A heart wrenching story. Review on Bawandar

Making a movie like Bawandar is not an easy job but Jagmohan Mundhra has done it perfectly.

What is the movie about?

It is a true story of a “Kumhaarin” (who makes earthenware) from a village in Rajasthan, who was gang raped by five men of the same family of higher class because she stood against the child marriage practice among them. The movie shows her courage and self-confidence and how she took the whole episode. Child Marriage is common in the tribes of Rajasthan and it is obviously a crime as per Indian constitution. She was recognized internationally by women organizations and was helped by them, but she still lost her battle in court.

My ranking of movie – 5/5 and why I recommend this movie to friends

This subject requires good research and deep knowledge of the subject. Director/writer of the movie Jagmohan Mundhra seems to have done hard work to understand the subject and has portrayed the event very well. This is not only a movie but also a story, which shows how uncivilized humans can be. Survival of the fittest is not merely applied to animals it is same for humans. It is a history when truth used to win, but now it is the power, which wins.

Plot and Story

It is based on the true story of Bhanwari Devi (named Sanwari Devi in movie) who lives in a small village near Jaipur in Rajasthan, India. Her family traditionally makes utensils out of clay (Kumhaar). Her husband works as a rickshaw puller. This female also works for a Government Project called “Sathin (means female friends)” which works for women empowerment and against false beliefs in the society. Most important issue of this project is to eradicate child marriage in the tribes of Rajasthan. But as usual traditional people do not like this activity and oppose such acts. Similarly she was opposed by the upper class of the society. To teach her the lesson the members from 60-year-old to the 25 year old of the same family raped her. Rest of the movie is about how she was harassed by the police and judiciary. How politicians of different parties took mileage out of her situation. Local Politicians and influential people made every possible effort to alter the judiciary process. Even the judges were changed several times during the case. She lost the case, court in its judgment said it couldn’t believe the truth in the issue and assumed that Bhanwari Devi fabricated the whole episode to malign the image of higher class. Even after so much she still is an active member of Sathin Project.

Choosing the actors

Nandita Das – Acted as Sanwari Devi. Her expressions, body language, dialogue delivery and presentation of the character is great. Acting is so natural.

Raghuveer Yadav – Sanwari Devi’s Husband - Totally fits into the character, shows the innocence and helplessness of the character successfully.

Deepti Naval – Sanwari Devi’s boss in “Sathin Project”, who helps to fight her case. Her simple looks make her perfect for the role.

Govind Namdeo – Local Politician who lives on votes of group who raped Sanwari. He makes you hate him for his cunning character. Superb acting.

Lillette Dubey – Head of Women Organization. Her arrogance and command is great.

Gulshan Grover – This movie on rape of a innocent villager would have been incomplete without this rape specialist of Indian Cinema, but not as rapist. He excellently acted as a honest, truthful, dedicated lawyer for Sanwari. He proves his worth as a versatile performer.

Rahul Khanna and Laila Rouass of MTV fame are also incorporated in movie very well. Laila Rouass acts as a research scholar from UK doing her research on Rajasthan.

Technically

This movie should not be looked in terms of sophistication. Here the technique lies in the story telling, making things easy to understand and leaving no room for the controversy. The Director has done all this perfectly. At any moment I didn’t feel that I was watching a movie, it was so real and natural. The actors seemed to be telling their own stories.

You feel helpless like Sanwari Devi in the movie and hate the people responsible for her fate.

If you love serious movies based on real stories it is a must see. This movie is a real Award Stuff