User reviews

Aruna Raje directs Rihaee, a bold and realistic movie which takes place in a small village. The men are far away in the big city, working to support their families, and the wives remain all alone, trying to survive the routine life by working in the fields and taking care of the kids, quietly awaiting their husbands' letters. From one post to another, the man find a way to satisfy themselves by visiting various brothels and sharing nights with different prostitutes, expecting their wives to remain loyal. But when a young city man named Mansukh visits the village, he manages to lay down several women. His personal project, however, is one woman named Taku, who is known to be the most decent of the women in the village, and who would not allow him to get even mildly close to her. But one day she too gets lost in her loneliness and her desire wins her principles. On top of that, she finds out she is pregnant and instantly lets her husband know about her betrayal once he comes back. While the husband thinks of forgiving her this one mistake, he is surprised by her firm assertion that she will never abort this child. That's where starts a great dilemma.

Interesting and engaging, Rihaee may surprise many with its honest and in-your-face portrayal of themes which had rarely been dealt with in Hindi cinema earlier. The film's proceedings are at times really shocking and unbelievable and are handled quite well, although at times I felt a kind of banality in the way the infidelity was depicted, given the fact that such incidents rarely happen, particularly in such culturally and socially conservative and rural areas in India. The film's main idea and purpose is to address women empowerment and to raise a voice against discrimination in this regard. Raje's portrayal of the story is feminist but fair, and although the film does manage to provoke different personal thoughts, somewhere she fails to achieve the necessary sensitivity it requires and it is not uniformly convincing. The main conflict, however, would definitely bring to different opinions among viewers who see the film and interpret the main situation from their personal points of view, and that's an achievement on its own. I too have my own opinion about it, but I would keep it to myself as it does not belong here.

Now to the main reason Rihaee is ever mentioned and discussed, and it's obviously the great Hema Malini; this is one of Malini's lesser known roles, and according to me one of her most underrated works. As Taku, she shows how deep she can go in her exploration of a woman's mind. This is a role one would usually expect to see Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil playing, but Malini does a great job of it. She convincingly displays the many shades of her character, including Taku's toughness, vulnerability, inner conflict and regret and at the same time her steady determination and willingness to fight the entire world for her rights. Vinod Khanna is excellent as her loving and tormented husband. Naseeruddin Shah plays the young Casanova who woos all the lonely and frustrated wives of the village, and he unsurprisingly nails the part. Rihaee is a good film. It may have its flaws, but its message is clear and successfully conveyed. Above all, it will be remembered mostly for Hema Malini's performance.

Rihaee review :

Ever imagine a hindi film exploring women's sexuality and gender equality way back in '80s? Sounds incredible right? Well, Aruna Raje's Rihaee was this rare case releasing right in middle of bloated mindless actioners ruling the roost that time. The film had A list actors like Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Naseeruddin Shah, Reema Lagoo etc and thus couldn't be called pure arthouse at all. It was aiming for commercial success as well though the movie missed it by a mile and was declared a flop. Such a bold film was anyway too much to digest for that era!!

Rihaee depicts a Gujarati village where all its mensfolk are in Mumbai city for work. They do menial jobs there and satisfy their sexual hunger in brothels. The women back home, are obviously expected to be in absteinance. A flirtatious male Mansukh (Naseer) arrives one day and most of the ladies succumb to his charm. All except Takubai (Hema)!!

Mansukh gets attracted to her haughty attitude and pursues her relentlessly. Eventually, they end up having sex. Things get bad when Takubai gets pregnant and chooses to keep to the child and not abort. Her hubby (Vinod Khanna) alongwith the entire men brigade turn against her...how will she defend her stand?!!

Aruna Raje's direction was outstanding and she not only extracted superfine performances from everyone but also made a strong statement on women empowerment without going the 'preachy' mode. The climactic dialogues are wonderfully written and elevate the movie to an altogether different level. Another positive factor is despite its sexual theme, there is no unnecessary sleaze at all. The lovemaking scenes are extremely aesthetic.

Rihaee didn't work at the box office in the late '80s but this is one movie worth a revisit today. Truly a film ahead of its time!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.