ANDÁZ
(“Style,” Hindi, 1949, 148 minutes)
Directed by Mehboob Khan
Story: Shums Lucknavi; Screenplay and dialogs: S. Ali Raza; Music: Naushad;
Songs: Majrooh Sultanpuri; Photography: Faredoon A. Irani
Like many films of the immediate post-Independence era, this tragedy of manners
focuses, in a darker than usual register, on both the allure and danger of
modern western lifestyles and modes of social behavior. Though their allure
would appear to be felt by all, their danger is unequally shared between the
sexes: since nationalist ideology posits woman as the embodiment of tradition as
well as the guardian, through her chastity, of male honor, she incurs the
greatest risk in any flirtation with the modern—a flirtation which (given the
dictum that her sole God must be her husband) is tantamount to adultery. The
suspicion of this sin, nurtured by innocent misunderstandings and repeated
failures of communication in a world governed by verbal codes that discourage
straightforward speech, lies at the core of the strange and destructive “love
triangle” in this film.
