Mandi

– have you ever wished you can stop the person who has happily used you knowingly, unknowingly and ask them to pay for it. What stops us to do that? A tag which say ’we are reputed individuals’ or a fact that ’we aren’t a commodity’? What exactly stops us to stop them and say "helloes don’t you think you used me so you should pay?" – But we will never be able to do rather we will sit back and quietly be used over and over again --- because we aren’t into body trade because we aren’t prostitutes… This thought makes me wonder aren’t they better off, who get paid of being used and they aren’t ashamed of it.

’Prostitutes’have been a topic of discussion behind closed doors for ages now and when they were lucky enough to be spoken over a center table the selfish reason behind them are political votes and publicity. But who is bothered? Who is concerned? Who has time?

Bollywood was always interested and time and time again they have reinforced that "Prostitutes" does exist in this society and they are a part of it.. Movies like Pakizaah, Mamta, Bazaar, Umrao Jaan are some of the remarkable classics which are counted among serious cinema and one among such league is "Mandi". Shyam Benegal direction Mandi (1983) was an archetypal film based on a classic Urdu short story ’Aanandi’ by Pakistani writer Ghulam Abbas.

’Mandi’ though belongs to parallel cinema genre; Shyam Benegal has given it a different frame all together by putting across the serious message through the medium of black comedy.  Mandi is a story of a group of prostitutes led by most famous Rukminibai (Shabana Azmi) and her struggle to save the brothel ensuring there is enough to live well. Rukminibai becomes a toy in hand of so called moralist of the society. Society included selfish people like "Gupta" who want Rukmani to vacate the brothel so that he can turn it into some useful development, on the other hand social activist "Shanti Devi’s" constant push to kick them out of the city to keep it clean. Some of other key elements that screenplay runs on is relation between Rukminibai and Zeenat (Smita patil) and other girls of the brothel and not to forget Tugroos (Nasrudeen Shah). Rukmani loves Zeenat like her own daughter and has kept her away from any male contact. Tugroos is a loyal servant to Rukminibai and his affection to her is well shown in the very first scene where he say "Bai yeh sabhi tujhko chod ke bhagte ek din". But does Tugroos prediction comes true – you need to give an eye to know that.

Screenplay and direction: Shyam Benegal, legend who has gifted more than 70 movies to Indian cinema has done what he is good at, making a real cinema. His direction and screenplay for ’Mandi’ needs a standing ovation because delivering a black comedy is not a cakewalk. Characters which are away from any "hang ups" dialogues which makes to giggle non stops and songs which can be remembered for their humming nature as well as hidden meaning. Mandi falls into one of the finest work of Shyam Benegal where head to toe every detailing is worked on.

Performances: Shyam had successfully roped in few of the known character artists of that era(Shabana, Smita, Nasrudeen Shah, Om Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Syed Jaferi);and also some who were not very known then , but are well known now in parallel as well as commercial cinema like Neena Gupta, Soni Razdan, Anita Kanwar, Pankaj Kapur.

We should salute that Shyam way back in 1983 knew the potential of those character artists who by now have proved their milestone in bollywood’s  meaningful cinema. Whether its Pankaj Kapur in his smallest possible role of Shanty Devi’s assistant, Neena gupta in the role of nagging brothel gal or Rukmani’s well groomed brothel leader "Soni Razdaan", every actor has done a stealer performance. Smita has always been my favorite more than Shabana , but in this particular movie and after "Arth" offcourse Shabana won the  due respect of enacting a role of mid aged "Bai" of  a brothel with conviction. Her homework on detailing of the role reflects in her performance to a great extent. She has even ensured that she looks her character age in the movie and the way she walks makes you believe she is a ’Bai’and not Shabana. Initially I wondered why Nasrudeen has taken up such a small time role but later I realized that the role of Tugroos is as important as any other role, as he is the one who tells you the gist of the whole movie in the beginning itself. The best part about the characters is the fact that only when you see them for the first time you acknowledge "areh that’s Naseer" "Oh that’s Ila arun" but later you will only remember them as Tugroos and Kamli.. I can go on and on about most of the characters as they have tried to deliver more than they are even asked for and that too brilliantly.

Music and Songs: As most of us agree that songs in such movies completely goes hand in hand with the screenplay and you will find it only wherever required. All the songs are Qawali and Mujra’s based. Lyrics used are of Mir Taqi Mir, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Insha, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Sarwar Danda and most of the songs are crooned by Asha Bhosle and one song by Preeti sagar. My personal favorite is "Zabane badalte hain har aan khuba, yeh sab kuch hai bigade zamane ki batein" (This is a tale of spoiled people).

Underlying message: The most mentionable scene in the movie is when the social activist is addressing a crowd. This is how it goes:

Shanti Devi: Woman is supposed to be worshiped not to be sold in the market. Today I will get into this brothel and request our sisters to stop doing body trade.

Kamli(Brothel gal) : where will we get the Bread

Shanti Devi (a little louder): Bread is not everything

Another Brothel Gal sarcastically: You must be getting it for free

Shyam with his talent has communicated why’s of prostitutes’ life by this simple scene without harping too much of seriousness. But this is not the whole essence of the movie. If I have to sum up what you all should read in-between the scenes of the movie is fact’s about survival in this world. Movie ends with and underlying message that survival is tough for everyone in the society regardless of class and creed. We as human being end up using others for the simple fact of living another moment sometimes we do it knowingly and sometime unknowingly. Shyam leaves you wondering if its so bad being used by others and when you realize that the other person has used you only for the sake or surviving another moment you somehow "Forgive them"

Mera Aks mujhe nahin pehchanta aaj,

Kehta hai tum to kab ke bik chuke

Iss duniya ne itna istemaal kiya mujhe,

Kya yahee keemat thii meri?

Is this the value of my being? )