Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Govind Nihalani

Writers:

Mahasweta Devi (novel)
Govind Nihalani (script)

Release Date:

20 March 1998 (India)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Dibyanath Chatterji, his bank-employed wife, Sujata, and only child, a son, Brati, live a middle-class existence in Calcutta...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Jaya Bhaduri	...	Sujata Chatterji
Anupam Kher	...	Dibyanath Chatterji (Brati's father)
Seema Biswas	...	Somu's mother
Milind Gunaji	...	Saroj Pal, Police officer
Joy Sengupta	...	Brati Chatterji
Nandita Das	...	Nandini Mitra
Bhakti Barve
Kanti Madia		(as Kanti Madija)
Vinit Kumar		(as Vineet Kumar)
Sandeep Kulkarni
Anupam Shyam
Lalit Parimoo
Atul Tiwari
Milon Mukhopadhyay
Mona Ambegaonkar

Also Known As:

Mother of 1084 (USA)

Runtime:

186 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Certification:

India:A

Company:

Udbhav Productions

Neither political nor melodramatic

Govind Nihalani's "Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa" served as the opening film of a festival dedicated to Indian films held here recently.As such kind of film event is a rare occasion in our country, so is the film a rare gem.

Given its material (which was adapted from a novel by Mahaswati Deva), the film has the potential of becoming overtly political (like Constantin Costa-Gavras' "Z") or expressly melodramatic (like Regis Wargnier's "Indochine").But it is a fine attribute of the film that it provides just enough background for the viewers to become acquainted with the intense sociopolitical events in India (particularly in West Bengal) in the 1970s---a radical outlawed movement, the "Naxalbari," proves to be major headache for the established leadership---and keeps finely checked and nuanced the thoughts and feelings of the characters that the result is a quietly powerful and moving drama of loss, alienation and enlightenment.

The brutal murder of a radical and forward-thinking son causes for the mother to embark on a journey of self-examination and -discovery---asking questions as to the circumstances that led to her son's untimely death, what made her overlook and take for granted her son's "secret" activities, and seeing in her own family the very things her son had rebelled against (complacent, hypocritical, reactionary and bourgeois attitudes and values in modern society).

The film proceeds on a slow and reflective pace so as to be proper to its conversational approach, which is of such a length that the characters gradually open their minds and hearts to the viewers regarding the lamentable family loss and the state of their society in general.Take careful notice of the scene where the mother visits her son's girlfriend, who is also a member of the movement and where mother and son "meet" one another for the last time.

To be distinguished too are the stunning performances, specially those provided by the actors who played the beleaguered mother, the loving aunt and the ill-fated son.

If you have the opportunity, don't miss "Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa."