WATER

Producer: David Hamilton

Director: Deepa Mehta

Starring: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Sarala(introducing), Manorma, Raghuveer Yadav, Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman

Music: Mychael Danna, A.R. Rahman-Hindi Songs

"We are very good, as different nations and different cultures, to have a collective amnesia about our own [problems]…[Water] is about three women trying to break that cycle and trying to find dignity, and trying to get rid of the yoke of oppression, and if it inspires people to do something in their own culture, that´s what´s important."

(Deepa Mehta, as told to the CBC).

Water brings the plight of women at the hands of religious fundamentalist. It was worth going to Oscar. The Indian audiences have got opputunity to see the film after it got recognition internationally. The film shooting is banned in India because of dirty politics.

Can Indian women get freedom from so called traditions?????????????

Ms. Mehta brings us into the world of those girls and women unfortunate enough to have become widows before India´s independence. Our eyes and ears are those of Chuihya (Sarala), a seven-year-old widow sent to live in an ashram for widows. She encounters the vile head of the widows, Madhumati (Manorma), who exploits the residents. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is the only force that occasionally opposes Madhumati´s tyranny. Kalyani (Lisa Ray) is the beautiful young widow who befriends Chuhiya--she is also pimped by Madhumati and the eunuch Gulabi (Raghuveer Yadav). Ironically, she sent to work by crossing the Ganges. Narayan (John Abraham) is a follower of Gandhi who falls in love with Kalyani, regardless of her status as a widow.

Throughout Water, Mehta exposes the cruelties against widows. It is not that Mehta raising the right questions--she is striving to empower those with the means to help those widows who, till this day, suffer in the same conditions described in the film.