Karnataka - Bangalore   

It's one insightful and soulful essay

Water

Cast: John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray

Director: Deepa Mehta

Even in the era of all pervading hedonism, asceticism is expected of widows. Deepa Mehta's Water is an insightful piece on the life of widows forced into self-denial by a society too eager to usurp their material assets, and often not averse to using them for satiation.

As is common knowledge, the film was not allowed to be shot in Banaras a few years ago by the radical right wing elements. Not the one to give up, Deepa went to Sri Lanka and shot this beautiful, soulful, lyrical essay.

Yes, her original cast of Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das has given way to Seema Biswas and Lisa Ray, but the film has lost little of its sheen, none of its substance. It is still a riveting account of how the unfortunate women - even little girls married off before puberty and widowed before co-habitation - are dumped together in a widow home, exploited by priests and barbers, loathed by the upper castes, considered inauspicious by all.

However, it is no sad song. Therein lies Deepa's victory. There is Lisa, who gets into a relationship with a liberal-minded activist, as played with restraint by John Abraham. And there is Seema Biswas, who helps a child widow find life. In their little joys lay the triumph of the director who manages to tell us that in all-pervading gloom there is always a ray of light, ready to dispel darkness.

Wonderful cinematography, apt lyrics and music add to the movie's charm.

Ziya Us Salam

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