hyphenated twentysomething

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Water

After missing some of the film festivals that came through town, I finally saw Deepa Mehta's Water in the theater this weekend. And I have to say, overall, I really liked it. There were some moments where I was expecting something more from the plot such as Gandhi's one-line speech towards the end of the film or a further developed story-line for Shakuntala (played by the great Seema Biswas) and more of Chuiya's experiences at the Ashram, or what exactly the romantic Narayan (a very handsome John Abraham) was going to do as he joined the Nationalist movement.

The young Chuiya (a very young talented Sarala) was just amazing and you could just feel her make a connection with the audience. She really made each screen come alive and her expressions, attitude, innocence, and bravery was just magnificent. John Abraham was pretty good in his limited role, but I wouldn't say his acting was extremely captivating. Although, he was nice to look at! Seema Biswas was very moving and you could see her internal struggle between her faith and conscience and her empathy with the other widows through each of her expressions. However, I was a little disappointed with Lisa Ray's acting. I felt her expressions and emotions were very reserved, you could hear her struggle with the Hindi pronounciations, and as being one of the main characters, her overall performance was just dull. It just didn't evoke any sort of connection for me.

I saw the movie with a largely non South-Asian audience, and generally everyone seemed to like it and found the Chuiya character as really moving. Although, I could sense that there were a few who couldn't fathom that widows were treated in such a manner or that such treatment of women still existed, as stated at the end of the movie. I, myself, being quite naive, had never heard of the Laws of Manu or wanted to believe that such beliefs were still held in modern India. However, I do think it's important that such films are made and that some dialogue, action, and knowledge results from it, even if it comes through a commercial, mainstream venue. Some notable quotes from the movie:
"We do not always follow the law when it is inconvenient." (said by the Hindu priest)
"Where is the widowed mens' colony?" (I paraphrased-said by Chuiya)

Overall, the movie was visually appealing with beautiful scenery and long, silent scenes displaying the Ganges River (but what is really a river in Sri Lanka) ,the many temples around Benaras (but what is actually some place in Sri Lanka), and the overall environment. The music by A.R. Rahman (which, when you take a listen, you can immediately tell it's from him) was also captivating and aptly played at the right, crescendo moments in the film. You can take a listen to the soundtrack here. Also, here's some more intelligent reviews of the film [1, 2(audio)].
Deepa Mehta's films aren't for everyone, but if you liked Earth 1947 and Fire, I think you will like, if not be completely satisfied, with the last film of her elements trilogy.

posted by payal @ 2:53 PM

Our mission with the blog is not simply to express our thoughts as proud hyphenated Americans, but also to help us navigate through the real world, as we will be skimming the surface of adulthood for the next few years. Essentially, it is an open medium for our ideas, criticisms, feelings, thoughts, and opinions relating to our identities, our South Asian culture, our education, our careers, our future, our dreams, and the world around us. We invite you to join us in this journey, we like to call the twentysomething years and take part in our discussions.