I saw this movie today and it went to the core of my heart. The plight of women in old indian culture has been shown incredibly. Being an indian and a hindu, i am ashamed of these rules and culture. If this was the fate of widows, i hope there would not have been any girl born in india during that time. I am sorry to say this, but there are no words for the religion and culture taking over one's life.
http://entertainment.oneindia.in/movies/bollywood/reviews/2007/waterreview090307.html Isn't this shameless? They have the entire story, who dies, who does what at the end.... what kind of ethics are these?
I saw the film Water, yesterday. Its impact is greater than I was prepared for. The true picture of inhuman treatment of widows should haunt every right thinking Indian .. we cant be complaisant pushing it aside as the past. NO - it is still going on around us in different dimensions. Deepa has dealt the screenplay and direction with so much restraint. Every shot shows the woman's delicate hand. I wish her to venture out many more films.
But, as a research scholar on the Vedas, I have to state that this inhuman practice is not recorded in the Vedas which is the oldest scripture of India. It all started with the ban of education for women in later vedic period for various historical reasons. This gave a free hand for selfish law makers.
A caption is seen at the end of the film which quotes Manudharmashastra. It is a wrong statement. There are many provisions for women in that text like, accepting children of unwedded mother, Remarriage of a widow arranged by her father-in-law etc. It is pity that all such good aspects are hidden from the society by the self proclaimed saviours of Hinduism for hundreds of years.
It is high time we look at our past with open mind. Deepa Mehta has rightly opened up the subject once again from woman's angle. I wish every Indian to see the film and go for introspection.
"AR Rahman's music is nice however you miss him doing the background score.Despite Micheal Danna doing his best,Rahman would have infused more soul into it." This is review or opinion?How does the reviewer Suparn know that Rahman would have done a better job? And he himself says that Micheal Danna has done his best.So does that mean his best is less than Rahman's.There is no question about Rahman's ability but as an reviewer he should make more sensible statements,personal opinions on what would....if..etc. are not desired.
its very nice movie,great acting done by every one but the death of lisa ray hurts me very muchand what can i say this movie is based on reality of 1930, again i will say this is nice movie
I saw Water today and was very much impressed by its neat direction, wonderful acting by all characters, superb photography and good music by AR Rehman. Of course had he done the background score too, it would have been a bonus. Deepa has shown lot of restraint in picturising the life of widows in India, their desires, sorrows and their exploitation by the male dominated society. The child artiste Sarla playing the role of Chuiya conquers our heart with her superb acting while Sima Biswas too has done a wonderful job. I feel Deepa is misquoting Manu for prescribing a moral code for widows. The Vedas which date back to 5000 yrs., have placed women on a high pedestal and even advocated ideals like widow remarriage and so on. Hence,she should have done a deeper study of Indian scriptures. All in all, it's a well done film and makes a viewer to contemplate for a long time. It's a pity that the film could not be shot in Varanasi, perhaps it would have been more powerful and realistic and we all should feel sorry for the same. Well done Deepa, keep it up and we look forward to more such films from you. B.S. Manohar
Deepa Mehta and her likes always love to make films on bygone( to some extent even existing ) problems with Hindu society. I am not denying that such a thing never happened, it happened we all know that. But, the sole intention of making such movies is because they sell well in the west, where majority Christians love to watch movies about ills of other religions and then spread christianity because now they consider christianity as the only and the best religion with no ills. Howcome Deepa Mehta never made a film on condition of women in Muslim society. Why does she not make a film on Shahbano ( pseudosecular media has almost forgotten her)? How come she never made film on atrocities done during british and Portugese rule in Goa against Hindus. Such things are never portrayed by pseudoseculars. I fail to understand why?
RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by Shailesh Narwade on Mar 12, 2007 08:39 AM
By Shailesh Narwade Shantanu Bapat would never understand what Deepa Mehta tried to do. In fact, the narrow-minded people like him are not supposed to watch the movies, which are made only for progressive and open-minded people. He should have courage to face the mirror. These evils are existing in the society only because of the fake religion called Hinduism and the fanatics like Mr Bapat. Also, Mr bapat, please note, Christianity is becoming stronger because Hinduism is a weak religion.
RE:RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by inavolu reddy on Mar 12, 2007 09:21 AM
hehe true example of converted christian..did u register as christian in records or u still in off records as many does.dont try to degrade any religion mr.SHAILESH..if u doesnt like it keep it to urself,we know what is strong and what not.
RE:RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by Ranjith Seetharam on Mar 12, 2007 09:40 AM
If we believe in what Shailesh has written and considering that it is only Christianity that has pepole with open mindedness and progressive why were morchas/protests it was no Hindus who were bashing movies like "THE DA VINCI CODE"........
RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by on Mar 13, 2007 02:34 AM
The point you're making has no bearing. If someone had made a movie about muslim honour killings, you would ask why people don't make movies about Hindu widows. It's beyond dumb to ask someone why they didn't do something that is the complete opposite of what they did. Deepa Mehta meant to speak about the situation of widows, which is why she made a movie about widows, why would she make a movie about Christians or muslims.
RE:RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by Shantanu Bapat on Mar 13, 2007 04:59 AM
Deepa Mehta belongs to group of pseudoseculars and hence they make the movie on some ills based in Hindu society. The point I am trying to make is, because Hindus do not retaliate violently and are majority they are easy targets of all these pseudoseculars. My point is precisely this that she and her likes would never make movie on Muslims for fear of violent backlash and christians because all her money comes from US/Canada viewers who are christians.
Deepa Mehta simply chose the subject of widows in this current film and chose the subject of two neglected housewives in her former film "Fire". She could have chosen to depict a Christian family or even a muslim family in Fire. She did not for obvious reasons. THis is the point I am trying to make. She is making these movies because she is not concerned about situation of widows but commercial success at the expense of Hindus. It is people like her who are directly responsible for rise of Hindu Fundamentalism. Now even people like me believe that actors, distributors of this film should be retaliated against, because pseudoseculars only respect sentiments of those who retaliate violently. Unfortunate but true.
RE:RE:RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by Naveen Babu on Apr 10, 2007 03:02 PM
Well said Shantanu...., Hindus are always the tragets of pseudoseculars and the worst part thing is Hindus don't get the support of our own community, Hindu religion is counting it's days...how to change all this? I feel very hurt and like to do something.....No body supports Hindus not even it's own community people.
RE:This is nothing but another in series of Hindu bashing pseudosecular movies.
by on Nov 24, 2007 08:08 AM
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH FEW OF THESE PEOPLE DISCUSSING ABOVE. SHE HAS ALL THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT SHE WANTS TO SAY AS YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY!
SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE PROBLEMS AS SHE IS A HINDU HERSELF.
GUYS, FIRST PLEASE UNDERSTAND, IF YOU WANNA MOVE FORWARD, ACCEPT WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST AND TRY TO MAKE THE THINGS BETTER FOR YOUR SONS' AND DAUGHTERS'.
BY SAYING THAT NOTHING HAS HAPPENED BEFORE OR TODAY, YOU WEAR A IORN MASK WHICH NO ONE CAN REMOVE OTHER THAN YOU!
The casting in the movie was very bad. Lisa Ray, John Abraham were misfits. Deepa Mehta and her hubby have made a mess of a great theme. The Oacar nomination if for the theme , then it right , but when you see the cast in the theme , it does not deserve a nomination.
