I normally never do this folks, but I’m writing this because these are just absolutely wonderful films, and worth watching. This is kind of inspiring me to do a whole my-favorite-oldie list, but that’s another post. Now these movies – they are old-old films, but quite fantastic, and come to mind now because I read about them on other filmi blogs. All these films I saw via good old DoorDarshan, so they are atleast 15 years old. The regional ones, I saw subtitled, via DD’s Sat/Sun regional film slot (saw quite a few very good films that way), but I keep forgetting their names. Out of the 4 below 1 is missing a name, so if anyone has a clue, please let me know. Anyway they are :
1. Swami (1977) :
This film has been discussed in quite a bit of detail at FilmiGeek, and it’s about a young intellectual woman, who has a half-serious affair – more of an attachment really with a young visitor (Vikram – anyone remember “Julie” ?), but is married off to an older widower (Girish Karnad). Although this film held some regressive views on a woman’s place in society (ideally married and a home-maker – what use books, etc.), I thought the character of her husband was remarkable, since it portrayed a man not emasculated by his wife’s sexuality.
2. Main zinda hoon (1988) :
Dicussed at Yves’s blog, this one’s kind of a stark look at a the life of a newly-wed wife, deserted by her husband (we don’t know why), and his sudden reappearance, after she has built up a life on her own. This is one the films you don’t easily forget, because it reflects societal expectations from a woman, and quite brutally shows you the truth behind the we-are-so-liberal facade. Deepti Naval plays the main character.
3. Sutradhar : This Marathi film (thanks to commenter Hareesh for giving me the name of the film) starred Smita Patil and Nana Patekar. Patekar played the role of a right-thinking political activist who wants to work for the people. He slowly gets corrupted as he becomes a minister and gets more and more entrenched into the political system. Patil played his just-as-idealistic young wife, who sees the changes in him and cannot bear to see everything she loved in this man get corrupted. It’s quite something watching Patil’s love for her husband turn into something resembling revulsion and distaste, until she decides she can take it no more.
4. Veedu (house) (1988) : Archana starred in this Tamil film (thanks to commenter Ravi for giving me the name of this film). The story is of this middle-class young girl, Sudha, a clerk in Chennai, who has a younger sibling, and a retired grand-father, and no familial support to speak of. She saves up and dreams of building a home for herself, and finally buys some land, and starts construction. When the home is built – it takes a toll emotionally and financially, since she’s battling corruption and other problems, she finds out that the land was reserved for some purpose or other, and her house couldn’t be built there in the first place. The film ends there, but as it finishes, you know that the Sudha’s journey hasn’t. She still has battles to fight, and you are with her commiserating, and wishing her an easier life.
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