Page 220 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Unit 12: The Big Brother by Munshi Premchand

Mumbai. The film was released in Lahore and Delhi, but was banned again after it enthused the Notes
mill workers to stand up against the owners.
Ironically, the film inspired the workers of his own loss-making press in Benares to launch a
strike, as these workers were not getting their salaries. By 1934–35, Premchand’s Saraswati Press
was under a heavy debt of 4000, and Premchand was forced to discontinue the publication
of Jagaran. In the meantime, Premchand started hating the non-literary commercial environment
of the Mumbai film industry, and wanted to return to Benares. However, he had signed a one-
year contract with the production house. He finally left Mumbai on 4 April 1935, before the
completion of one year. Himanshu Roy, the founder of Mumbai Talkies, tried to convince
Premchand to stay back, but Premchand refused.

12.1.6 Last Days

Premchand wanted to settle in Allahabad, after leaving Mumbai where his sons Amrit Rai and
Sripat Rai were studying. He also planned to publish Hans from there. Though, owing to his ill-
health and his financial situation, he had to hand over Hans to the Indian Literary Counsel and
move to Benares.

Elected as the first President of the Progressive Writers’ Association in Lucknow, in 1936,
Premchand, died on 8 October 1936, after prolonged sickness.
Munshi Premchand’s last completed work, Godaan (The Gift of a Cow, 1936), is usually accepted
as his best novel, and is considered as one of the finest Hindi novels. The protagonist, Hori, a
poor peasant, desperately wants a cow, which is a symbol of prestige and wealth in rural India.
According to Schulz, “Godan is a well-structured and well-balanced novel which amply fulfils
the literary requirements postulated by the Western literary standards.” Unlike other
contemporary well-known authors such as Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand was not appreciated
much outside India. Siegfried Schulz feels that the main reason behind this was the absence of
good translations of his work. Also, unlike Iqbal and Tagore, Premchand never went outside
India, studied abroad or mingled with the famous foreign literary figures.

Premchand also published Kafan (“Shroud”), in 1936, in which a poor man collects money for
the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on drinks and food. Cricket Match, was Premchand’s
last published story which appeared in Zamana in 1937, after his death.

12.1.7 Death

It is upsetting to know that a writer of such vision and calibre was not even appreciated while he
was alive. He went through a very bad phase financially. He was unable to incur opportunities
to earn himself a proper living. Premchand struggled throughout his life financially and lived
in utter poverty. Despite suffering from health issues, Premchand continued writing till the end
of his life. In fact when he died he was actually in the middle of writing a novel called
Mangalsootra, which remains unfinished till date. This great literary personality of India breathed
his last on October 8, 1936.

12.1.8 Style and Influences

Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings importantly featured realism. His
novels focus on the problems of the urban middle-class and the poor. His works show a
rationalistic outlook, which sees religious values as something that allows the powerful
hypocrites to exploit the weak. Premchand used literature to arouse public awareness about
social and national issues and frequently wrote about topics related to prostitution, corruption,
child widowhood, feudal system, colonialism, poverty and on the India’s freedom movement.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 215