Matrubhoomi, a Nation without Women

(Matrubhoomi)

by Manish Jha

India

Director: Manish Jha

Script: Manish Jha

Cinematographer: Venu Gopal

Editing : Shrish Kunder, Ashmith Kunder

Sound: Resul Pookutty

Art Director: Wasiq Khan

Music: Salim Sulaiman

Cast: Tulip Joshi, Sudhir Pandey, Piyush Mishra, Pankaj Jha, D. Kumar Bandhu, Sanjay Kumar, Shrivas Nydu, Sushant Singh

Production: Ex Nihilo, SMG Productions

Distribution:
Diaphana
155 rue du Fbg St Antoine
75011 Paris
France
Tel: 0033 1.53.46.66.66
Fax: 0033 1.53.46.62.29
Mail: [email protected]
www.diaphana.fr

Year: 2003

35 mm, Colour, 98 min, 
OV Hindi with French Subtitles

Venise Film Festival 2003
Thessaloniki Film Festival

In a rural area of India, where the population of women has been decimated, Ramcharan desperately tries to get his five sons married. A poor peasant staying close by hides his most precious possession: his sixteen- year-old daughter Kalki, a real beauty. Informed by a friend, Ramcharan buys Kalki from her father and pays a fortune to officially marry her to his elder son. Once the marriage is celebrated, Kalki is given over to the lust of the five brothers, as wells as their father's.

What is the future of a country which weeds out women, such is the question asked by director Manish Jha in this tale.

"The duality between the way women are treated and their position in society is a topic which always intrigued me. In India, women can be worshipped as Goddesses Kali and Durga, yet every year thousands of women are victims of cruel deaths, rapes or simply eliminated at their birth. This film is an ode to the beauty and power of women. And even if the context is a futurist one, the environment, sense of humour, theme and characters, are deeply rooted in today's reality, in order to better underline the extent of the problem" Manish Jha.