Water

I am recommending Deepa Mehta's film, Water, wholesale. Went to see it this weekend and, although I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to enjoy anything so intense, I am really glad I saw it. Yes, it's intense. Yes, it's hauntingly sad. There's an undercurrent of despair running through the whole film. But it's so eminently watchable.

The reviews way over in this part of the world have been overwhelmingly positive. I was somewhat skeptical before I went to see it, in part because I find that the media here is impressed by displays of "third world intolerance." So, just the fact that Water stirred up so much trouble (with the sets being set on fire by religious fundamentalists, etc) and the fact that Mehta had to move the production to another country and the whole process took 4 years, is enough for many newspapers/magazines here to kowtow before her courage in pursuing the project. Also, let's face it, have never expected a whole lot from either Lisa Ray or John Abraham, acting-wise.

But, it turns out, my doubts were unneccessary. The reviews were spot on. The art direction is beautiful. The whole film is done in wonderful hues with carefully crafted scenes. That much I expected and was not disappointed. I also trusted Mehta to avoid sensationalism (because I thought she did a fairly delicate job with Fire) and she managed that pretty well, too -- while still getting across an important message.

And the characters. They really were the best part. The little girl (Sarala) who played Chuyia, an 8-year-old widow, was just so charming and endearing. And she had never acted before; she's from a little village in Sri Lanka. Lisa Ray, who played Kalyani, the beautiful widow (of course!), was surprisingly good in her part. And, drum roll, so was John! I had a really hard time taking him totally seriously for the first 1/3 of the film. Because, well, he's John Abraham. And he still looks like John Abraham, even with the Gandhian glasses and with his sculpted body hidden under loose clothes. But for the rest of the film, when his character (Narayan) came to the forefront more, he did the part justice. It's definitely the best thing he's done so far. But by far, the best actor in the film was Seema Biswas. Her character, Shakuntala, was also the most fully and intricately developed one (apart from Chuyia) and her performance was just powerful.

The movie seemed occassionally didactic, but we have to remember it's exploring a topic that most viewers -- in India and abroad -- are not particularly familiar with. I mean, I grew up in India and, while I was aware that widows had it bad in parts of the north especially, I never fully realized what that meant. And although she is trying to create awareness of a social issue, I think Mehta allowed the story -- and the message -- to evolve out of the relationships between the widows, which is a really good way to do it. Because the strength of the film lies in the individual personalities of those women and how they interact -- either fluidly or explosively -- with each other in the situation that society had put them in.

It's very bittersweet. But, if you've seen Fire, you'd already know that. The despair never quite goes away, but I suppose... that's reality.