People generally tend to adore lovable characters performed by a donkey in feature films. Be it Eddie Murphy voicing ‘Donkey’ in the Shrek series or Afzal Khan aka Jan Rambo bringing smiles to the faces of the audience with his “Mangoo Mangoo Jan Mangoo” for the local Donkey King, both became wildly popular with audiences.

But while both these films and the characters therein were hilarious, none could beat the performance given by veteran comedian Rangeela as the original Mangoo in the 1973 hit Insaan aur Gadha.

Conceptualised, produced and directed by actor Syed Kamal, Insaan aur Gadha told the story of a donkey who gains the ‘privilege’ to turn into a human after praying to the Almighty for it. Kamal and Rangeela star in the satire, where humans are living lives that even a beast of burden such as a donkey finds difficult to adjust to.

Kamal stars as Abdul, the owner of Mangoo, while Nisho, as Nishi, plays his love interest. Rozina’s character Rani silently loves Abdul even as actor Hanif’s character in the film, Raja, has eyes for her. Veteran TV actor Shakeel as Saleem, Mehmood Ali as Mehmood and Aslam Pervaiz as Dilawar grab meatier roles, while comedian Nirala provides further comic input.

Syed Kamal’s Insaan aur Gadha came out 50 years ago and became an iconic fi lm for the comedian Rangeela.But the satire also rubbed those in power the wrong way, who clearly sent a warning to creative writers and fi lmmakers not to attempt anything too ambitious in the future

The producer of the film, Zareen Kamal (the late Syed Kamal’s widow), spoke to Icon regarding the pre- and post-production, and after-effects of Insaan aur Gadha.

“Kamal was fascinated with Disney’s animated films and wanted to make something along the lines of Dumbo and Bambi,” recalls Zareen, who still remembers the details of the 1973 film as if it were yesterday. ”He had his eye on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which finally led to a request to the ruling military government at that time. Kamal notified in advance that he would be transforming a donkey into a human, and was given a go-ahead for the project.”

The transformation of Mangoo and what follows may bring to viewers’ minds Aamir Khan’s far more recent PK. From learning to speak a proper language, to having to steal clothes to fit into society and picking up vegetables from greengrocers without realising they are not for free, Mangoo has to learn things in the same way PK does.

“Tu mujhay banda kyun samajhta hai, main bhi tau gadha hoon [Why do you think of me as human, when you know I am also a donkey],” is Mangoo’s instant reply when identified by his owner.

Though treated no differently, Mangoo manages to show the sad face of society to the public. He is ridiculed, mauled, cheated and eventually framed for a murder he did not commit. Rangeela’s acting as a donkey-turned-human is the highlight of the film, as his do-latti (two-legged reverse kicks), vegetarian eating habits, noisy braying and rolling on sand hardly appeared fake.

When he signed on for Insaan aur Gadha, Rangeela was still a rising comedian. But over a period of time, he had started to appear as the lead. This change in his star status also affected the film and, in order to complete the movie that was set to be filmed in Karachi, the production crew had to relocate to Lahore to ensure Rangeela’s shooting schedule with other films was not affected.

Finally, Insaan aur Gadha was released in 21 cinemas across Pakistan on August 31, 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. All initial shows went housefull. Nashad’s music was a rage and the song Main tay maaranga do-latti in Rangeela’s voice was an instant hit. The powerful lyrics by Tasleem Fazli played up the sorrowful situations and aptly depicted the hardships people bear to earn their bread and butter.

Playback singer Ahmed Rushdi was also superb as the voice of the poor donkey and his man-self, with similar expressions recalled in PK’s Bhagwan hai kahan re tu. Tasawwur Khanum and Mala were equally good with their songs, but Madam Noor Jehan’s dual version Haaye re main marr jaawan stole the show.

The movie’s rise at the box office was, however, halted by the most powerful man of the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government, which was by then in power. Ghulam Mustafa Khar, the chief minister of Punjab, saw the movie and was no doubt reminded of being called ‘khur’ (wild donkey) in his college days, and ordered the removal of the reference along with some other objections.

Strangely, the scene where Mangoo addresses a crowd full of donkeys, in a style much like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s, was not objected to. The climax, however, portrayed an end which occurred with Bhutto in real life.

Five-and-a-half years after the release of Insaan aur Gadha, Bhutto was hanged after being framed for a murder. In the film, however, Mangoo escapes the gallows by turning back into a donkey at the eleventh hour in the film.

The earlier production delays and the later scene cuts ordered by those in power took a toll on Kamal, who was a devastated man at the end of it all. The power corridors clearly sent a warning to creative writers and filmmakers not to attempt anything brave or too adventurous in the future.

Zareen Kamal feels that her late husband has still not been forgiven for his alleged take on the Peoples Party government. “I found no reason as to why a man who had produced dozens of films, starred in over 50 blockbusters and had represented Pakistan at the international level, was never given any presidential award, despite a career of over four decades,” she says. “It hurts when actors quite junior [to Kamal], with literally no achievements, are praised,” she complains.

Rightly or wrongly, Zareen feels her late husband was targeted for picking a fight with those in power. Perhaps Kamal’s film was even more spot-on than he imagined.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 10th, 2023