhar, acknowledges his gesture with a
gracious nod as she drives past.

An Indian factotum of the Viceroy’s ADC, quickly whispers to him that the
principal representative of the British Crown in India has just made way to
Gauhar Jaan, Calcutta’s, indeed Hindustan’s, top most Tawaif. The Aide–de-
camp conveys the news to the Viceroy, who is furious and says: “Does she not

[Type text] Page 8

know that a six-horse carriage is the privilege of the Viceroy and the princes of
India and their families? Fine her a thousand rupees.”

In the next two travelling shots of different locations of prosperous Calcutta,

taken from different angles, Gauhar is seen driving by in her six-horse phaeton.

Quick dissolve to

Gauhar, blithely paying the thousand rupee fine, on each occasion.

Gauhar, at home, receiving an invitation by the Maharaja of Datia through his

emissary. She, in her ignorance, thinking that Datia is a small state, politely but
firmly refuses.

Gauhar singing at yet another mehfil. She is, as usual scintillating. Her singing,
and through it an aspect of her personality

Captured by the camera, in both fixed- and gently-paced moving shots.

She sings one of her own compositions in raga Kafi.

Khelat Krishna kumar

In the small, select gathering is also a personable young man Nimai Sen, the
son of the wealthy zamindar from Behrampur in Bengal. Gauhar’s and Nimai’s
eyes meet, sparks fly.

Young Gauhar and Nimai, after the concert, drive away in her carriage. They
drive on against the backdrop of a gradually lightning sky. At dawn, they find
themselves near the bend of a river, it is the Hooghly. They are in the
countryside. She, open-haired, is resting her head on Nimai Sen’s shoulder. The
horse, unharnessed, is grazing on the grass. The Syce, huddled up, fast asleep
under a tree.

A vast river, by the open countryside. Gauhar lies in a boat gliding over the
water, her head on Nimai’s lap, who is stroking her hair softly.

The Raja of Datia in his palace, is asking his private secretary to approach the
Viceroy’s ADC and put pressure on Gauhar to come and perform and sing in
Datia.

[Type text] Page 9

Gauhar, singing alone for Nimai Sen in their own cosy house. She is singing her
signature thumri in Raga Bhairavi,

“Chhodo chhodo mori baiyyan”

Clearly he is her Krishna and she, his Radha.

Nimai takes Gauhar to the Armenian colony to introduce her to the horse
breeders. Nimai gets her to try horse riding. Gauhar and Nimai seen riding
early morning and having a wonderful time together.

Mysore 1929? Gauhar Jaan, now fifty-six, her face still lovely but in a stoic sort
of way, looking at something in the palm of her hand. On closer inspection, we
discover a nose–stud. She smiles wistfully as she remembers …

Dissolve to

A young Gauhar, looking in the mirror. Nimai is behind her, looking on

admiringly. She smiles at him in the mirror, slowly takes off her nose-stud,
turns around and offers it to Nimai, who is both flattered and touched. On the
soundtrack is heard her rendering of

“Na Maro pichkari Chaila”

A Holi (Hori) sung in Raga Paraj (Basant). Gauhar and Nimai embrace, content
in each other.

Gauhar travelling as Nimai Sen’s wife to another town to listen to the famous
kirtan singer Mukunda Das. He renders a Vaishnav kirtan to do with Radha’s
Biraha (grief of separation) from lord Krishna. Gauhar and Nimai are both
deeply moved by Mukunda Das’ singing. Like other couples of the time,
Gauhar is seated with other women and looks like a grihini or housewife, Nimai
seated opposite her with the men, looks every inch a well- to- do householder.
Between the ladies and the gents is a rectangular space where Mukunda Das is
singing. The listeners are ecstatic. Gauhar and Nimai exchanges glances of
contented complicity across the space.

Cut to

The gentleman who was reading her Obit in the Calcutta Statesman, ​turns
towards the camera​, and talks as if to a friend, “She was truly in love with

[Type text] Page 10

Nimai, She was. Gauhar wanted to be Nimai Sen’s wife. Nimai too loved her
but did not have the guts to stand up to his zamindar father who could not
bring himself to accept a Tawaif as his daughter-in-law.

An airy, well-appointed large private library. Nimai Sen is talking to his wealthy
landowner Father.

Nimai, “Father! I love Gauhar and I ....”

Father cutting him short, “So do I. So does the whole of Bharata Varsha (India).
Everybody is captivated by Gauhar’s musical genius and her beauty ....”

Nimai, quickly, “Yes! Father but I want her to be my wife.”

Father, non–plussed, quickly recovers, “What! Oh! Come, come, come. Love,
marriage. What are you talking about?” Smiling at his son indulgently, he says,
‘’We all sow our wild oats Young man! And I am glad you have sown them with
a woman as glamorous and gifted as Gauhar. She makes me feel young again.”

Nimai looks askance at his father, who continues, “Nimai, my son, you cannot
marry her because you are the scion of an old zamindar family, and you cannot
have a tawaif for a wife.”

Nimai, “But father!”

Father, “I shall not stand in the way of your happiness but you will have to find
it without any assistance from me. I will disinherit you!”

Cut to

Back to the oldish gentleman: It was the same old story. Money triumphed
over love. Nimai Sen, the good-hearted son of a big zamindar but without
means of his own, backed down before his father when it came to the crunch
and left his beloved Gauhar in the lurch.

Three short scenes of Nimai pleading with Gauhar to continue their

relationship. She sadly, quietly distances herself from him.

Gauhar in her middle-forties receives news of Nimai Sen’s mortal illness in

Behrampore. She travels quickly but reaches too late. Nimai is dead. His

[Type text] Page 11

attendant gives Gauhar her nose-stud, which Nimai had preserved carefully all
these years. She is deeply moved.

Cut to

1929 –MYSORE

Gauhar, broken, at fifty-six, in Dil Khush Cottage, gently stroking her old
nose–stud. We hear on the soundtrack her rendering of a Dadra in Raga Desh,

“Bhor bhai tum ghar aye ho mere”

Dark Screen – Voice Over reciting Badi Malka Jaan’s (couplet) in Urdu:

“Khilaaf samjha sada meri sacchi baaton ko,

Rakeeb jhoot bhi bole toh aitbaar Kiya”

Hearing of a case in Calcutta court against Gauhar Jaan filed by one Sheikh
Bhagloo, the son of a retainer of Malka Jaan, Gauhar’s mother. Sheikh Bhagloo,
coached by his lawyer, claims Malka Jaan’s moveable and immovable property
on the ground of being Malka Jaan’s legitimate son. He claims preposturously
that Gauhar is indeed the illegitimate daughter of Malka Jaan out of her union
with an Armenian gentleman. Enraged, Gauhar Jaan leaves the courtroom in
search of her long lost father.

Cut To

She travels incognito to Azamgarh, her place of birth. Her search proves
fruitless until an old man vaguely remembers Robert William Yeoward of
having moved to Allahabad. On an impulse, Gauhar travels to Allahabad and
after much effort manages to locate her father who has remarried and is with a
new family. Robert Yeoward is completely taken aback to see this striking
looking women who claims to be his daughter. He asks her to come in. He
realises the face he saw so often on boxes of matches made in Austria was
indeed his daughter, the famous Tawaif from Calcutta, Gauhar Jaan. He asks
her what she wants of him? She says that he has to declare in court in Calcutta
that he is really her father. A canny looks crosses Yeoward’s face and he
demands nine thousand rupees to give his testimony in court. Gauhar is
rendered speechless with rage. She storms out of her father’s house.

[Type text] Page 12

Cut To

Gauhar Jaan’s return journey to Calcutta accompanied on the soundtrack by

her rendering in Raga Aswari

“Kisko ham yaad kia karte hain.”

Images from her childhood in Benaras.

Intercut with flashes

Of her relationship with Amrit Keshav Nayak, Star of the Musical Theatre in
Bombay. Her intense love affair with Nayak cut short by his sudden death on
18 July 1907. She remembers their collaboration in music making and her
rendering in Raga Bhupali of

“Itna joban daman na kariye”

at the Town Hall and mesmerising the audience, less than a fortnight before
Nayak’s death. Her face clouds over as

“Kisko ham yaad kia karte hain”

Comes back on the soundtrack

Cut To

The Calcutta High Court. The issue of official summons of Robert Yeoward to
appear in court to testify in the case filed against Gauhar by Sheikh Bhagloo.
The lawyers of the opposition try to belittle Gauhar and expose her as a liar but
fail. Yeoward, her father, appears in the courtroom and against all her
expectations, testifies in her favour and acknowledges her as his daughter from
his marriage with Victoria Hemmings. There is an uproar in court and Gauhar
wins a verdict in her favour.

Cut To

It has cost her a lot of money in lawyer’s fees and drained her emotionally.

Gauhar in Mysore, towards the end of her life. In her garden, she hears the trill
of a bird and her face softens, she remembers.....

[Type text] Page 13

Cut To

Her recording with William Gaisberg, his strange equipment with a large horn
into which she had to sing. She recalls Gaisberg playing a record of ‘The Jewel
Song’ from Faust, sung by Suzanne Adams. It seems to be rendered in one
single breath. He asks Gauhar jokingly if she can sing something as difficult!
Gauhar, at first taken aback, says she’ll try the next day. The next morning she
sings a cheez or composition in Raga Sur Malhar.

“Ghoor ghoor more piharava, aap jage aur mohi jagaave”

Bhar bhar surava, ghoor barasat meharava”

{The rains are pouring down the skies, the lightning, flashing across them many
times....}

Gaisberg and his team of technicians are completely astonished at Gauhar’s

singing. They break into spontaneous applause after she finishes recording.

One of the Gauhar’s principal patrons cajoles her into accepting the Raja of
Datia’s invitation to come and sing in his darbar. Maharaja Bhawani Singh
Bahadur (1837-1907) sends a multi-coach train to fetch Gauhar Jaan and her
entourage from Calcutta to Madhya Pradesh. She finds the town very prettily
decorated. She is housed in a lavish bungalow.

Cut To

It is Coronation Day. The Darbar Hall is beautifully decorated. Many Maharajas

are present. Gauhar Jaan realises Datia is no small princely state.

Cut To

A montage or three or four musician’s singing to the small, exclusive audience

of Royals. Gauhar asks the Darbar Bakshi, when is her turn going to come? The
man suavely tells her it will, soon enough! The evening’s performances are
over. Gauhar thinks that the Maharaja has planned an exclusive concert for her
the next day.

Cut To

[Type text] Page 14

Days pass, Gauhar and her entourage are given wonderful hospitality. She gets
her honorarium every day. She is bewildered and then the truth suddenly
dawns on her.

Cut To

Early morning: Gauhar dressed as a man, throws herself before the Maharaja’s
horse as he comes around a bend with his small entourage. The Maharaja pulls
up his horse abruptly. Her (Gauhar’s) turban falls off. The Maharaja exclaims,
‘’Gauhar! What are you doing at this hour? Why have you stopped me like
this? Do you want more money? That can be arranged!”

Gauhar, contrite, “No your Highness. I do not want your money or expensive
gifts. I beg you to forgive me. Please let me do what I can do best. Let me sing
for you.”

The Maharaja realises that Gauhar’s pride has been humbled.

Cut To

Gauhar Jaan sings brilliantly that evening for the Maharaja.

Cut To

A montage covering Gauhar Jaan’s six months stay in Datia. Her taking lessons
from Ustad Maula Baksh of the Kirana Gharana. The time comes for her to
leave. She again behaves like a child and asks for the elephant that Bhawani
Singh Bahadur has given to his Pakhawaj player, Kudau Singh, as his parting
gift. Kudau Singh, the true artist, that he is, rises to the occasion. “Gauhar is
like a daughter of Datia. It would be a privilege to present her with the
elephant as a parting gift.” Gauhar realises her mistake. With tears in her eyes,
she falls at the feet of the Maharaja and Kudau Singh. The Maharaja advices:
“Gauhar, success in the arts is ephemeral. You must realise that today you
might be the reigning empress of music, but you are merely a traveller who will
sing till you are destined to and very soon someone else will take your place.
The world might forget you and all that you have achieved. But like an
unending river, music will live on, irrespective of whether you sing or not.”

Cut To

[Type text] Page 15

A series of eight to ten ‘still-life’ like compositions, ending with a ​mid close of
Gauhar in Mysore looking out of the window. A cuckoo calls out repeatedly.

1903

A concert at the Maharaja of Indore’s court. A especially prepared dais on

which Gauhar Jaan gives a scintillating performance. The select audience is
mesmerised. The Royal announces that the stage itself shall be gifted to
Gauhar and orders the sheets and flowers to be removed. Silver coins worth
one lakh Rupees are there, which are then gifted to Gauhar. She bows humbly
and says that since she is devotee of Goddess Saraswati, whose province is
knowledge and music, she will accept the gift but will distribute it among the
poor and the needy. Her gesture wins her many admirers.

Cut To

1907

Gauhar meets Syed Ghulam Abbas Subzwari, a handsome young man, polite to
the extreme. He is looking for a job. She immediately appoints him her
manager and secretary although he is only 24 and a decade younger than her,
and she is worldly wise at 34. She finds herself extremely busy as usual but a
crisis is on her hands. She is informed during her concert tour of Bhopal, Indore
and Hyderabad by Abbas, that Sheikh Bhaghloo, the son of Malka Jaan’s maid
Ashia, who was doted upon by Gauhar’s mother, deceased a year earlier in
1906, has forcibly occupied a portion of Gauhar’s large house. Moreover,
Bhagloo has broken the locks of her safe and tried to steal money. A complaint
is lodged with the police against Bhagloo. A case ensues.

Cut To

Bhagloo claims to be the lawful, legitimate heir of Malka Jaan on ​4 August,

1909​. He declares that Gauhar is her illegitimate daughter by an Armenian
gentleman! A protracted legal battle begins.

Cut To

A compact sequence giving the salient features of the case. Gauhar’s long lost
father traced by her to Allahabad, is directed by the Calcutta High Court to give
evidence. Robert William Yeoward, identifies Gauhar as his legitimate daughter

[Type text] Page 16

by his divorced wife Victoria Hemmings, who came to be known later as Badi
Malka Jaan.

The year is 19 11

The Court rules in favour of Gauhar Jaan. She comes out, bursts into tears and
falls in the arms of an obviously embarrassed Abbas.

Cut To

The late fifty-ish narrator seen earlier: “She was a deeply emotional woman.
Despite all the wealth she had earned from her art, she longed for the love of a
man. Her experiences with Chaggan Rai, Amrit Keshav Nayak, Nimai Sen, it
seems had taught her nothing. She always longed for the ideal, fulfilling love
which she thought was around the corner! Then there was the case with
Sheikh Bhagloo, which left her completely shaken. Abbas’s loyalty touched her.
She fell in love with him and lived to rue over her decision.”

Cut To

Three short telescopic scenes of Gauhar’s love for Abbas.

Cut To

Gauhar in concert, in full flow

Cut To

Abbas tries to seize Gauhar’s properties in her absence. She is out on tour of
various Princely states to give concerts. When she learns of Abbas’ nefarious
designs, she is heartbroken. She writes to him from Hyderabad on

4​th​ August, 1915:

“I write to you with great regret that if any other person had inherited my
property at lower Chitpur Road, They would have remained grateful to me for
the rest of their lives. They would have acknowledged the fact that they have
become wealthy because of my grace. But You?”

Cut To

Dark Screen- Voice Over

[Type text] Page 17

 “Akl bareeq hui Jaati heye

Ruh tareeq hui jaati heye”

(Perceptions become more subtle, as darkness envelopes the soul.)

A single note on the flute whose Arabesque suggests a sigh.

A concert in the Darbar Hall of the Rampur Palace. ​It is late 1927. Nawab
Hamid Ali Khan sits flanked by Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India on his right, and his
Wazir (Prime Minister) on his left. The luminaries, including the British agent,
are present. Gauhar Jaan, at fifty-five, is still attractive and elegant. On her
chest are pinned many medals that she has received from the bigwigs of her
time. Gauhar sings with great feeling, her artistry never more apparent. Her
accompanists too also rise to the occasion.

The concert is a terrific success. Gauhar is ceremoniously presented by Nawab

Hamid Ali Khan to Lord Irwin who heartily congratulates the Nawab for having
such a brilliant artist in his court and Gauhar for her marvellous singing. Then,
all of a sudden, against all protocol, the Viceroy steps forward to admire the
medals pinned on Gauhar’s blouse and touches one of them. Nawab Hamid Ali
is seething with anger.

Cut To

Later in private, the Nawab gives Gauhar a tongue-lashing, “So you allowed a
White man to touch your breast.”

Gauhar protests weakly, “What could I do, the Badey Laat stepped up so
quickly…”

The Nawab storms out of her room.

Cut To

Gauhar, ​in Mysore 1929​, i​ n close- shot, ​before the Rampur sequence began.
She smiles wryly.

Cut To

Rampur 1928

[Type text] Page 18

Gauhar being cold –shouldered by the officials of the Rampur Court. The
Nawab too ignores her. Gauhar is deeply hurt and depressed. The final blow
comes when she discovers one day that the diamonds gifted to her by the
Nawab have been replaced by cheap imitations. She decides to leave Rampur...

Cut To

A steam engine and a train over the horizon.

Cut To

The old admirer who was seen much earlier reading Gauhar’s obituary. He
smiles gently, wistfully and says, “Through no fault of her own, Gauhar found
herself an outcaste in Rampur. She decided to go Bombay, where she had
found love and romance with Amrit Keshav Nayak almost quarter of a century
ago....”

Cut To

She receives a letter from Seth Madho Das Gokul Das Pasta inviting her to do a
series of concerts in Bombay. There is a smile of relief on her face.

Cut To

The funnel of the steam engine exhaling smoke. On the soundtrack is the
throbbing of the engine....

Cut To

Seth Madho Das Gokul Das Pasta greets Gauhar with great ceremony; calls her
his sister. He tells Gauhar that he has rented a house for her which she offers
to pay for but the Seth ‘magnanimously’ declares that she is his guest. Gauhar,
later seen signing a six-month agreement to stay in that house, and sing at
private soirees.

Cut To

Gauhar in Bombay singing at a private soiree to appreciative listeners. This

concert dovetails into another with another set of connoisseurs, including the
Maharaja of Mysore’s younger brother. He is very impressed. After the
concert, he offers profuse thanks to Gauhar.

[Type text] Page 19

Cut To

Gauhar, in concert at the Mysore court of Maharaja Nalwadi Krishna Raja

Wodeyar. It is the same one, shown almost at the beginning of the film. The
Maharaja and other guests listen to Gauhar with rapt attention.

Cut To

Gauhar in her cottage; She receives a summons from the Bombay High Court
saying that she has defaulted on the payment of rent on her Bombay flat. She
is shocked. Seth Gokul Das Madho Das Pasta had made her his guest !

She talks to the famous senior court musician Ustad Barkatullah Khan, Sitari,
who puts her in touch with Mr Narsimhaiyya, advocate, and the Darbar Bakshi
of the Mysore court.

Dissolve To

The Mysore court officials are indifferent. Half her salary of Rupees 500 is
attached to clear the rent due in Bombay. Gauhar is depressed and broken.

Cut To

Gauhar, in Krishna Rajendra hospital, with high fever. Her faithful attendant
Sharifan (Sheriffen) gives her a cold pack to bring the fever down but to no
avail.

A montage of Gauhar’s delirium. The first part is silent and accompanied by

background music only.

She sees Amrit Keshav Nayak, he whispers sweet nothings to her. She is in a
boat over a huge expanse of water. Nimai Sen lies on her lap, she is stroking
his hair. She is on a swing (jhoola) pushed by Rai Chaggan with monsoon clouds
in the background.

Cut To

The old admirer talks to the camera.

“Her life? Her life can be best summed up by this Urdu couplet from a ghazal
by Fani Badayuni.

[Type text] Page 20

 “Manzil–e–iskh pe pahunche tanha,

Koi bhi Tammana saath na thi,

Thak Thak kar is rah mein yaaron,

Ek ik Saathi choot gaya”

(I reached Love’s destination all alone. My companions? They fell away

exhausted, one by one).

Cut To

Gauhar Jaan singing at her best before a highly appreciative audience. She has
an other-worldly beauty about her.

Dissolve to

The empty Dil Khush Cottage in Mysore. Her singing from the previous scene
carries over. The Chamundi Hills are seen in all their beauty.

Cut To

Gauhar’s grave: Still, silent atmosphere, cry of a lone bird.

Pause

Then Maulvi Niaz Ahmed’s couplet is heard in VO.

“Gaya woh Shewa-e-shahana Kaun kehta heye?

Hamari waza Ko Afsana kaun kehta heya?”

Who says the days, radiant with beauty and wisdom, are gone? Who says, all
our perseverance was in vain?

Fade Out

END

[Type text] Page 21

 Copyright –Partha Chatterjee, 2010-08-07

[Type text] Page 22