Retro Review: Kora Kagaz

Classed as one of the biggest actresses of her time, Jaya Bachchan celebrated her birthday this month on the 9th of April, thus BollyCurry brings to you a Retro Review of one of her evergreen films, Kora Kagaz, starring herself and Vijay Anand.

Kora Kagaz, a movie about life after marriage and the clash of sasuraal and maayka, was released in 1974, produced by Sanath Kothari whilst being directed by Anil Ganguly. Other actors included in the cast are A K Hangal, Achala Sachdev and Deven Verma. The music was coined by Kalyanji Anandji including the evergreen song "Mera Jeevan Kora Kaghaaz" sung by late legend Kishore Kumar and living legend Lata Mangeshkar. 

The plot revolves around a young girl named Archana Gupta (Jaya Bachchan), who hails from a rich upper-middle class family. She meets a less fortunate Literature professor, Sukesh Dutt (Vijay Anand), on a bus ride in Mumbai and finds him to be an honest man with high principals in life, which he takes great pride in. They meet and get attracted to one another with love finally blossoming. Their encounter further leads to their marriage, where everyone is content except the bride's mother (Achala Sachdev), who is not too pleased with her son-in-law's low income.

The real story starts after marriage when Archana faces problems from both sides - her husband and her maternal home, especially her mother who antagonizes against her son-in-law. Instead of living their dreamed happy life, everyday there are problem in the newlywed couple's lives. The mother of the bride constantly sends packages to her daughter as "tokens of love". This is received by Sukesh as insults on his lifestyle and principals. He believes that his mother-in-law enacts such task with the sole purpose of shaming him. Trapped between her husband's honesty and her mother's love, Archana does not know what to do. Eventually bitterness squirms between the couple and they finally decide to part ways. However, the film ends on an optimistic note where the couple reunite years later and decide to live their initial happy ever after.

Kora Kagaz was received well at the box office and was much liked by the audience. The film had a total of three songs where the song "Mera Jeevan Kora Kaghaaz" topped the Binaca Geetmala annual list in 1974. Kora Kagaz also garnered critical accolades and received many national and Filmfare nominations. It went on to win two Filmfare awards - Jaya Bachchan with the Best Actress award and Kalyanji Anandji winning Best Music Director.