Polluted Waters

The shift in location apart, Mehta also had to work with a new set of actors. So Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and Akshay Kumar got replaced by Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray and John Abraham. Also, the name of the young widow was changed from Janaki to Kalyani to avoid any references to Sita. It also made it possible for Mehta to weave in a reference to her own favourite film, Bimal Roy'sBandini, where the lead character is also called Kalyani. "I wanted to do a film about women in enclosed spaces. In Bandini it was a prison, here it is a widows' home," she says.

What's interesting about the film is its attempt, however half-baked and unsuccessful, to see the plight of the widows in the context of the rise of Gandhi and his nationalist, reformist struggle. "As a sub-text Gandhi is the true hero of the film," says Mehta. He is the beacon of hope, the one who will relieve the widows of their miseries. However, much of the strong critique comes from the innocent questions and arguments of the child. Like when she wonders if there's a widows' home for men as well. Or when she slyly brings a ladoo for the old widow who is fond of sweets but can't have them.

Mehta has extracted a strong performance from Manorama as the feisty and domineering head of the ashram who is villainous in turning the home into a brothel, yet utterly helpless in not finding any other means to keep the place running. "I have worked in the industry for 60 years but never got a role like this," says Manorama. Seema Biswas is flawlessly low key as the introspective Shakuntala, and the child Sarala tugs at the heart-strings. Mehta found the girl in Galle in Sri Lanka. She doesn't know English or Hindi; she learnt her dialogues phonetically and Mehta had to give her directions in sign language or by using an interpreter. The weakest links in the film are Lisa and John. They are hopelessly miscast as the young lovers. Lisa, with her bee-stung lips, and John, with his designer glasses, look incongruously pretty when they should be looking traumatised; they are totally unable to shed their contemporary look to fit into the period setting.

Water is likely to generate debates of other sorts as well. Is the film's attempt to portray the shastras as the repository of evil too simplistic and pat an interpretation? Is it sensationalist in dwelling on the sexual exploitation of widows rather than talking of their real problem, ie, poverty? Is it portraying a negative image of India for active consumption by the West? "Why are we so insecure about how we are perceived in the West? We need to critique ourselves and look into our backyards first," counters Mehta. For now, all she wants is for her Water to flow across India.