QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
REVIEWS
SHORT TAKES
SOUTHERN SPICE
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT

Caste Away

Mrudula Rajadhyaksha

A still from Samar. Click for bigger pic!

''I would be happy if you find it worthwhile to stay for the discussion after the film show, but if you don't I can't say I will unhappy because that will be your choice,'' joked Shyam Benegal at the preview of his latest film Samar (The Conflict). But many from the audience stayed back to discuss the film, ask questions, comment on its various aspects: surely the sign of a film that has reached home. Lending that extra edge to the evening was the presence of a cross-section of the local glitterati: Madhu Sapre, Bakul Patel and Jabbar Patel...

The film revolves around Dalit and Thakur animosity, their hatred for each other and the resultant political vortex, and is set in Kull village in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh which actually tops in the number of cases of atrocities against Dalits. Interestingly, Samar looks at the age-old conflict through the eyes of two artistes who are part of a film unit that is in Kull for a shoot. The complexities of the Dalit character, Kishor Kadam, played superbly by Raghubir Yadav, his sensitivity to even mundane issues, are beautifully etched, especially when juxtaposed to his parallel character, Thakur Chamak Singh, played by Ravi Zhankal. Through these two main characters, Benegal tells us, subtly but powerfully, that despite education, background, occupation, the differences, and prejudices like casteism, will not simply go away, but in fact get accentuated.

A still from Samar. Click for bigger pic!

As the film is shot on actual location, Raghubir Yadav sees his life-story flash past his eyes all over again. Of course, like any villager, he sees the whole thing differently from how his director, Rajit Kapur, perceives it. Yadav's incessant litany of suggestions bug and irritate Kapur, even as it brings some relief from the seriousness for the viewer. Asked how he got it right, Yadav's answer was simple, ''I drank the water of this village on the first day of the shoot and I became Nathu.''

The other artistes too followed their own way of getting into the meat of the role. Like, we hear, Seema Biswas spent 10 days focusing on her character, trying to pick up the mannerisms, habits, and body language of her role. And it shows, for even in a small role she packs a neat punch. Sadly, one can't say the same about Divya Dutta, who plays the dancer. She looks good and dances well in the film and even has a few lines here and there, but there is something missing. In fact, one wonders what made her do such a role, perhaps it was the opportunity to work with one of India's most talented directors.

A multi-layered narration, Benegal's genius is that he has brilliantly woven it all together, taking along the film without any jerk. The film-within-film technique has been used effectively and without confusing viewers.

A still from Samar. Click for bigger pic!

Samar will release soon and Benegal agrees that such films, though they win awards at film festivals, have a long way to go before reaching the hearts of the average cinema lover. He strongly feels the structure of theatres needs a drastic change in order to accommodate such films. ''Our theatres, on an average, have 1200 seats and recovering cost becomes difficult. But the Maharashtra government is encouraging multiplexes, that is multiple cinema halls in one block. That should do justice to small budget and offbeat films.''

No matter what the film-maker thinks while making his film, at the end of the day it is a product, a commodity, and as such should be sold or be accessible to the people it is being made for, says Benegal. In the obvious hope that the changing matrix will result in his film being watched by more people.