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Bawandar - 2000 [DVD] |
Overall Rating
My Rating
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Not Rated |
| Year : |
2000 |
| Playtime : |
165 Minutes |
| Lang : |
Hindi |
| Genre : |
Crime |
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| A rural low-caste woman, working at Rajasthan Government woman's development called "Saathin", is gang-raped by upper-cast men in her village when she speaks up against the present custom of child marriages. Instead of hanging her head in shame as she was expected to do, she decides to knock the doors of justice. Her real rape begins when she is made to run from pillar to post in a judicial system corrupted by sexism, chauvinism, feudalism and political opportunism. Caught in the game between the ruling party's central government and the opposition party's State government she is put on a pedestal by one party, and thrown stones at, by the other. Against all odds, she maintains her dignity and courage as a woman. It is a shocking but true story, set admist the picturesque sand dunes of colorful contemporary Rajasthan. |
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| Member Reviews |
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| 1 member reviews for this DVD |
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Must-see!  |
Ram Kaushik |
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Ever so rarely, one comes across a movie that is not about entertainment but about education and social awareness. Bawander belongs unequivocally to this genre. A Hindi movie that does not move to Switzerland or New Zealand within the first two frames - Hallelujah! A movie that actually has characters that one has seen and experienced in the *real* India! Poignant in its portrayal of a woman brutally raped both literally and figuratively, Bawander spares no one in a scathing indictment of Indian society. Manipulated ruthlessly by the political-casteist
nexus, the elite press-media sector and the justice system, Nandita Das' picturization of a woman of dignity is brilliantly underplayed.
Direction by Jagmohan Mundhra is superbly taut and understated and a host of minor characters play their parts with admirable conviction.
My top moments of this memorable movie:
1. The cynical presentation of a national woman's rights award to Sanwari Devi (Nandita Das) by P.V.Narasimha Rao (lookalike) just as the local
Rajasthani political-rural mafia are mercilessly terrorizing her with impunity.
2. The of the Delhi "kitty-party" media and political elite blithely manipulating the situation for their own purposes and then abandoning the cause when its no longer "news". The scene of the press photographer nonchalantly sipping her mineral water in Nandita Das' village house is brilliantly done.
3. Both the rural cop cursing the woman for her guts in trying to take on the system, and the women cops with their lewd jokes are totally believable.
4. The whole story is told through the supposedly sympathetic eyes of the London writer (Laila Rouass) - the final betrayal when we learn that
she just has her own selfish interests at heart in trying to publish her book - hits you in the stomach!
5. Deepti Naval's portrayal of the well-intentioned social worker blundering on without realizing that the consequences of her actions are to be borne not by her but by the rural women concerned is authentic. Her own household is also not free from the rural prejudices and chauvinism
that she is trying to cure!
6. When Rahul Khanna's summarily dismisses cross-dressing as "another Western perversion", Laila Rouass' rejoinder listing all the banes of rural India - child marriage, rape, chauvinism etc as the "real perversions", an Indian has no answer and must hang his/her head in shame.
All in all - a must see movie for all serious movie watchers. If you are looking for mere fluff, look elsewhere - your choices are many. |
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