Story of movie Water 2005 Film :
Water is a 2005 Indo-Canadian film written and directed by Deepa Mehta, with screenplay by Anurag Kashyap. It is set in 1938 and explores the lives of widows at an ashram in Varanasi, India. The film is also the third and final instalment of Mehta's Elements trilogy. It was preceded by Fire (1996) and Earth (1998). Author Bapsi Sidhwa wrote the 2006 novel based upon the film, Water: A Novel, published by Milkweed Press. Sidhwa's earlier novel, Cracking India was the basis for Earth, the second film in the trilogy. Water is a dark introspect into the tales of rural Indian widows in the 1940s and covers controversial subjects such as misogyny and ostracism. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was honoured with the Opening Night Gala, and was released across Canada in November of that year. It was first released in India on 9 March 2007.
| Water | |
|---|---|
Film poster | |
| Directed by | Deepa Mehta |
| Produced by | David Hamilton |
| Screenplay by | Anurag Kashyap |
| Story by | Deepa Mehta |
| Starring | Seema Biswas Lisa Ray John Abraham Sarala Kariyawasam Manorama |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman Mychael Danna |
| Cinematography | Giles Nuttgens |
| Edited by | Colin Monie |
Production company | David Hamilton Productions |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures (US) Mongrel Media (Canada) B.R. Films (India) |
Release date |
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Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | Canada United States |
| Language | Hindi English |
| Box office | $10,422,387 |
The film stars Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, and Sarala Kariyawasam in pivotal roles and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, and Vinay Pathak in supporting roles. Featured songs for the film were composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Sukhwinder Singh and Raqeeb Alam while the background score was composed by Mychael Danna. Cinematography is by Giles Nuttgens, who has worked with Deepa Mehta on several of her films.
In 2008, inspired by the film, Dilip Mehta directed a documentary, The Forgotten Woman about widows in India. The film was also written by Deepa Mehta.
Screenplay
The film is set in the year 1938, when India was still under British occupation. Child marriage was common practice, and widows had a diminished position in society.
Chuyia (Sarala Kariyawasam) is an eight-year-old girl, whose husband suddenly dies. In keeping with traditions of widowhood, she is dressed in a white sari, her head is shaven and she is left in an ashram, to spend the rest of her life in renunciation. There are fourteen women who live in the dilapidated house, sent there to expiate bad karma, as well as to relieve their families of the financial and emotional burdens of caring for widows. The ashram is ruled by Madhumati (Manorama), a pompous lady in her 70s. Her only friend is the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), a hijra who keeps Madhumati supplied with cannabis. The two also have a side business: Gulabi helps Madhumati prostitute Kalyani (Lisa Ray), a beautiful young widow, by ferrying her across the Ganges to customers. Kalyani was forced into prostitution as a teenager to support the ashram.
Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is perhaps the most enigmatic of the women. Attractive, witty and sharp, she is also one of the few widows who can read. She exudes enough anger that even Madhumati leaves her alone. Shakuntala is caught between being a God-fearing, devout Hindu, and her hatred of being a widow. She seeks the counsel of Sadananda (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), a priest, who makes her aware of her unjust and unholy situation. She becomes attached to Chuyia upon her arrival at the ashram.
Chuyia is convinced that her stay is a temporary one, and that her mother will come to take her away, but quickly adapts to her new life. She befriends Kalyani, and witnesses Kalyani's budding romance with Narayan (John Abraham), a charming upper-class follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Despite her initial reluctance, Kalyani eventually buys into his dream of marriage and a new life in Calcutta. She agrees to go away with him.
Her plan is disrupted when Chuyia accidentally reveals their affair to Madhumati. Enraged at losing a source of income and afraid of the social disgrace, Madhumati locks Kalyani up. Much to everyone's surprise, the God-fearing Shakuntala lets Kalyani out to go meet Narayan, who ferries her across the river to take her to his home. However, when Kalyani recognizes Narayan's bungalow, she realizes that Narayan is the son of one of the men whom she has been pimped out to. In shock, she demands that he take her back. Narayan confronts his father, learning the reason for Kalyani's actions. Disgusted, he decides to walk out on his father and join Mahatma Gandhi (Mohan Jhangiani). He arrives at the ashram to take Kalyani with him, only to find that Kalyani has fatally drowned herself.
Madhumati sends Chuyia away to be prostituted as a replacement for Kalyani. Shakuntala finds out and tries to prevent the worst, but she is too late. When Shakuntala finds Chuyia, Chuyia is deeply traumatized and catatonic. Cradling Chuyia, Shakuntala spends the night on the shores of the river. Walking through town with Chuyia in her arms, she hears talk of Gandhi speaking at the train station, ready to leave town. She follows the crowd to receive his blessing. As the train departs, in an act of desperation Shakuntala runs alongside the train, asking people to take Chuyia with them. She spots Narayan on the train and hands Chuyia over to him. The train departs, carrying Chuyia away while leaving the teary-eyed Shakuntala behind.
- Seema Biswas as Shakuntala/ Gyanvati Twins double role
- Lisa Ray as Kalyani (Mona Ghosh Shetty as the Hindi dubbing voice)
- John Abraham as Narayan
- Waheeda Rehman as Bhagavati, Narayan's Mother
- Sarala Kariyawasam as Chuyia
- Buddhi Wickrama as Baba
- Ronica Sajnani as Kunti
- Manorama as Madhumati
- Rishma Malik as Snehalata
- Seema Biswas as Gyanvati
- Vidula Javalgekar as Patiraji (auntie)
- Daya Alwis as Saduram
- Raghuvir Yadav as Gulabi
- Vinay Pathak as Rabindra
- Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Sadananda
- Gerson Da Cunha as Seth Dwarkanath
- Mohan Jhangiani as Mahatma Gandhi (voiceover by Zul Vilani)
The film debuted on 8 September 2005 at the Toronto International Film Festival and opened in other theatres at the dates given below. After several controversies surrounding the film in India, the Indian censor boards cleared the film with a "U" certificate. It was released in India on 9 March 2007.
| Region | Release date | Festival or Distributor |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 8 September 2005 | Mongrel Media |
| USA | 2 October 2005 | South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival |
| Spain | 2 October 2005 | Valladolid International Film Festival |
| Canada | 4 November 2005 | |
| Australia | 13 April 2006 | Dendy Films |
| USA | 19 April 2006 | Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles |
| USA | 26 April 2006 | Indianapolis International Film Festival |
| USA | 28 April 2006 | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
| Switzerland | 15 August 2006 | Filmcoopi Zurich AG |
| India | 9 March 2007 | B.R. Films |
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