DIRECTOR-Madhur Bhandarkar
CAST-Tabu, Atul Kulkarni.
When the promos of this film had started airing on telivision I had thaught it would be some
Shabana Azmi type of film which glorified the lives of Prostitutes(eg-Mandi...which was a
horrible film) and was far from realstic...but still appreciated by the pseuds since its
fashionable to like ’alternative cinema’.But thankfully I was mistaken and the film turned out to
be a superb attempt of telling or narrating to us the life of a bar dancer and prostitutes in the
most realistic and honest manner, ever shown on screen in India.
THE PLOT...
This is the story of Mumtaz. Due to miserable and inevitable circumstances she is thrown into the
flesh business after the death of her parents, by her ’MAMu’(uncle) when they shift to a slum
area in Bombay.Here Mumtaz dances at the Chandani bar to make the ends meet. She encounters many
type of people like the underworld gangs, the dons, the bhais etc...they all use and abuse her,
like all those in this business are!Thus the director has tried to show the helpless life of this
victim and the web she gets caught into, which becomes very difficult to entangle..Here he has
shown her marriage to a local dada(potya) played by Atul Kulkarni. They have kids and he dies
thus leaving her to feed her children by resuming her duties at the bar.The director insted of
showing a cliched ’happy days are here again’ end has thankfully shown us a sensible and
realsitic end of, how, due to shocking incidents and circumstances her children too are forced to
enter into businesses or activities like Prostitution , killings and murders.Thus her daughter
becomes a bar dancer and her son a murderer, leaving Mumtaz with no hope in life.
All her dreams of educating her children are shattered and the cycle continues....
THE DIRECTION, TREATMENT and TECHNECALITIES...
The director has executed a superb story with lot of honesty and vision.He is very clear about
his thaughts and that shows in the film.He leaves no trace of ambiguity and thus a very clear
picture of what he has to say appears before you!The direction is excellent and he has managed to
extract great performances from all the artists. The strong point or link of the film is that it
gives a loud and clear message(according to how I interpreted it) that prostitutes are not what
we presume them to be (loud, rude horney bitches who are here by choice) but they are victims of
unavoidable circumstances which force them to join the flesh trade.He has also been successful in
telling us that, once you are here there is no way out(the ending where he shows her daughter
becoming a bar dancer)and there is a very minute chance of you leaving your past behind and
moving ahead because there is no social acceptability for these women!
Technically the film is so-so but conisdering the shoe string budget that it has been made on , I
think this factor can be completely avoided...and one more thing is that there are no songs which
unnecessarily would have hampred the pace of the film! The dialogues are fantastic and the sets
and costumes are appropriate.
THE PERFORMANCES...
TABU: Tabu has done a stupendous job and no one else could have done this role excpet for her.
Her body language and expressions are perfect and its sad that Kajol got the award for K3g when
Tabu was also in the nomination catagory for best actress.
ATUL KULKARNI:Atul kulkarni as her
husband and a local dada is suberb.
THE SHOCKS...
There are certain scenes which leave a very strong impact and almost shock you(My mom was crying
when she got home because of depression.)These scenes not only make u sympathise with the
characters but also depress you to a great extent!Some of them are...
1.Tabu getting raped by her uncle(the way she goes and prepares dinner for the man who has just
raped her, without speaking a word is so natural and real...it shows her helplessness)
2.Tabu’s son getting sexually molested by 2 guys and he killing them.
3.Tabu’s reaction when she finds out that her daughter too has joined the bar to dance..you can
see the lost battle in her eyes!
Its a must watch for those who have misconceptions about whores and bar dancers! And for those
who dont, watch it just for the artistic way in which its been made.
Strongly reccomended!