Watching Bollywood: Water

Movie: Water
Producer: David Hamilton
Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Sarala(introducing), Manorma, Raghuveer Yadav, Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman
Music: Mychael Danna, A.R. Rahman-Hindi Song

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I saw this one on MNet Africa (DSTV). This is a story of pre-Gandhi India when widows are separated into a commune or house for widows called "ashram".

In those times in India, children can be married by their parents at very young age like 7 years young. Widows are not allowed to remarry and are forbidden to work or be seen in public. They rely on donations and 'extra-curricular' acivities for funding for foods, clothing and house repair.

They are also not allowed to eat sweets or any 'nice' foods - -they have to make do with porridge or plain rice/lintel.

The movie opens in the widows' housing commune (ashram) near Delhi, beside the holy Ganges river, for the widows of all ages. There was elder Madhumati Didi (elder sister) who served as the ashram landlady and who pimps the younger widows to wealthy gentry to support the ashram house. Then there was the seven year old child, named Chuihyah (Hindi for mouse) who was bethroth a few months back, but then her child-husband died of disease. At such age, she was abandoned by her family to the widows house. Another was Kalyani, a pretty 20-something woman who also entered ashram house since 9 years old. She is the bread-and-butter of the house because she is young and pretty, so she was being pimped for by madhumati didi.

A young man, Narayan - British educated and a Gandhi advocate, falls in love with Kalyani, despite her mother's objection. Didi also warned Kalyani that if she insist on marrying, she cannot come back to ashram again.

Before the wedding, he tried to bring Kalyani to his house for introduction. When Kalyani saw the house, she asked to be returned to the ashram. Later, Narayan discovered that Kalyani was a regular visitor to his father's boudoir. Even his father felt guilty - knowing how much his son loved her -- but nevertheless, remained unapologetic.

Kalyani was heart-broken. She tried to go back to ashram house but Didi refused her entry. So she went to Ganges river and drowned herself. The next day, Narayan went to the ashram house to look for her - he still wanted to marry her. He was devasted when he was shown the funeral pyre for Kalyani. He decided to follow Gandhi, who was at the train station, to go around india preaching civil disobedience.

In the meantime, Didi, with the loss of Kalyani, decided to send the seven-year old widow Chuihya to Narayan's father. Another widow, Shakuntala Didi looked for her in the ashram house. When she saw the pimp coming from the other side of the river, she immediately knew what happened to Chuihya. She tooked the shaking, unconcious child in her arms and ran to the train station. Gandhi's train was just about to leave and Shakuntala was racing alongside the train - -begging anyone in the train to take Chuihya with them -- to safety, to freedom. As the train races past her and Chuihya, Narayan, who was hanging by the door of the last coach, saw her. She saw Narayan and ask him to take the child. Narayan understood and before the train finally left the platform, he took the child with him -- leaving Shakuntala convulsing in tears, but relieved..

I will not belabor you with my own review but i will just copy-paste one review i saw on the net for further information.

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Our eyes and ears are those of Chuihya (Sarala), a seven-year-old widow
sent to live in an ashram for widows. She encounters the vile head of the
widows, Madhumati (Manorma), who exploits the residents. Shakuntala (Seema
Biswas) is the only force that occasionally opposes Madhumati´s tyranny. Kalyani
(Lisa Ray) is the beautiful young widow who befriends Chuhiya-- she is also
pimped by Madhumati and the eunuch Gulabi (Raghuveer Yadav). Ironically, she
sent to work by crossing the Ganges. Narayan (John Abraham) is a follower of
Gandhi who falls in love with Kalyani, regardless of her status as a widow. Throughout Water, Mehta exposes the cruelties of Hinduism against widows.

Chuhiya, in her ignorance, asks all the right questions like "Hum apne ghar kab
jaayenge?" or "Aadmi vidhwaah kahan jaate hain? " It is not that Mehta is
rejecting Hinduism as a respectable religion. She is merely raising the right
questions--she is striving to empower those with the means to help those widows
who, till this day, suffer in the same conditions described in the film. No
religion is perfect. Each one has a dark past. Hinduism is no different. Whether
these injustices are innate to the religion or a by-product of chauvinistic
interpretation, one thing is clear: unleashing and relinquishing one of the
skeletons in Hinduism´s closet will only enhance the quality of the religion.

"We are very good, as different nations and different cultures, to have a
collective amnesia about our own [problems]…[Water] is about three women trying to break that cycle and trying to find dignity, and trying to get rid of the
yoke of oppression, and if it inspires people to do something in their own
culture, that´s what´s important." (Deepa Mehta, as told to the CBC).

Considered as a film, rather than a "baggage of controversy" (says Mehta
herself), Water is superior. The screenplay is crisp and tight. There are not
miscellaneous sub plots that divert from the prevailing theme, which is always a
bonus. No action completely overt, which makes the experience even more
fulfilling. Moreover, the dialogue is engaging, especially those lines in which
Narayan deciphers the need for a custom that sentences widows to lives of
degradation. Thankfully, the movie is not preachy but speaks volumes on the
issue it addresses.

Lisa Ray is a complete revelation. Her Hindi has improved leaps and bounds.
Not only does she look stunning, but she is convincing as the prostituted widow
trained to be submissive. Her self-imposed exile from Bollywood is sad, as one
wonders how many movies Deepa Mehta can make to keep this talented actress in
the limelight--there is minimal scope for actresses of Indian origin in Canada
and Hollywood.

John Abraham is too chic for his role. He´s just one of those people that cannot look average even with the right makeup. But his mannerisms and dialogue delivery are perfect. This is the performance that he should be most proud of.

Seema Biswas, best known for Bandit Queen but also impressive in recent
movies like Ek Hasina Thi, is no less spectacular. Her fear, concern, and confidence are ideal and she proves that she is ideal for the role. Even the original choice for
Shakuntala (Shabana Azmi) may not have been able to the kind of justice to the
role that Biswas has.

Manorma is perfectly vile. After being out of film for a long time, she
returns with a bang, playing a character you love to hate. Raghuveer Yadav lends
adequate support as the heartless eunuch.

Waheeda Rehman is in a small role that could have been played by anyone.

Sarala is the best part of Water. She´s cute, energetic and the perfect
choice for the role. In real life, Sarala cannot speak a word of Hindi. Her work
in Water is the complete memorization of lines and their phonetic regurgitation.
This makes her performance even more profound. What an amazing actress!

Source : http://www.planetbollywood.com/Film/Water/

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I hope Filipino Indie filmmakers will continue to make socially relevant, non-commercial films, like India's Water. I am sure there is a dearth of topics about the true Filipino culture and identity to relate.