Beyond Bollywood--Bawl your brains out

Rudaali (dir Kalpana Lajmi 1992)

Rudaali refers to a professional mourner who’s been called to mourn a death. When the film begins, we see an ailing Amjad Khan cursing his fate at neither being fully dead nor quite alive. He’s a zamindar (liege) in the village and well aware of his unpopularity. He chastises his servants, his son, and his bonded laborers that none of them well shed a tear when he dies. He therefore asks for a Rudaali (played by Rakhee) to be brought in.

I’d been looking forward to seeing this film for many years and am sorry to be a tad disappointed. Gulzar’s dialogue and Dimple’s acting are definitely the best parts of the film. The film won Dimple several Best Actress awards. Gulzar’s dialogue captures with finesse and texture the many layers of caste and economic conflict in the village. Dimple is afraid even her shadow will send people to hell while the upper caste landlord—played by Raj Babbar who takes a shine to her—assures her that this is all based on the false myths of brahmin logic. The village brahmin is a suitably sleazy character in this film who, like the dying landlord and his munshi, is out to make a quick buck. When Dimples husband and mother-in-law die he tells her she must give him 50 rupees ($1) for their last rites. Dimple shows up at the ailing zamindar’s to borrow the money and he tells her she can have it in return for 15 years of bonded labor to him.

Most of the people are relatively low, beating on each other in hard times and never missing an opportunity to hurt others. Dimple’s husband is a perpetual drunk and her mother-in-law hurls insults even while on her deathbed. Later Dimple’s son brings home a whore as his wife and this woman too curses like a sailor and acts nasty to Dimple. It is only in the moments with Raj Babbar and under his gaze that Dimple is bestowed simple human dignity. When he first takes a liking to her he tells her that he can buy women but he doesn’t want to do that, he likes her. He asks her repeatedly to look him in the eye and convinces her it isn’t a sin.

We see Dimple’s story as she relates it to Rakhee who suggests that Dimple become a Rudaali like her. It’s a life of dignity, you’re given both money and respect, Rakhee tells her. Dimple however is unable to cry; she has dried up. She didn’t cry when her husband died or when her son left. What can possibly make her cry?

Dimple tackles her role with subtlety not giving in to the temptation of over-acting, trusting Gulzar’s lines to carry her through. Raj Babbar’s performance complements hers. Shot in the Rajasthani desert the landscape is simple but gorgeous. However, in the end, the chest-beating and the repetitious songs didn’t work in favor of the movie all the time. Rakhee and Raghuvir Yadav put in somewhat mediocre performances and the film while solid stops short of being excellent.