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`Water´
More`Water´ Please |
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 JAN
23 - "Water" caused a spark in a tinderbox in 2000. It had to
be doused. So its locale was moved from Varanasi to Sri Lanka.
There, its production was kept secret until completed.
India's Uttar Pradesh
(UP) government had to withdraw the film's location permits when mobs
stormed the ghats along the Ganges, destroying the film's sets and
burning effigies of Deepa Mehta - its producer, director
"I've gone through an ordeal by fire - no pun intended. In fact
(Pakistani litterateur) Bapsi Sidhwa has written a book on the
making of 'Water', which will be published when the film is
released," said Mehta - the Indo-Canadian
desi who lives in Toronto.
Its commercial release in India still remains a big question mark
though.
But a motley crowd of Delhi’s crème de la crème, including Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife, watched it recently in rapt attention
as her Water had its first screening in the capital.
At the end loud sobs were heard from various corners of the auditorium.
“It was unreal! I had a great deal of insecurity about the reactions
to Water in India. They were all laid to rest that evening,”
said the relieved filmmaker.
In Dubai and Karachi, its recent screening drew accolades too.
"I'm so glad I've got it out of my system. Now I feel I could just
retire. I'm that satisfied with ''Water''," she has been
quoted saying. Mehta
lives in a villa in suburban Toronto, Canada. Last year the Toronto
Film Festival screened Water. She and the film got standing ovations.
"'Water' was the last of my elemental trilogy after 'Fire' and
'Earth'. I felt incomplete without it. I just had to make 'Water',"
the director said, whose script had sparked violent protests and
even death threats in India. When asked what her next project was,
Mehta wryly replied: “I refuse to do a film about Air”.
Recently, an eclectic crowd of Pakistanis assembled in Karachi to
watch it. The movie reportedly brought a packed auditorium of
Muslims to forget their differences, sympathize with each other and
take a moment to ponder that which has divided Indians and
Pakistanis for so long.
 Water
is a breathtaking work of cinematographic art, starring John Abraham
and Lisa Ray (a Canadian born to a Bengali father and a Polish
mother). It is about the ill treatment of widows in India in the
1930s. It was initially supposed to star Shabana Azmi and Nandita
Das, but the shooting in the temple town of Varanasi was abandoned
five years ago following agitations by BJP and Shiv Sena ultras who
called the film anti-Hindu and did not want it to be shot there.
On the first day of shooting, hooligans destroyed her set. While
Mehta is no stranger to strong reactions to her work - Indian
billboards advertising her homosexuality-themed film Fire
were set alight in 1998 - it took her two years to get over the
anger and relocate Water to Sri Lanka despite offers from
other Indian provinces.
Seema Biswas plays a much-hated matron of a widows' home, Yadav an
eunuch who procures women for local rich, Kharbanda, a Brahmin
wracked by doubts about the scriptures he teaches to widows and John
Abraham, an idealist who falls in love with a widow played by Lisa
Ray. However later, Ray comes to know that John is son of the rich
man whom she serves every night at the instance of her matron and
eunuch. Consequently, Ray commits suicide by drowning herself in the
river. The matron then turns to a nine-year-old widow named Chuyia
played by Sarala (a Sri Lankan) to replace Ray.
Water's story centers around Chuyia who has just lost her
husband. She is placed in an ashram along with 13 others to spend
the rest of her life in renunciation. Chuyia is convinced that her
mother will come to take her away. So, she adapts to her new life.
Madhumati initiates her into widowhood. The ashram women are to
expiate bad karma; though mostly to relieve their families of
financial and emotional burden.
A pompous woman in her 70s runs the ashram with pimp Gulabi (Raghuvir
Yadav), and eunuch and also a hermaphrodite, who not only keeps
Madhumati supplied with ganja, but helps Madhumati to prostitute
Kalyani (Lisa Ray). Kalyani is the only widow whose hair is not
shorn. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is the most enigmatic, and
good-looking besides being a devout Hindu who seeks the counsel of
Sadananda (Kulbushan Kharbanda), a priest in his late forties who
recites the scriptures to the pilgrims who throng the ghats of the
holy city. One day, Kalyani meets a young law graduate, Narayan
(John Abraham) and is attracted to him, and cannot get the him out
of her mind. She refuses to oblige Madhumati and her clients.
 Meanwhile
Narayan meets with Kalyani and takes her away to Calcutta. Kalyani
returns to the ashram and whispers the secret of her wedding plans
to Chuhiya, who is thrilled at the prospect of a wedding feast. She
speaks out the couple's secret to Madhumati, and all hell breaks
loose. She enters Kalyani's isolated hovel, and clips her long black
hair and locks her up. Shakuntala unlocks the door to Kalyani's
room. Kalyani bathes to wash way the cruel face of her tormentor,
and goes to Narayan who asks her once again if she will marry him.
Narayan takes Kalyani to his parents' house. Alas, Kalyani
recognizes the house and asks Narayan to turn the boat around. Then
everything changes, including the life of little Chuyia. Thus, John
turns a Gandhian. Seema too revolts against the system and rescues
Chuhiya.
Seema Biswas is outstanding as usual. But it's John and Lisa who
have performed well and are going to stun the audiences. For all
those who thought Lisa would be unconvincing as a Hindu widow, the
film is a revelation. The script required the girl to be a lotus in
a murky pond. That's exactly how Lisa comes across. The chemistry
John shares with Lisa onscreen has to be seen to be believed. She's
so fragile and vulnerable and he's so strong and yet so sensitive.
John knew how to wear the dhoti, how to play the flute. He knew the
body language and the historicity of his character and he simply
transformed into the character.
The music score by A R Rahman has given the film a whole new
dimension too.
The overall result has been that Water is a pure and honest
but compelling, absorbing tale of oppression and survival - not
melodramatic at all.
It may not rake crores in India, but for the desi diaspora
all over the world, Water is worth watching. It's a cut above!
|
Rating: ** * 1/2
Produced/Directed: Deepa Mehta
Casts: Waheeda Rehman, Lisa Ray, John Abraham,
Seema Biswas, Raghuvir Yadav, Sarala (Sri Lankan) |
Rating
Index:
* * * * * Just brilliant
* * * * A cut above
* * * Enjoyable
* * Average
* Bomb |
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Top
10 Desi Movies |
1 Salaam-e-Ishq
2 Guru
3 Risk
4 Vivah
5 Dhoom 2
6 Bhagam Bhaag
7 I See You
8 Kabul Express
9 Lage Raho Munnabhai
10 Don
As of Jan 28,
2007 |
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