Badnam Basti

Badnam Basti is a 1971 Bollywood drama film directed by Prem Kapoor adapted from an eponymous novel by Hindi novelist Kamleshwar.[1] The stars of the film comprises of Nitin Sethi, Amar Kakkad and Nandita Thakur in the lead roles. It is often described as India’s first gay film.[2] After nearly 50 years, a print of the movie that was thought to have been lost was found in 2020.[3]

Badnam Basti
Directed byPrem Kapoor
Produced byFilm Finance Corporation
Written byKamleshwar
StarringNitin Sethi, Amar Kakkad and Nandita Thakur
Music byVijay Raghav Rao
CinematographyRM Rao
Edited byHrishikesh Mukherjee, Prem Kapoor
Release date
1971
Running time
83 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹ 250,000

Plot

The film is based on Ek Sadak Sattavan Galiyan,[4] the debut novel of the Hindi writer Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena.

Set in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, Badnam Basti tells the story of Sarnam Singh, a bus driver who is also a bandit. Sarnam saves Bansuri from being raped by another dacoit. Bansuri falls in love with him, but gets jailed for a petty crime. Upon release, Sarnam searches for Bansuri but does not find her. He then meets Shivraj, who works in a temple, and hires him as a cleaner in the bus. The two become physically and emotionally intimate. Sarnam again encounters Bansuri who is now living with Sarnam’s own crony, Rangile, who won her at an auction in a village mela. Bansuri desires a return to Sarnam, but is torn by his longing for Bansuri and love for Shivraj. Shivraj, however, goes on to marry Kamala; Rangile, who is a police informant, is convicted and jailed for duplicity in legal matters. As the movie ends, Sarnam takes Bansuri and her newborn to his home.[5][6]

Cast
  • Nitin Sethi as Sarnam Singh
  • Nandita Thakur as Bansuri
  • Amar Kakkad as Shivraj
  • Nandlal Sharma

Production

Badnam Basti was produced by the Film Finance Corporation on a budget of ₹250,000. It was shot in a four week period at Mainpuri.[7][8] The theme of homosexual interest between the two male characters caused Kamaleshwar's novel to attract controversy; Prem Kapoor had to excise scenes from the novel and make their relationship suggestive only on-screen to be cleared by the censorship.[9][10]

Although the movie is labelled as India's first gay movie,[11][12] Badnam Basti has neither explicitly depicted nor identified the male characters as gay.[13][14] They are bisexual rather than gay, and their relationship is secondary to their heterosexuality relationships.[15][16]

Songs

The music for Badnam Basti was composed by Vijaya Raghava Rao and Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, who previously worked with Rao in Bhuvan Shome, sang "Sajna Kaahe Nahi Aaye", which is one of the songs in the movie.[17] The lyrics were by Virendra Mishra and Harivansh Rai Bachchan; Bachchan recites the poem "Mele Mein Khoi Gujariya" in the film.[18][19] Vijay Raghav Rao and Satish Bhutani also sang for the film. The sound recording was done by Narinder Singh.[20] The following is the list of songs in Badnam Basti:[21]

No.TitleSingerLength
1."Sajna Kahe Nahi Aaye"Ghulam Mustafa Khan 
2."Akela Taaro Bhara Mela"Satish Bhutani 
3."Godaniya Gudwaye Le"Vijay Raghav Rao 
4."Mele Me Khoi Gujarriya"Harivansh Rai Bachchan 
5."Sun Lo Katha Sita Ki"Vijay Raghav Rao 

Release and Reception

The film released with an "A" certification from the Central Board of Film Certification, and it received mixed reviews. The Times of India called it "a welcome step forward in the direction of ‘new cinema’ in India";[22] the Economic Times noted that "Badnam Basti presents a true picture of reality whereas others panned it as "no film at all — its technical gimmicks are totally out of rhythm with the insipid directorial conception"[23] and a "little more interesting than the hotchpotch that passes for films generally" and that it "sustains its interest merely because of Nitin Sethi, who truly infuses his character with hardy, virile, rural verve"[24]. Sethi received praise from The Illustrated Weekly of India whom commented that "Sarnam’s loneliness has been projected superbly by Prem Kapoor. It is hard to imagine anyone but Nitin Sethi in the role".[25] Originally edited by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the film however did not do well at the box office. It was re-edited by Kapoor and re-released in 1978 with a "U" certificate, but was a commercial failure again..[26][27] The movie was thereafter thought to be lost with no prints available in India, but re-emerged in 2020 when one was located in the archives of the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin.[28][29] It has since been digitized and was screened by the Block Museum of Art in May 2020 and the Kashish film festival, Mumbai.[30][31][32]

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gollark: It's precise, it just doesn't have great range.
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References
  1. Shahani, Parmesh (2020). Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-5388-421-5. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  2. Jul 29, ByVijayeta BasuVijayeta Basu / Updated:. "Things to do in Mumbai today". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 5 August 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. Kahlon, Sukhpreet. "Finding Badnaam Basti (1972): Accidental discovery that restored a piece of Indian cinematic history". Cinestaan. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  4. Gaekwad, manish. "Badnam Basti — India's first film about gay love". Medium. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  5. "India's first gay film Badnam Basti resurfaces after nearly half a century's hibernation in Berlin archive- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. Sarkar, Smita (25 July 2020). "KASHISH 2020 to screen India's first gay film Badnam Basti, lost and found after 49 years". Global Indian Stories. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  7. Gaekwad, Manish. "The untold story of Badnam Basti, possibly India's first gay movie". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  8. Ghosh, Avijit (27 May 2020). "Almost 50 years later, first Hindi film on queer love makes waves - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. "Democratic World". Gulab Singh & Sons. 1989: 18. Retrieved 20 June 2020. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Ghosh, Avijit. "Almost 50 years later, first Hindi film on queer love makes waves - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  11. "Kashish 2020 to screen India's first gay film Badnam Basti, lost and found after 49 years - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  12. CineBlitz, Team (26 July 2020). "India's first gay film Badnam Basti, lost and found after 49 years, to screen at KASHISH 2020". CineBlitz. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  13. Ross, Oliver (2016). Same-Sex Desire in Indian Culture: Representations in Literature and Film, 1970-2015. Springer. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-137-56692-8. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  14. Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas. Routledge. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-136-77284-9. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  15. Vanita, R.; Kidwai, S. (2000). Same-Sex Love in India: Readings in Indian Literature. Springer. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-137-05480-7. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  16. Shahani, Parmesh (2020). Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India. SAGE Publishing India. p. 203. ISBN 978-93-5388-422-2. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  17. Khan, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa; Khan, Namrata Gupta (2018). A Dream I Lived Alone. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-384-0.
  18. Khan, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa; Khan, Namrata Gupta (2018). A Dream I Lived Alone. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-384-0.
  19. Gaekwad, Manish. "The untold story of Badnam Basti, possibly India's first gay movie". Scroll.in. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  20. Bhattacharjee, Rudradeep. "Sound stories: Narinder Singh on his collaborations with Basu Chatterjee and Gulzar". Scroll.in. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  21. "Badnam Basti : Lyrics and video of Songs from the Movie Badnam Basti (1971)". HindiGeetMala. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  22. Ghosh, Avijit (27 May 2020). "Almost 50 years later, first Hindi film on queer love makes waves - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  23. Link: Indian Newsmagazine. 1971. p. 40. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  24. Kirpalani, Rajika (1975). Another Time, Another Place: Selected Writings of Rajika Kirpalani. Rajika Education Trust. p. 42. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  25. Gaekwad, Manish (29 May 2020). "India's first gay film Badnam Basti resurfaces after nearly half a century's hibernation in Berlin archive- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  26. Kahlon, Sukhpreet. "Finding Badnaam Basti (1972): Accidental discovery that restored a piece of Indian cinematic history". Cinestaan. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  27. Gaekwad, Manish. "The untold story of Badnam Basti, possibly India's first gay movie". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  28. Gaekwad, Manish (29 May 2020). "India's first gay film Badnam Basti resurfaces after nearly half a century's hibernation in Berlin archive- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  29. Gaekwad, Manish (4 June 2020). "Badnam Basti — India's first film about gay love". Medium. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  30. Majumdar, Mayukh (30 May 2020). "India's First Gay Film, Badnam Basti, Turns Up In Berlin". Man's World. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  31. Sarkar, Smita (25 July 2020). "KASHISH 2020 to screen India's first gay film Badnam Basti, lost and found after 49 years". Global Indian Stories. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  32. CineBlitz, Team (26 July 2020). "India's first gay film Badnam Basti, lost and found after 49 years, to screen at KASHISH 2020". CineBlitz. Cine Blitz. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
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