Mandi - An old Classic. Review on Mandi

I will recommend this movie to all those who enjoy watching an off-beat movie or an alternate cinema. A film by Shyam Benegal, who is famous for his pioneering efforts in this category of movies, Mandi or the market place, is a movie based on a classic urdu short story, written by Ghulam Abbas. Mandi's cast is impressive, to say the least, with Shabana Azmi playing a lead role, followed by Smita patil, Naseeruddin shah, Rathna pathak, Soni razdan, Neena gupta, Saeed jaffrey, Kulbushan kharbanda and Om puri. It is all about a brothel in Hyderabad, run by Rukmini bai, madame of the establishment, played with intensity and verve by Shabana azmi. She is very protective of all her girls, especially Zeenat, (Smita Patil), who is a classical singer and who does her riyaz with passion. Rukmini bai is confident and takes pride in running the brothel as some of the most prominent and influential men of the society visit, as her customers. All is hunky-dory, when one day she gets the news that she now has a new landlord in Mr. Gupta(Kulbhushan Kharbanda). He proves to be a tough customer for Rukmini Bai. It s all about money and a hard bargain for a patch of land, on which the brothel is presently located. Rukmini Bai is forced to relocate to a place near a dargah in the outskirts of the city. She is at odds, with the City Councillor, who also heads the Womens Organization of the town, Shantidevi(Gita Siddharth), who feels that the brothel will eventually corrupt the society and that they should be isolated. Rukmini Bai remains resilient and her establishment flourishes. But Rukmini Bai has to contend with another threat from the inside. Gupta, in the course of the events, invites them to perform at his daughter, Malti's engagement ceremony, (played by Rathna Pathak, ) in his palatial house. Malti is getting engaged to Sushil, Mr Agarwal's(Saeed Jaffrey's) son. Zeenat and Basanti(Neena Gupta) as usual give a spellbinding performance; Zeenat with her singing and Basanti with her kathak, which is elegance personified. Sushil, gets attracted to Zeenat and there is an instant chemistry that sparks between them. Rukmini Bai forbids Zeenat to go ahead with this relationship and reveals that she is an illegitimate child of Mr. Agarwal and another sex worker. They are thus actually siblings and are forbidden from continuing with this illicit love affair. However, Zeenat and Sushil elope, which leads to panic in the brothel. Rukmini Bai is inconsolable and along with Agarwal goes in search of Zeenat. Zeenat on her part, aware of the hopelessness of the situation, runs away from Sushil as well. Rukmini Bai, heartbroken, looks for sympathy, but only gets rebuked by Nadira( Soni Razdan), another bordello girl. Nadira tells her in no uncertain terms that they don't need her anymore and that they can manage the brothel all the same. Rukmini Bai, with a heavy heart, leaves and is accompanied only by her loyal help, Tungrus, (played by Naseeruddin Shah). They leave, to where destiny will take them. Exhausted, they make a stopover for water and accidentally come upon a shivlingam. Both of them pray hard for a better future. Just then, they see Phoolmani(Sreela Majumdar), a former sex worker, running towards them. They are elated at her sight and thank the Almighty. The audience are left with their own interpretations at this symbolic way that the movie ends. We are still to make a choice whether to surreptitiously encourage sex work among women or take steps to curb it by calling it a social vice. Are they merely sex workers adept at providing for their customer's sexual needs, or pride themselves on being skilled courtesans. Rukmini bai, says, "We keep the balance in the society, (as she snarls at a critic), and has the last laugh when she says, "tell the men to stay indoors, if you don't like what we do". Shyam Benegal, himself has commented that "Mandi was a tricky Film". The movie in the final analysis, is a bold take on the sex industry, a social dilemma that is still preying on our minds. We are still trying to tackle it after so many years, as it resurfaces in the movie, Heeramandi, by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.