A River of dashed dreams

 

 

It’s one cocktail that was bound to go down well with the West – Radhe Shyam, Mahatma Gandhi and the holy waters of the Ganges – and Deepa Mehta’s Water has given the world just the portion, laced with a dressing that details the unimaginable plight of an oft forgotten section of Indian society. Set in the 1940s, it details a time when widow remarriage had been made legal but news of it hadn’t reached the unfortunate widows whittling away their their lives at an ashram in Benares. From the word go, the movie jolts you as the little cherub Chuyia (Sarala) is informed of the death of her husband, her head is shaved and she is sent off to live with the widows in Benares – the girl all the while hardly comprehending the reason for the heartless treatment. Among the widows there, Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) becomes a mother-like figure to her, while the bewitchingly beautiful Kalyani (Lisa Ray), turns into a much-needed friend. The movie captures the blossoming love between Kalyani and a wealthy idealist Narayan (John Abraham) and the grimy business of prostitution that defiles the already wretched lives of these widows.

Scenes stretch out like poetic picture postcards, Lisa looks pretty as a lotus leaf, and John is quite likeable. But it’s the young girl and the Bandit Queen who deliver power-packed performances. Subdued and poignant, the last of Mehta’s elemental trilogy is like a river swollen with emotions, which flows in your mind long after the show is over.