Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Matrubhumi - A nation without women


Undoubtedly one of the most disturbing films in recent times, Matrubhumi is stark, intense and brilliant. The movie is set in the future where prejudice and economic concerns have caused female infanticide to run so rampant that there are hardly any women left in the country. Families of men fight over women, parents dress up their young boys as girls to marry them off and claim dowry, men copulate with animals, and women are only used for procreation and to carry out domestic chores. The more disturbing truth is that all of these things happen in some parts of India today...
The film centres around a father (Sudhir Pandey) and his five unmarried sons. He happens to come across a girl in the neighboring village called Kalki (Tulip Joshi) and bribes her father to marry her off to all his sons (known to happen in Rajasthan). The film then delves into the pathetic condition that the girl finds herself in, used merely as sexual entertainment by the sons and the father. She takes a liking to the youngest son (Sushant Singh) and he in turn respects her as well. The other brothers, however, get jealous and end up killing him. This gets too much for Kalki to take and she decides to run away with the help of the scheduled caste servant. As luck would have it, they are caught and the servant is shot and Kalki is tied up in the shed with the cattle. Angry young men from the lower caste decide to avenge the servant's death and rape Kalki repeatedly. Night after night she is also ravaged by her husbands and father in law, who during the day hypocritically denounce her to be 'soiled by the seed of an untouchable'. She gets pregnant, which causes friction between the lower castes and the landlords. This ends in complete destruction of the village and a great deal of bloodshed. The final scene predictably shows Kalki delivering a girl child...
The film extracts good performances from the cast. Sudhir Pandey is good and so are Tulip Joshi and Sushant Singh. Tulip Joshi, expresses emotion well through her soulful eyes as she hardly has any lines to deliver. The rest of the cast is equally competent. There are some parts which are tedious, though. Kalki being ravaged night after night does evoke sympathy but it gets a bit much after a while. There are shocking scenes all through the length of the film so it is certainly not for the faint hearted. Manish Jha's direction is brilliant. He's one man to watch out for. Needless to say, the film has done very well in the film festival circuit. A must watch. It will disturb you and make you think about the lamentable position of women in some parts of the country.

4/5

Cheers!
Abhishek.

12 comments:

Cogito said...

oh..gosh...seems very disturbing.Hope it doesn't happen to any women in real life.

Anonymous said...

I didn't like it. Pushing the boundries i felt. Conforms to the western world's view of India.

Ron said...

Yeah Mathrubhumi was most disturbing...and Cogito.. yes this happens in India even today...villages in remote Rajasthan, Haryana,Bihar, UP...it happens. Gangraping a woman is still a preferred way of exacting revenge on someone or even teaching the woman a lesson. Hell gangrape is not restricted to small villages it happens in cities like Delhi all the time.
And Adi,it was not about the western worlds idea of India...it was a reflection of the India that sitting in cities people like us know nothing about...mathurbhumi might have been overdone in parts..but the scenarios the movie depicted are unfortunately very very true...it happens in India..bloody distrurbing isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I am glad for one that someone has had the sense to shut up the stereotypical patriots who refuse to believe the continuing violence towards women in india.. one only needs to step out of their houses to fully realise the extent to which women feel unsafe and victimized... it is clearlly discernable in their posture, personality and attitude, and yes here i am including all those women who do beleive themselves to be 'modern' and 'equal' or at power with men. movies like matrubhumi should be applauded and given the highest honour for the remarkable courage and creativity in showcasing a very plausible future of india... the statement in itself brings a chill to my spine, the movie, the visual representation left me understandably disturbed, angry, fearful and emotionally exausted.

Anonymous said...

Very nice... This movie will be very helpful for awakening the society against female foeticide.
This is not only a movie but it shows us the future if the female infanticide continues.
the young generation should rise up against it.
one more thing... it is a saying that whenever bad people increase in number on earth Lord comes to save and in Kalyuga Lord Vishnu will come as Kalki as is the name of Tulip Joshi in the movie.
So my dear friends respect the woman because...
Yatr nari pujyate
Ramante tatr devta

Anonymous said...

Can U PlZ Giv Me A 1 CD Download Link??????PlZ Need It BadLy

Sharan said...

This movie is really awesome..It is honestly eye opener..Very very good...must watch..

Anonymous said...

it fills
if it will happen in front of me then
i'll shoot to all in 1 sec.

Langit lazuli said...

I've watched this movie last night. Seriously it was the most disturbing movie i've ever seen after Rajkahini.

Some part was unreal and overacting but I believe a lot of Indian women had gone through this bloody situation where a value of woman only to serve men..

This situation is soooo sickening!!

Nur,
Malaysia.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Actually this film shows the power of women

Unknown said...

Actually this film shows the power of women