User reviews

'Rudaali' tells the haunting tale of Shanichari, a woman who has suffered a lot from being treated like an outcast by the villagers to abandoned parents, lack of financial security, and so much more. Now at this old age, when she barely makes a living, her friend Bhekni, asks her to work with her as a 'rudaali' (hired mourner). But Shanichari has been too hardened by life that her eyes never even leak a small drop of tear. All this is changed by a revelation.

This is perhaps one movie where director Kalpana Lajmi gets it all (or most of it) right. Her other films that I have seen 'Daman' and 'Chingaari' approach unrealistic solutions to the themes that are tackled and tend to end dramatically. 'Rudaali' too ends on a dramatic note but it feels more real and fit to the theme. I loved the way the film opens with the silhouettes of four dancing 'rudaalis' and ends with a muted cry. Throughout the film, the pace is well-maintained and the platonic love between Shanichari and the young 'zameendar' and between Shanichari and Bhekni is very well portrayed. 'Rudaali' is also part satirical as we see how the mourners are also seen as a form of entertainment. The great Gulzar deserves equal credit for his screenplay as 'Rudaali' would never have turned up this way had it not been for this man's input.

The songs are beautiful and breathtaking. The great Gulzar's lyrics are simply amazingly awesome and it's quite apparent how the singers, including Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangshkar and Bhupen Hazarika have put their heart into the singing. My favourite song of the soundtrack is 'Dheere Chalo' which is introduced in the opening sequence and repeated in the film. the songs will haunt the viewer long after the end credits have rolled.

Just like the singers, the actors too have put their heart into their acting. A frighteningly obese Amjad Khan perfectly fits his part. Raj Babbar is impressive. Raghuvir Yadav, Sushmita Mukherjee and Mita Vashist are effective in their small roles. Rakhee is excellent. It's refreshing to see her after a long time in a role other than the typical Hindi film mom she was famous for playing. However, 'Rudaali' belongs to a barely recognizable Dimple Kapadia. She looks authentic as Shanichari and acts very natural. I've never liked her as an actress based on her 80s and early 90s films but she impressed me in 'Krantiveer' and 'Dil Chahta Hai' and in 'Rudaali' she proves that she can be an amazing actress and that she can act her heart out given the right role. A phenomenal performance. One of the finest of the 90s.

'Rudaali' is quite a beautiful film to watch. The cinematography and background score are simply wonderful. Lajmi's attempt is honest and she tells the sad tale very convincingly. 'Rudaali' may not appeal to all (especially those looking for sugarcoated entertainment) but to me this is a genuine piece of cinema, a film where all the parts (story, music, acting, cinematography...) fit together brilliantly.

Rudaali is one of the haunting movie that comes from remote villages in Rajasthan. Shanichari is a beautiful girl born in lower cast and her life is full of sufferings because of lower cast, poor finances, lost parents, drunken husband, mischievous son. In her old age, she has become like a stone which doesn't complain and doesn't weep. Even a sharp eye drop that brings artificial tears in the eyes of a Rudaali (a rented mourner) cannot bring tears in her eyes. Her mother (A old professional Rudalli) lives with her for couple of days but doesn't tell her that she is her mom. She suggests her to become a fellow Rudaali with her. But the problem is that Shanichari can't weep.

After Shanichari's mom dies and she comes to know that she was her mother, Shanichari's tears come back to her eyes after long years and she becomes a famous Rudaali taking over her mother's profession.

The movie along with sadness of Shanichari's life also contains a story of platonic love between village landlord and Shanichari. The movie also ridicules the practice of renting mourners by rich class in the village who are so bad that they even rent mourner for show at the time of their deaths.

The movie also has 8 haunting melodies in Hindi. Best ever songs.

Rudaali provides us with a fascinating glimpse into a world so removed from our consciousness. Set in rustic, picturesque Rajasthan, the film presents us with an age-old cultural tradition of paid mourners through the central character of Sanichari. Despite several tragedies in her life, she has never cried, and seems unable to express grief through tears, and the greatest challenge in her life comes when she is offered the job of a mourner. The film relates her story through flashbacks, which reveal a woman of extraordinary strength, one who was labelled an outcaste her entire life, whose mother abandoned her, and husband died, and she remains unbelievably resilient.

Sanichari is a well written character, who is never a victim and actually quite heroic. She is a true modification of the many self-victimizing heroines seen in Hindi films, if you like. In one of the film's interesting elements, Shanichari turns down the sexual advances of the young landlord. The latter, who shows to be much less superstitious than people around, desires her greatly, but not in the sleazy sense, and never uses force to get her. He further lets her know that she is the one creating the hell around her and stops herself from living, expressing contempt for any caste issues and encouraging her to always look up, and ultimately shows great admiration for the moral principles and convictions that guide this woman and awards her a house and two acres of land.

Lajmi brilliantly captures the essence of Rajasthan, which looks truthful and authentic throughout. The fascinating cultural setting of the film serves as a great backdrop for the beautiful story it narrates, which is sad and ironic, and utterly heartbreaking. Rudaali addresses themes of poverty, gender inequality (and more often than not, pure misogyny), religion, caste, class differences, and it does so with great criticism but never judgement of the characters. As a matter of fact, despite its tragic story, the film is filled with loads of black humour which evidently aims to lighten up the critical commentary on the role of women in this rather primitive region. Some of the film's portions are actually utterly comical.

The film's narrative is stupendous, filled with music and colour in what could be considered by viewers a most difficult setting. The film is supposed to be more or less an art film, the alternative for what Indian moviegoers know as commercial cinema. Indeed, Rudaali is wonderfully realistic, but Lajmi does not give up the chance to incorporate some of the ingredients of mainstream films, like the songs and the emotional score, into the picture. The outcome is a film which is both engaging, affecting, and enjoyable, which would probably fall under the category of middle-of-the-road cinema and could be enjoyed and appreciated by different segments of its potential audience.

The film is tremendously well acted. Even the tiniest roles by the passing character actors are made believable and are brilliantly played. Among the major players, Amjad Khan, in the last role of his career, is absolutely brilliant as the cruel landlord, playing the part with great humour and wonderfully delivering his dialogue. Raj Babbar is very good as his son, playing a role of great kindness and compassion, of a man who has an independent mind and, despite his regressive environment, shows great worldliness and contempt for superstition and social stratification of humans. He is the one man who respects Sanichari for what she is and never misuses his power against her. As Bhikni, the film's original rudaali (mourner), Raakhee plays a similarly compassionate woman, and does so with great sincerity and soul.

Dimple Kapadia delivers one of the greatest performances by an actress in Indian cinema. She's phenomenal. Her Sanichari is a complex role of contradictions; she is innocent but sophisticated, cynical and tough but warm and sensitive, broken but full of life, and just optimistic in a way few women could be considering the circumstances. Kapadia does a wonderful job portraying the many traits of this role, which comes once in a lifetime for many, as she lives and inhabits it rather than just playing or understanding it. Her natural adaptation into the Rajasthani setting, as seen through her authentic mannerisms, accent and dialect, is absolutely mind-blowing. Blessed with amazingly expressive eyes, Kapadia uses them to convey much of her inner state, but without ever taking away from her unaffected acting which never feels self-conscious.

Rudaali boasts of respectable production values, the camera work is fantastic, the sets and costumes are great, and it feels very much a quality film. That said, if there's a true trump card in the film other than the script and the acting, it would be Bhupen Hazarika's soundtrack, which is among those extraordinary soundtracks which perfectly suit a film, as it does here complementing the film's story and cultural background. With great lyrics by Gulzar, he songs both dictate the tone but also get greater meaning through it, and they're always situationally relevant. The arrangements and instrumental tunes contribute wonders to the beauty of Rajasthani folk culture. "Samay o Dhire Chalo" is a true masterpiece, sung perfectly by Asha Bhosle, and the same is true of Lata Mangeshkar's rendition of "Dil Hoom Hoom Kare". Rudaali, on the whole, is a great piece of storytelling and filmmaking - a true gem of a film.

Rudaali is set in a village in Rajasthan, but the village life shown in this movie reflects the reality of rural life across most of the rest of India. TV shows and Bollywood movies often choose Rajasthan or nearby states if they need to set something because the language of these states is similar enough to Hindi for Hindi-Urdu speakers to understand it without it being modified too much.

It reveals the tough and sad life villagers go through, focusing on topics like the caste system, poverty, the ज़मीदार ("Landlord") system, prostitution, disease (cholera): in general, the backward and limited life in villages in comparison to cities.

These issues are concluded intelligently when the protagonist of the movie decides to live the rest of her life as a rudaali after she can finally cry out all the grief she's been through in her life.

A rudaali is a professional mourner who's paid to cry at peoples' death.

Ruddali is one such movie that did succeed in bringing out the perfect portrayal of ancient traditional roots of Rajathan in India.

The success is not only visible in the Story.. the picturisation. but Kalpana Lajmi's directional skills are far augmented by the very Music that perfectly suited to the story ( and may be the first time in Indian Cinema ).. given by none other than one of the Most talented Volk Music Director Bhupen Hajarika. Yet times, even if the Audience are so engrossed in the story.. the drama that is going-on on the screen, it makes me feel that without the support of Bhupen hajarika's Music talents the film would have ended somewhere half the way than what it did finally achieve in the Critics' views.

Yes, I must finally say that .. this movie is one that is far from any typical of Bollywood Movies ..even it had all the elements a typical Bollywood movie would attribute itself with ! The success of this movie is doesn't end with the creative side os a film making .. but an inherent power which it might trigger in the minds of History lovers and thinkers of Traditions and evolved social cultures.

the movie is worth 1000+ usual bollywoods movies that get churned out every year !