Director: Mani Kaul
Watching this movie is akin to a voyeur spying upon his neighbour. The camera work is peculiar in that it sometimes takes shots of the face over a long period, sometimes only at body parts or inanimate structures. The scripts delivered are like rote reading without emotion, as one would hear a conversation at a distance. Nevertheless, these add to this presentation's exclusivity and an arty feel.
In a way, it reminds me of the story of Ahalya, found in Ramayana. Ahalya, the prettiest woman, carved out by Brahma, was married to an old sage, Gautama. Gautama is more interested in fulfilling his spiritual duties rather than spending time embraced in intimacy with his young wife. So, when the lustful Indra, the God of the skies, appeared in a split image of Gautama, the sex-deprived Ahalya performed by wifely duties willingly. Gautama had a premonition of all these, cut short his prayers and returned home to catch them in the act. Ahalya and Indra were cursed by Gautama. Ahalya turned into stone, only to have the curse reversed when Rama's foot brushed Ahalya, the rock, during his walk in the jungle. Indra was cursed to carry a thousand of his favourite pastime, vaginas. It was later changed to a thousand eyes.
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| Painting of Ahalya |
This movie, based on Rajasthani folklore, threads along with a similar narrative initially only to resolve on a slightly different path. A pair of young newlyweds return home on a bullock cart. The wife wants to taste the succulent fruit of a giant tree. Despite being prevented from doing so by the husband, the one-track-minded girl plucks and savours the fruit. The spirit of the tree falls hopelessly in love with the enchanting bride.
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| The Cursed Lord Indra with a thousand eyes |
The young groom makes it clear that his priority is to make money and will leave for work the following day. He would be home for the next five years. Seeing the husband go, the tree ghost assumes the form of the husband and lives with the wife. The spirit is truthful in confessing his intent and spills out his heart's content for her. The wife, incensed that her real husband is more interested in acquiring wealth, leaving her for years rather than spending passionate time with her, plays along. The ghost and the wife lived together in absolute for years. The husband returns at the end of five years only to find his wife in labour.
How he, his family and the community resolve this problem is the rest of the story, and it does not involve cursing and petrification.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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