Yesterday, I sat down to watch Ankur, a classic of Indian parallel cinema that was Shabana Azmi’s first film and earned Shabana jii her first National Film Award.
When I slid the DVD out of the envelope it came in, though, I was disappointed to discover that it was cracked in two right down the middle. What a cheat, I thought. I’d had a rough day. I’m still dealing with the aftermath of events I mentioned in a previous post, and I was looking forward to a nice helping of my beloved Shabana jii to smooth over my evening. But the fates, or at least Netflix and the post office, were conspired against that happening.
So I went to my digital video recorder hoping for some good luck. The Asian TV channel on my cable system, AZN, often shows films under the heading “South Asian Films,” and I often record them, sight unseen, not even knowing what film I am going to get. I had been starting to learn from experience that the Saturday Afternoon “South Asian Film” was not likely to be quality cinema. Yesterday, I had five such films saved on my DVR. Two I had already watched (the two that were in English, I’m sorry to admit). A third was a war movie – I watched the opening song but that was about enough for me. The fourth appeared from its opening song to be a bit of fluff. So I turned to the fifth film, not expecting much, but figuring I could practice my Hindi comprehension and be entertained.
What I got, to my surprise, was Hazaar Chaurasi kii Maa (Mother of 1084). Halfway through the credits, I already knew I would enjoy the film: Hazaar Chaurasi kii Maa featured Nandita Das, who played Sita, the bold, impulsive lover of Shabana Azmi’s Radha in Fire. What a great coincidence! Though it wasn’t Shabana jii, it wasn’t a bad substitute to distract me from my disappointment at the broken Ankur DVD. I settled in to enjoy the film.
Hazaar Chaurasi kii Maa, released in 1998, tells the story of Sujata Chatterji (Jaya Bhaduri), as she struggles to understand the violent death of her cherished son Brati (Joy Sengupta). Much of the story takes place in the early 70s and is told in flashback, as Sujata wracks her own memories and meets with others who help her reconstruct the events leading up to Brati’s murder. Sujata discovers that Brati’s Marxist ideology led him to join a violent, splinter revolutionary group known as the Naxalbari (after the location of a 1969 Bengali peasant uprising). One night, the even of Brati’s 21st birthday, his Naxalbari cell was tracked down and brutally beaten by a gang of political rivals, with the help of the local police.
Sujata, a well-to-do bourgeoisie bank worker, is at first mystified by what she discovers about her son’s impassioned politics. But as she speaks with the people who knew him in that life, she becomes increasingly sympathetic and her connection to her dead son grows ever more intense. Sujata pieces together her son’s story through conversations with two other women whose lives are altered by the events surrounding Brati’s death. The grieving mother (Seema Biswas) of Brati’s closest friend and co-revolutionary helplessly witnessed the beatings outside the window of her shantytown hovel. And Brati’s girlfriend Nandini (Nandita Das) was with the revolutionaries when they were betrayed by one of their own; she escaped Brati’s fate, but was tortured and probably raped in prison and the physical and emotional scars never quite fade. Through talking with these women, Sujata begins to appreciate why her son was drawn to devote his life to class struggle. As time passes, her family urges her to let go of the past, but Sujata’s wounds are slow to heal. Only years later, after she has retired from her position at the bank and devoted herself to the service of human rights, is she able to find peace and redemption.
Hazaar Chaurasi kii Maa weaves its tale of political violence – largely a male purview – from a singularly feminine perspective, weaving Sujata’s, Nandini’s, and the grieving mother’s memories to provide the complete picture of Brati’s ideological life and his brutal, undignified death. In that sense, the film presents a classic division between the sexes – the men carry on in violent struggle, and the women are left to clean up the blood, heal themselves, and try to effect real change through quieter, more peaceful means.
Below: Jaya Bhaduri and Nandita Das.
Hazaar Chaurasi kii Maa was based upon the Bengali novel of the same name by Mahasweta Devi. The film is in Hindi; the print I saw had decent English subtitles with a few minor typos. The Hindi was wonderfully clear and precise; I understood far more of its dialog than I did of Mrityu Dand.
(A moment of frustration from Ankur.)
