Seeking Meaning out of Human Bondage. Review on Arth - Hindi

Watched Arth the other day. This movie brought a certain Mahesh Bhatt to the limelight and as Mr. Bhatt himself has accepted, Arth is an odd adaptation of his personal relationships. The adaptation becomes all the more ironical because his amour, Parveen Babi died few days back and what with the marquee?s obsession with glamour, Arth provides a really odd peak-through at man-woman relationships. It?s pleasantly bizarre at places but ends up reiterating some eternal truths about relationships.

The Setting:

Mahesh Bhatt, the famous LSD and women addict of ?70s, probably would have never imagined paying such grand cinematic tribute to his schizophrenic lady-love (mistress for many, girl friend for some). Apparently a struggling writer-director Bhatt lived-in with the then queen of marquee, Ms Babi, despite having a wife and two kids from the first marriage. The three years that he lived in with her, led to her mental delinquency and the birth of the empathic storyteller inside him. Arth perhaps hence speaks from the very base of truth, depicting the ever changing human relationships with a touch of lively symbolism.

The Plot:

Arth, literally refers to the Meaning. In deep cinematic senses, the meaning that the storyteller wanted to convey was of the unseen bonds, sometimes of love, sometimes of trust or myriad of emotions which humans have thrived to give meaning to. It?s also in the introspective mode as the hypocritical patriarchal society?s attitude towards women is portrayed in few glaring patches of superior cine making.

Arth also asks few pertinent questions without being judgemental. Why does society exercise flexibility to men in relationships, why is the women answerable always? Why can the man still roam freely looking for mates while there?s the ever condescending attitude of society restricting women? And worse, it?s the women who always says sorry at the end of everything, after all the broken promises (and vases in the living room) and still moves on with life, ever so swiftly. As Inder (Kulbhushan Kharbenda) breaks his wedding vows with Pooja (Shabana) and moves in with the starlet Kavita (Smita Patil), the frail bonds between each of the principal characters is examined and analysed by events to offer an enchanting tale.

The Characters:

Inder, is no doubt an extension of the director, and hence one gets to see shades of stringent self-criticism from Mr Bhatt. He has his limitations, of character as well as commitment and gives in easily to the charms of the actress, Kavita. He suffers from bouts of one-up-man-ship and typical male egotism as he starts believing that end justifies means and that all women in the world, given all sufficient material variables will be happy for sufficient amount of time. The climax where his wife asks if she had walked away on him instead and returned back to her husband after the mental breakdown of her lover, could she have asked for re-acceptance like he is asking now, is a spell binder. As Inder acknowledges the male ego inside him and thereby rejects her hypothesis, Pooja's walk towards freedom is made easier.

Smita Patil, as Kavita had the most difficult role, and I wonder if anybody else could?ve passed it off that easily. As a manic insecure freaky film actress, she fitted the bill perfectly. The fear in her eyes, of guilt overridden with wrong desires, manifests in each scene beautifully.

But the film clearly belongs to Shabana Aazmi. She has those lucid moving eyes that make you feel that something?s going to erupt this moment; and one starts empathising with her as the story moves. Her moving-into new house scene showcases the symbolism of exuberance and the promise of a new life (watch her movements, the shadow effect uses the expressions wonderfully), which soon shatters down as the same house begins to haunt her. The metamorphosis of the women inside her is believable and as usual her eyes express more than dialogues. The role is probably tailor made for her; and she manages it with élan, the horrors of a broken home paving the way for the struggle on to the street. She chooses not to live life set on subnormal terms set by the patriarchal society and moves out to the world beyond the four walls set by her husband. She also has a very breezy, bold tinge to the character as she doesn?t feel embarrassed squaring up the mistress in public and calling her a prostitute of the higher order (the face-to-face of two tigresses of Indian cinema, oozes real good chemistry).

There?s also the extended protagonist, Rohini Hatangade , as the kaam-waali who in her few scenes just steals the show. Unlike Pooja, she doesn?t have material alternatives to look beyond her bigamous husband and in compromising for the sake of her daughter, probably lays the tale of millions of women like her in India.

Raaj Kamal, the musician friend of Pooja, had an author backed role and gets to sing the immortal ghazals of Jagjeet. It?s really hard to choose my favourite from Koi yeh kaise bataye, Tere khusboo me base khat, Tum itna jo muskura and Jhuki jhuki si nazar. Kaifi Aazmi did a marvellous job for the songs and his philosophical musings make the words sounds more romantic:

Jin zakhmoko waqt bhar chala tha

Kya gham hai jisse chupa rahe ho

[Those wounds that time healed up, why you want to scrape onto now. Your eyes reveal something else, why do you want to hide the layers of pain behind that smile]

Take-away:

As an auto biographical work, maybe Arth fails flatteringly at places; but it attempts to nullify the clichés very courageously and one ends up appreciating Mahesh Bhatt?s handling of drama. But then, as usual the hint of extreme self criticism is pretty evident and not very surprising either; because one also wonders whether the film is more of a tribute to the resilience of his first wife. I somehow feel that the character of the mistress was too freakily sketched, the depth and intensity of her own self was never really highlighted. That too is not very surprising given the society?s disapproval of the second woman in a man?s life.

Moreover, as someone famously said, all that remains of a broken relationship are countless half lies, half satisfying half frustrating sex and the very love that cemented the relationship is like a tertiary variable, it was present sometime, someplace, but nobody knows where exactly did it go away.

And probably that?s why Arth flatters to deceive, it?s too freakish in handling extra marital love, probably too much of political correctness and probably Bhatt?s lost obsession for Ms Babi. Overall, Arth?s more of a tribute to the women in India and their resilience to the dominant masculine views and despite few glitches, very watchable.