Bawarchi

Update: My father informs me that this movie is actually based on the Lloyd C. Douglas book "White Banners". A cursory check of IMDB also reveals a movie of the same name, based on the same book

Courtesy Netflix, I got to view this Hrishikesh Mukherjee offering on an excellent quality DVD.

Arguably cheesy and very amateurish, yet this 1972 classic is a family film in the most literal and symbolic sense. And its message is an inescapable fact of the ways of life of families in general.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we tend to often forget, overlook or take for granted, the very thing that made us the family of loving sharing people. Oftentimes, it takes an outsider, the bawarchi in this case, to show them up and remind them of what it does mean to be a family.

Our protagonist is a all-in-one jack-and-master-of-all-trades. From cooking to singing to dancing to teaching to philosophizing and everything in between, he manages to stir the dysfunctional Sharma family residing at Shanti Niwas, from their self-imposed slumber, and makes them realize the gem they have at hand in terms of a joint, well-understanding family.

Admittedly, this is utopian and idealist, but hey, it never does hurt to wish or dream does it?

For all its splendorous message to the family, and to the individual (there is this point of emphasis on laughter, and about how essential it is, to the health and well-being of the person and the family), there is this odious background score that accompanies the protagonist when he is in the vicinity of the family treasure, or an equally odious sound mouthed by him when he makes a point.

Overall, a movie worth a watch for the overall story, and if you are particularly interested, in Jaya Bhaduri's impressive turn as Krishna.