Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa

This much acclaimed film is a narrate of Sujata Chatterji's (Jaya Bhaduri) discovery of her son's (Brati Chatterji played by Joy Sengupta) life. Made in the backdrop of the Naxalite uprising in Bengal's Naxalbari, the film mostly deals with Sujata's quest for understanding her deceased son's ideologies and outlook to life. Starting off with a mere corpse number '1084' (which lends the film its name), she establishes her son's true identity, despite the social barriers surrounding her.

What appealed to me the most was Sujata's character defined as a simple minded mother whose love for her son gave her the strength to not only discover his pursuit in life, but also, find meaning in her own. That apart, Govind Nihalani brings out a nice diagnosis of the varying ideologies of an entire generation - how a protected and almost shrouded environment can co-exist with an uprising that seeks to change the very foundation of society. The movie explodes at a point where Sujata questions this very oddity, thus marking a moment of change in her own life.

The film has some rather intense moments in Nandita Das's portrayal of the character Nandini . In almost a monologue, Nandini converses with Sujata where she not only brings to light a revolutionary and romantic episode of Brati's life but also rescues a mother dwelling amidst ignorance and compromises. A stark contrast to the dignified and contained Sujata, is Somu's mother (Seema Biswas) who despite her troubles, has has seen more meaning and truth in her motherhood.

The film has tremendous talent in its actors like Anupum Kher, Seema Biswas, Nandita Das, Joy Sengupta, Milind Gunaji and of course Jaya Bachhan making a comeback in 1998 after a long gap in her cinema career. On a slight con side, I think the cinematography on occasions could do better. Overall, a very good film to watch.

Corpse number 1084 is lying in the govt. mortuary, a life-less body which is reduced to a mere four digit number by the authorities and the mainstream. Nobody wants to claim the body, or accept his association with it, except his mother. But why is he so neglected, why do people want to forget him, why was he killed and what sort of a man was he, when alive? The film is the journey of his mother to give, and find answers to these questions and through this, the film tries to capture the story of those thousands youth of Naxalite Movement who dared to dream, and fight for a better alternative, and who were butchered by the the nexus of state, right wing parties, and betrayers and saboteurs present in the left movement itself.

Based on a novel with the same title by eminent Bengali writer Mahashweta Devi, this film tries to capture the Kolkata of Stormy-seventies, when Naxalite Movement was penetrating among the urban, educated middle-class youth.

Sujata(Jaya Bachchan) is the mother of Brati(Joy Sengupta), a brilliant and honest-to-self upper-middle class student, who chooses to dedicate his life to the cause of proletarian revolution and is murdered by state supported goons. Sujata goes through an epistemological journey in search of the reasons for this, and finally, realizing the relationship between her own oppression(in the household) and that of the poor (outside), she decides to resist, alike her son. In the end, the mother feels that each time she offers a resistance to injustice, she gives re-birth to her deceased son again, and gets more closer to him as a mother, a friend, and a comrade.

The film captures everything, and that too perfectly, be it the decadence of Bengali well-off society and artists, the tortures inflicted by police on the naxalites, the ideological deviations of the movement, the betrayals by insiders, the beauty and honesty of the dreams of the naxal youth, and the brutality and ugliness of their cold-blooded genocide by the state,the weaknesses of the movement at that time and its capacity to learn from mistakes; and all this added by masterly performances by Nandita Das(Nandini),Seema Biswas(Somu's mother), Jaya Bachchan, Joy and other actors. Govind Nihlani's direction is excellent and the film surely is one of his Masterpieces.

Above all, it shows that Naxalism is not about some splashes of blood or some crime oriented or mindless killings, but it is about a dream nurtured by a whole generation of 16 to 40, which sacrificed itself for the same and whose dream carries audience and relevance till now. Best Hindi film on Naxalism. 8 out of 10.

This movie and the original story on which it is based seem to paint a rosy and glamoros picture of the Naxalite movement and the Marxism on which the movement was based.

How can one ignore and forget that the countries like China and USSR have been the biggest oppressor of human freedom and democratic rights.

The film and the story portrays Marxism and Naxalite movement as the ultimate saviors and revolutionary for the society. Alas! such hollow slogans and empty dreams could not be implemented even in the birth-place of those, viz., USSR and China, which are turning to capitalism themselves.

Apart from this heavy ideological bias, the movie is well-made with powerful performances by Jaya Bachchan and Nandita Das.

->The movie appears to be slightly sympathetic to the Left-wing extremists(then known as the 'Naxalites'). Nevertheless, an outstanding one ! ->In a country like India where the truth dies a horrible and a silent death,such movies ought to add to the confusion of the 'stupid' common man but at the same time make him realize the extent of his ignorance. ->The best part of the movie is undoubtedly it's direction - a gist of the idealistic,dreaming,competent and willing but certainly with-wrong-basics youth of the 60-70's who were the core of the Naxalbari movement;the muscle flexing,brutality and cunning(well-inherited from the English)of the Government;the always-ignorant,hypocrite upper and middle class;the parasitic and infectious thug-clan in India and many more subtle aspects of a national peril manifest well in the movie. ->All actors have done their sweep well.Especially,Jaya Bhaduri(a rueful mother),Seema Biswas(a persevering lady of lower economic strata),Nandita Das(a dynamic,dreamer-turned-astute extremist) take most of the credit. ->The climax of the movie seems apparently off-track but is not - it relates to all the threads spawned in the first half of the movie.

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."