I mostly enjoyed this movie. It's hard to find films of this calibre (or ones that are not arty or bollywood escapism) coming out of India. I can think of one other - Salaam Bombay which also uses a young child to take us into the story. And like that film, despite all the misery that piles up, there are still some moments of comedic relief.
In this case it mostly comes from the characters of Madhumati (Manorama), a fat and pompous widow and her only friend the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav). They are in a way the villains of the film portrayed as pathetic characters. Their conversations, shared almost as if between jail cells, are sometimes funny and show them sticking to useless even superstitious traditions - dismissing Gandhi for example. Their attitude though probably represent a certain way of thinking in India even today.
The messages of obeying rules laid down centuries ago are painted in big brushstrokes but it's probably hard to tell it any other way. Considering the controversy the director has caused in India it's also a brave film. Hindu fundamentalist - who probably identify with the character of Madhumati caused a lot of trouble during the initial filming of this film.
But it's far from perfect and about 4 songs are blended into the story. This was probably done with an Indian audience in mind who are used to bollywood conventions of people bursting into song and dance to drive home messages of sadness, love or joy.
Fortunately, here, the characters don't start magically singing but there is still a bit too much jumping and dancing that detracts from the story while adding nothing (at least for a western audience). Particularly one song sequence showing the hindu festival of holi seems to belong in a different film with characters acting contrary to what we have seen.
All in all a recommended film and one I hope is seen by many people in India.
In this case it mostly comes from the characters of Madhumati (Manorama), a fat and pompous widow and her only friend the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav). They are in a way the villains of the film portrayed as pathetic characters. Their conversations, shared almost as if between jail cells, are sometimes funny and show them sticking to useless even superstitious traditions - dismissing Gandhi for example. Their attitude though probably represent a certain way of thinking in India even today.
The messages of obeying rules laid down centuries ago are painted in big brushstrokes but it's probably hard to tell it any other way. Considering the controversy the director has caused in India it's also a brave film. Hindu fundamentalist - who probably identify with the character of Madhumati caused a lot of trouble during the initial filming of this film.
But it's far from perfect and about 4 songs are blended into the story. This was probably done with an Indian audience in mind who are used to bollywood conventions of people bursting into song and dance to drive home messages of sadness, love or joy.
Fortunately, here, the characters don't start magically singing but there is still a bit too much jumping and dancing that detracts from the story while adding nothing (at least for a western audience). Particularly one song sequence showing the hindu festival of holi seems to belong in a different film with characters acting contrary to what we have seen.
All in all a recommended film and one I hope is seen by many people in India.
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