water - a film by deepa mehta

watched the much acclaimed `water' last night. nominated in the best foreign film category at the oscars this year, water is deepa mehta's third film after earth and fire.

based in 1938, in the midst of the national freedom struggle led by mahatma gandhi and his progressive ideas, water focuses on the struggles and lives of widows of various ages who are rehabilitated in an isolated ashram (supposedly in benares, india).

however, mehta could not shoot her film in benares, as there were many political and religious fundamentalists against her making this film, so she had to re-shoot with a fresh cast and crew in sri lanka.

in this film, she depicts widows having to undergo suffering and injustice above succumbing to the pressures of society while being shunned and insulted, used and degraded for no fault of theirs.

one wonders if society in india has changed at all from those earlier times. we constantly hear of women being treated badly and what about widows? it is a sin, their sin, that their husbands have died.

how does a 7-year old survive her husband who is 87 yrs of age? how does she not become a widow? why should she be treated like an outcast? and to think that she is only a child unaware of anything except maybe her dolls and other play things.

in bapsi sidhwa's book as in the movie, it is mentioned that `a woman is recognised as a person only when she is one with her husband. outside of marriage the wife has no recognized existence, so, when her husband dies, she should cease to exist.'

however, generally in india, did things change very much after the 1930's?

in `water' the child character, chuiya (played by sarla, a sri lankan) was hardly seven. does it still happen in our modern educated society?

i personally think it does especially in the remote villages in india. the mindset has not changed.

in the film, the widows owned no worldly possession, had their hair cut short, ate only one tasteless meal a day (no fried foods were allowed),wore the same sari which was basically a white piece of cloth, slept on the floor in dark cold rooms, begged for money outside temples and since the collections were usually meagre, they were forced into prostitution just to survive.

a beautiful film that exposes hypocrisy as a rich brahmin man (narayan's father in the film) who sleeps with these widows, justifies it `Our holy texts say brahmins can sleep with whomever they want, and the women they sleep with are blessed.'

`water' is about love, bonding, sacrifice, ignorance, education, customs, cultures, and women's issues.

it is about us viewers knowing and making a difference, or rather correcting an injustice occuring in the evil side of human society.

a must watch.