Matrubhoomi - A Nation Without Women Director: Manish Jha Country: France/India Year: 2003 Aparita's Review >>>

CAST:
Irfan Khan, Tabu, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah

I had to steel myself to watch this movie. Even before I entered the theatre, and especially throughout the movie. And as the story unfolded, I had to grit my teeth and watch it. I was sick to my stomach, my senses completely numb. But that was the point.

It's been ironically entitled Matrubhoomi, or Motherland. The movie is something of a cautionary tale - what will happen if female infanticide renders the nation without women? Then again, individual instances in the movie are already a matter of reality. Mathrubhoomi played at the 28th annual Toronto International Film Festival, which took place from September 4 to 13.

In the movie, widower Ramcharan (Sudhir Pandey) is desperate to find a wife for his five sons. He enlists the help of the priest Jagannath (Piyush Mishra), whose "chappals have worn out in his quest to find a woman." In the meanwhile the remaining male population takes up with pornography, homosexuality, bestiality and violence as sources of release.

Only one day, Jagannath chances upon a young girl, Kalki, and tells her father he has a prize on his hands. Then follows a bizarre tale of Kalki being married off to all five brothers. The five brothers, and the father-in-law Ramcharan take turns in bedding (I'd call it raping) Kalki.

Except for the youngest brother Sooraj, who truly cares for Kalki. Jealous of Kalki's intimacy with Sooraj, Ramcharan and the four elder brothers kill Sooraj. When Kalki tries escape, she's subjugated to an inhuman torture, shackled like a cow. And then Kalki becomes pregnant. Everyone claims to have fathered the child. A killing rampage ensues. As the killing finishes, Kalki gives birth. To a girl.

So, why should you watch this startling debut feature by Manish Jha, who at 23, became one of the youngest directors to share the 2002 Jury Prize at Cannes for his short film A Very Silent Film with Jesse Rosensweet's The Stone of Folly.

Because it's one of those instances where real meets reel, in a rather chilling manner.

The issue of female infanticide in South Asia, and amongst South Asians, is real. Will it ever reach such a desperate stage as depicted in the movie? By setting the movie in very familiar rural Indian settings, Jha is warning us we are quite close. After all the inspiration for the movie came to him from a news clip about a village in Gujarat where there were no women, he says. "It was shortly after Cannes, and I wasn't in India," says Jha. "I read this article about this village where the men were buying women from outside of the village. And I came up with a concept.

"When I started doing the research, the numbers just shocked me. (According to a U.N. report) 15 million women have gone missing in India. In Mumbai, there are 774 women for 1,000 men. In India, the (ratio) is 882 to 1,000."

Sitting in the informal press centre at the downtown Delta Chelsea Hotel, Jha spoke with a feverish energy. With his long, lank and bleach-streaked hair falling on his face, a white cotton shirt and jeans covering his slight frame, Jha could have been any university student on the streets of Delhi or Toronto.

But behind the amiable person, lay a director with a purpose. After completing a bachelorís degree in English literature, Jha worked as an assistant director in Bollywood. However, frustrated with "money-making stupidity," he set out to make his own films.

"(Matrubhoomi) could be an extension of my short film, which was also about women," he says. "Of course, this one is about the lack of women." Even as they continued to shoot the film, which was wrapped up in 28 days early this year, Jha and his team kept tabs on the numbers related to female infanticide in India. "People are quick to blame," explains Jha. "This isn't a figment of my imagination. This is reality." The real nature of the issue is why the film has been given a contemporary feel.

"See, if you talk about something that will happen 100 years from now, even 50 years from now, people aren't bothered," says Jha. "They're very chill." Making the movie wasn't an easy effort. It took a bit of persuasion to even get actors to play the parts.

Tulip Joshi, who plays Kalki, the only female character in the movie, says she was apprehensive when she first read the script. "The producer is a family friend, and he asked about it," she explains. "But when I saw the script I wasn't sure. As it is I'm very sensitive. And the film is quite troubling. "But then Manish persuaded me. I'm happy I did this film. I cried the first time I saw it. I think it's a very important film. I know about the issue, but not about the gravity of the situation."

Moreover, the controversial movie may be headed for some trouble, as it makes its rounds at various film festivals including those in Pusan (Korea), Morocco, and London (England) as well as seeking a mainstream release in India in November.

Besides bringing together reality and reel-ity, A Nation Without Women also pits together myth and reality. In the movie, Kalki is married to five brothers as was Draupadi in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Also the name Kalki refers to the last avatar of Lord Vishnu in Hindu mythology.Kalki is supposed to arrive at the end of the Kali Yuga (the dark ages) and in the wake of the destruction, this avatar is supposed to herald the onset of Satya Yuga (the golden age) of the next cycle of time.

References of Hindu mythology have landed films such as Deepa Mehta's Fire in trouble with Hindu nationalists groups in India. But Jha says he has covered his bases. "I think Deepa is a great filmmaker, but she was a bit too blatant in her movie," he says. "I have avoided pointing fingers specifically in my movie. I haven't given the caste of the villagers, I haven't indicated the background of the priest." Even so, the movie managed to raise the hackles of some South Asians who went to watch the public screening of the movie at the festival. Protesting noisily, around a dozen audience members stormed out of the screening. At the question-answer period following the screening, Jha found himself facing a "hostile reaction" to his film.

However, the film has also received critical praise and common accolades. People thanked Jha for making an important film at the Toronto Film Festival. The movie got a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, where it also bagged the FIPRESCI award, an award handed out by the media. And Jha says he has hope. Although the movie starts with the death of a girl child, it ends with the birth of another.

"It's an open ending," he says. "Now the ball is in the audience's court. It's they who will decide whether she'll become another Kalki or are we going to do something about it."