Water - Pure and Innocent

I did not see Deepa Mehta's earlier work in the form of Earth and Fire, so I did not know what to expect from this movie. Though I had a understnding of basic story line thanks to propagandist in India and then it's fame to oscar. Though I can not relate the trilogy, if there are any relation at all, but it did not stop me from appreciating a work of fine art.

Water is a story about pre-independance Indian culture. The time was heavily dominated by traditional hindus and their thousand year old customs which may and should not fit in modern society . This tradtionalism had it's share of evils and one of the victims were widows of the society. Deepa has picked specially those widwos who lost their husband in a very early age. This way Deepa has touched, very breifly, the second evil of the then society and that is child marriage. Though I should not deviate from the real theme which is traumatic conditions of the widows.

The story was told with a center charachter named Chuhiya, a 6 year old widow, who lost her husband before knowing or realizing that she was married. Her parents send her to a widow "ashram" where many other widows, from very young to very old, leaves to spend their rest of the life. It is prohibited for them to enjoy life but to treat their life as burden on their own and for the society. What should have been her playing days and making new freinds of her age, Chuhiya meets her companions in the ashram. She meets Kalyani who is the fairest of all and has been give some privilages (like she can keep the long hairs) - but all for wrong reasons. She witnesses the attempt of Narayan, A Gandhi follower, to rescue Kalyani from the misery of a old and traditional society - only to meet a bitter end. She observes the brave attempt of Shakuntala to help Kalyani in escaping the hell. Finally she escapes her fate thanks to Shakuntala and Narayan.

Water, as the metaphore suggests, is pure and innocent. It does not have a will of it's own for most of the part, it just flows along the lines drawn by a traditional society. It requires a force if it has to change it's course.

Some of the scenes in this movies are particularly very touching. One such scene which touched me is when the old widow eats a luddu brought by Chuhiya. The expression and emptiness in her eyes can not be described. She remembers the last time when she had it - unfortunately her wedding time. After that it has become a age old desire to have it one more time., which can not be fullfilled because she was prohibited being a widow. It was a last wish standing between life and escape from this dreadful life. It was one last wish which was worth, if she gets is afterall, to go through all the pains. And once she has it, she has everything in her life and she escapes. It was a "moksha".

Seema Biswas again remineds us she is one of the most under utiliazed, exceptional talent in India. She could have been goddess in Hollywood. She acts naturally. She does not need to speak to convey her emotions. She is brilliant. Lisa Ray looked beautiful. She is not a great actor but she was succeful in portraing a victim of the society. John Abraham is good - he knows his strong bit and does it strongly. One actor I would like mention here is Manorama. The old, small time, evil chachi has been incarnated as madhumati bai. She is brilliant and I hope to see her in more movies.


All in all it's trimuph. We should be ashamed for making such a big fuss on this movie.

Star - 4 out of 5
Recommendation - A must watch. Watch to realise how we made a fool of ourselves by letting Canada taking the credit for such a fine movie.