Elemental,educational,poetic, refreshing...''Water. Review on Water

Deepa Mehtas’ films seem to transcend cultures and barriers and end up playing along side mainstream movies. They can be movies that are easily a product of Bollywood, but are far from it. Even though the music and songs by A.R.Rahman might fool you to think otherwise. I saw “Water” at a local theater a few blocks from my place on a Thursday afternoon. Among the many that were there, I was the only Indian. I don’t to discuss the political issues that surround this film and how difficult the production was. You can get that information from many other reviews. However, I would like to point out an interesting fact. Many of the themes and plot reminded me of “Memoirs of a Geisha” where the child is forced to live in a geisha house, befriends and touches the lives of some of the other inhabitants. This is strictly from a story line perspective. The comparison ends there.

“Water” is the third film in the elemental trilogy. The year is 1938, when Gandhi was rising to power and news about his “passive resistance” movement was reaching around the country. It opens with beautiful shots of a rural India We find out that the little girl eating a sugarcane is actually married and is about to be widowed. Her head is shaved and she is sent across the river Ganges to a house of widows where they live out their lives and hope to find redemption in their death along side the holy river. Religious scriptures states that the death of their husbands was bought upon by their sins and so this course must be taken.

Many of them have been their all their lives and the cast of actors that bring out the pain, frustration, anger, and even a bit of lunacy are exceptional. What better way to disrupt the calm maddening atmosphere of the hostel than the introduction of Chuyia. Being a child, she naturally causes some mischief with in minutes of her arrival, but also affects the lives of some of the older widows that have been there for years.

Among them is Shakuntala, played by Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen). She is intelligent and adheres to the sacred text but often questions her life as a widow. Kalyani, (Lisa Ray) is the beautiful young widow who has been forced in to prostitution by the matriarch of the hostel, Madhumati. Kalyani befriends Chuyia and together they meet Narayan,( John Abraham ) an idealist and a lawyer who supports Gandhi’s quiet India movement. Kalyani and Narayan fall for each other but re-marriage for a widow is forbidden.

I don’t want to divulge the entire story line but there are more complexities that are introduced and some are resolved, some are not. The entire ensemble does a marvelous job from acting, writing, directing, to cinematography and music. New comer Sarala as “Chuyia” is a joy to watch and is quiet impressive with her expressions. The best performance is given by Seema Biswas, she captures every ounce of her characters’ emotional conflicts and exposes them slowly throughout the film till the very last shot.

“Water” is a quietly powerful poetic piece of film-making. I don’t want to call it slow paced because its not but many people might interpret it as such. There is nothing there that doesn’t need to be there. No overacting, no swells of orchestral music or intense dialogue. If anything, it is intelligent film-making. “Water” is satisfying, breathtaking, eye opening and educational. You can add it to the list of one of the best films of 2006.