Rudaali provides us with a fascinating glimpse into a world so removed from our consciousness. Set in rustic, picturesque Rajasthan, the film presents us with an age-old cultural tradition of paid mourners through the central character of Sanichari. Despite several tragedies in her life, she has never cried, and seems unable to express grief through tears, and the greatest challenge in her life comes when she is offered the job of a mourner. The film relates her story through flashbacks, which reveal a woman of extraordinary strength, one who was labelled an outcaste her entire life, whose mother abandoned her, and husband died, and she remains unbelievably resilient.
Sanichari is a well written character, who is never a victim and actually quite heroic. She is a true modification of the many self-victimizing heroines seen in Hindi films, if you like. In one of the film's interesting elements, Shanichari turns down the sexual advances of the young landlord. The latter, who shows to be much less superstitious than people around, desires her greatly, but not in the sleazy sense, and never uses force to get her. He further lets her know that she is the one creating the hell around her and stops herself from living, expressing contempt for any caste issues and encouraging her to always look up, and ultimately shows great admiration for the moral principles and convictions that guide this woman and awards her a house and two acres of land.
Lajmi brilliantly captures the essence of Rajasthan, which looks truthful and authentic throughout. The fascinating cultural setting of the film serves as a great backdrop for the beautiful story it narrates, which is sad and ironic, and utterly heartbreaking. Rudaali addresses themes of poverty, gender inequality (and more often than not, pure misogyny), religion, caste, class differences, and it does so with great criticism but never judgement of the characters. As a matter of fact, despite its tragic story, the film is filled with loads of black humour which evidently aims to lighten up the critical commentary on the role of women in this rather primitive region. Some of the film's portions are actually utterly comical.
The film's narrative is stupendous, filled with music and colour in what could be considered by viewers a most difficult setting. The film is supposed to be more or less an art film, the alternative for what Indian moviegoers know as commercial cinema. Indeed, Rudaali is wonderfully realistic, but Lajmi does not give up the chance to incorporate some of the ingredients of mainstream films, like the songs and the emotional score, into the picture. The outcome is a film which is both engaging, affecting, and enjoyable, which would probably fall under the category of middle-of-the-road cinema and could be enjoyed and appreciated by different segments of its potential audience.
The film is tremendously well acted. Even the tiniest roles by the passing character actors are made believable and are brilliantly played. Among the major players, Amjad Khan, in the last role of his career, is absolutely brilliant as the cruel landlord, playing the part with great humour and wonderfully delivering his dialogue. Raj Babbar is very good as his son, playing a role of great kindness and compassion, of a man who has an independent mind and, despite his regressive environment, shows great worldliness and contempt for superstition and social stratification of humans. He is the one man who respects Sanichari for what she is and never misuses his power against her. As Bhikni, the film's original rudaali (mourner), Raakhee plays a similarly compassionate woman, and does so with great sincerity and soul.
Dimple Kapadia delivers one of the greatest performances by an actress in Indian cinema. She's phenomenal. Her Sanichari is a complex role of contradictions; she is innocent but sophisticated, cynical and tough but warm and sensitive, broken but full of life, and just optimistic in a way few women could be considering the circumstances. Kapadia does a wonderful job portraying the many traits of this role, which comes once in a lifetime for many, as she lives and inhabits it rather than just playing or understanding it. Her natural adaptation into the Rajasthani setting, as seen through her authentic mannerisms, accent and dialect, is absolutely mind-blowing. Blessed with amazingly expressive eyes, Kapadia uses them to convey much of her inner state, but without ever taking away from her unaffected acting which never feels self-conscious.
Rudaali boasts of respectable production values, the camera work is fantastic, the sets and costumes are great, and it feels very much a quality film. That said, if there's a true trump card in the film other than the script and the acting, it would be Bhupen Hazarika's soundtrack, which is among those extraordinary soundtracks which perfectly suit a film, as it does here complementing the film's story and cultural background. With great lyrics by Gulzar, he songs both dictate the tone but also get greater meaning through it, and they're always situationally relevant. The arrangements and instrumental tunes contribute wonders to the beauty of Rajasthani folk culture. "Samay o Dhire Chalo" is a true masterpiece, sung perfectly by Asha Bhosle, and the same is true of Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of "Dil Hoom Hoom Kare". Rudaali, on the whole, is a great piece of storytelling and filmmaking - a true gem of a film.
Sanichari is a well written character, who is never a victim and actually quite heroic. She is a true modification of the many self-victimizing heroines seen in Hindi films, if you like. In one of the film's interesting elements, Shanichari turns down the sexual advances of the young landlord. The latter, who shows to be much less superstitious than people around, desires her greatly, but not in the sleazy sense, and never uses force to get her. He further lets her know that she is the one creating the hell around her and stops herself from living, expressing contempt for any caste issues and encouraging her to always look up, and ultimately shows great admiration for the moral principles and convictions that guide this woman and awards her a house and two acres of land.
Lajmi brilliantly captures the essence of Rajasthan, which looks truthful and authentic throughout. The fascinating cultural setting of the film serves as a great backdrop for the beautiful story it narrates, which is sad and ironic, and utterly heartbreaking. Rudaali addresses themes of poverty, gender inequality (and more often than not, pure misogyny), religion, caste, class differences, and it does so with great criticism but never judgement of the characters. As a matter of fact, despite its tragic story, the film is filled with loads of black humour which evidently aims to lighten up the critical commentary on the role of women in this rather primitive region. Some of the film's portions are actually utterly comical.
The film's narrative is stupendous, filled with music and colour in what could be considered by viewers a most difficult setting. The film is supposed to be more or less an art film, the alternative for what Indian moviegoers know as commercial cinema. Indeed, Rudaali is wonderfully realistic, but Lajmi does not give up the chance to incorporate some of the ingredients of mainstream films, like the songs and the emotional score, into the picture. The outcome is a film which is both engaging, affecting, and enjoyable, which would probably fall under the category of middle-of-the-road cinema and could be enjoyed and appreciated by different segments of its potential audience.
The film is tremendously well acted. Even the tiniest roles by the passing character actors are made believable and are brilliantly played. Among the major players, Amjad Khan, in the last role of his career, is absolutely brilliant as the cruel landlord, playing the part with great humour and wonderfully delivering his dialogue. Raj Babbar is very good as his son, playing a role of great kindness and compassion, of a man who has an independent mind and, despite his regressive environment, shows great worldliness and contempt for superstition and social stratification of humans. He is the one man who respects Sanichari for what she is and never misuses his power against her. As Bhikni, the film's original rudaali (mourner), Raakhee plays a similarly compassionate woman, and does so with great sincerity and soul.
Dimple Kapadia delivers one of the greatest performances by an actress in Indian cinema. She's phenomenal. Her Sanichari is a complex role of contradictions; she is innocent but sophisticated, cynical and tough but warm and sensitive, broken but full of life, and just optimistic in a way few women could be considering the circumstances. Kapadia does a wonderful job portraying the many traits of this role, which comes once in a lifetime for many, as she lives and inhabits it rather than just playing or understanding it. Her natural adaptation into the Rajasthani setting, as seen through her authentic mannerisms, accent and dialect, is absolutely mind-blowing. Blessed with amazingly expressive eyes, Kapadia uses them to convey much of her inner state, but without ever taking away from her unaffected acting which never feels self-conscious.
Rudaali boasts of respectable production values, the camera work is fantastic, the sets and costumes are great, and it feels very much a quality film. That said, if there's a true trump card in the film other than the script and the acting, it would be Bhupen Hazarika's soundtrack, which is among those extraordinary soundtracks which perfectly suit a film, as it does here complementing the film's story and cultural background. With great lyrics by Gulzar, he songs both dictate the tone but also get greater meaning through it, and they're always situationally relevant. The arrangements and instrumental tunes contribute wonders to the beauty of Rajasthani folk culture. "Samay o Dhire Chalo" is a true masterpiece, sung perfectly by Asha Bhosle, and the same is true of Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of "Dil Hoom Hoom Kare". Rudaali, on the whole, is a great piece of storytelling and filmmaking - a true gem of a film.