Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 04/28/06 (Limited) Home Video Not Available MPAA Rating Rated R for mature thematic material involving sexual situations, and for brief drug use Running Time 1 hour 54 minutes Genre Drama, Suspense Director/Writer Deepa Mehta Cast Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala Studio Fox Searchlight Pictures |
WATER
SYNOPSIS
Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma
Gandhi's rise to power, the story begins when eight-
year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home
where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia’
s feisty presence affects the lives of the other
residents, including a young widow, who falls for a
Gandhian idealist.
.BACKGROUND OF THE FILM
It was once rumoured that Bal Thackeray was
quoted as saying that the person he hates most in
the world is Deepa Mehta. Thackeray is the leader of
Shiv Sena, one of the most powerful right-wing
Hindu fundamentalist groups in India and is reputed
to have a stranglehold on everything that transpires
within the massive metropolis of Bombay. This is a
powerful and dangerous adversary and one must
wonder what it is that Mehta did to raise the ire of
the man who was named by a judicial inquiry as the
provocateur of frenzied Hindu mobs that in 1992
burned Muslim homes and businesses and killed
1,200 in Bombay. The answer is simple: she made
films which questioned the interpretations that
current Hindu leaders were giving to the Sacred
Texts and in particular as they related to the
treatment of women.
Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma
Gandhi's rise to power, the story begins when eight-
year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home
where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia’
s feisty presence affects the lives of the other
residents, including a young widow, who falls for a
Gandhian idealist.
.BACKGROUND OF THE FILM
It was once rumoured that Bal Thackeray was
quoted as saying that the person he hates most in
the world is Deepa Mehta. Thackeray is the leader of
Shiv Sena, one of the most powerful right-wing
Hindu fundamentalist groups in India and is reputed
to have a stranglehold on everything that transpires
within the massive metropolis of Bombay. This is a
powerful and dangerous adversary and one must
wonder what it is that Mehta did to raise the ire of
the man who was named by a judicial inquiry as the
provocateur of frenzied Hindu mobs that in 1992
burned Muslim homes and businesses and killed
1,200 in Bombay. The answer is simple: she made
films which questioned the interpretations that
current Hindu leaders were giving to the Sacred
Texts and in particular as they related to the
treatment of women.
Mehta’s first run-in with Thackeray came during the 1998 release of Fire, the award-winning first film in
her trilogy of the elements, which was followed by Earth in 1999 and finally by Water, which was
completed in 2005. Using a politically correct mix of men and women and alerting the news media
beforehand, Thackeray’s so-called Shiv Sainiks (i.e. members of Shiv Sena) rampaged through a matinee
show of Fire in Bombay, smashing glass and burning posters. The next day, theatres in New Delhi, Pune
and Surat were similarly hit. “Is it fair to show such things which are not part of Indian culture?” Bal
Thackeray, asked in a magazine interview. “It can corrupt tender minds. It is a sort of a social AIDS.”
Thackeray was referring to the lesbian relationship between the two main female characters in the film,
relationships which he claimed did not exist in India. Every newspaper in India and many around the world
including the New York Times carried coverage of these events and thus Thackeray achieved his
objective of being seen as the protector of the Hindu faith. In spite of the fact that the Supreme Court
ordered that troops be mustered to protect the theatres and armed guards be provided for director
Mehta, the theatre owners were too intimidated to re-open Fire to the public. Fire became the highest-
selling pirated DVD in India.
Mehta’s next battle with the fundamentalist element did not occur until 2000 when a rioting mob of 2,000
attacked and burned the sets of the production of Water and issued death threats against the director
Mehta and the actresses Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. This confrontation was organized by the RSS,
another Hindu fundamentalist faction closely aligned with the Shiv Sena and the cultural arm of the BJP
party, who were in power in New Delhi at that time. The Indian government publicly decried this effrontery
to free speech and provided 300 troops to protect the production and heavily armed security for Mehta.
This did not hinder the well-organized opposition to the film who, it was alleged, had a mole in the
production office and found a way of tapping the cell phones of the producer and director. For two weeks
the production held on in Benares, soliciting support from the local religious authorities and government,
but to no avail. Mehta’s effigy was being burnt in cities across the country daily, in each case covered
broadly by the Indian media feeding onto the objectives of the perpetrators. Finally, following a protester’s
attempted suicide jump into the Ganges in opposition to the filming, the local government shut down the
production under the issue of “Public Safety.” During this period, support poured in from around the
world, including a full-page ad placed by George Lucas in Variety encouraging Deepa to continue the fight.
None of this unfortunately had any impact on the radical fundamentalists or the local government.
It took almost five years to put the production of Water back together and it was finally shot in Sri Lanka
under an assumed name and strict code of secrecy.
Water is set in a house for Hindu widows in a Holy City in 1938 India and it is assumed by many that the
living conditions of the characters in the film are not found in present day India. This is sadly untrue and
the desire of the right-wing fundamentalist elements to partially hide this explains the vicious attacks on
the production and the director.
The film is now complete but the struggle with the fundamentalist element is not. Mehta continues to
receive calls from unknown men and women who offer “friendly advice” that she not release this film in
the West as audiences there will not understand the complex religious and social order of India.
--© Fox Searchlight
her trilogy of the elements, which was followed by Earth in 1999 and finally by Water, which was
completed in 2005. Using a politically correct mix of men and women and alerting the news media
beforehand, Thackeray’s so-called Shiv Sainiks (i.e. members of Shiv Sena) rampaged through a matinee
show of Fire in Bombay, smashing glass and burning posters. The next day, theatres in New Delhi, Pune
and Surat were similarly hit. “Is it fair to show such things which are not part of Indian culture?” Bal
Thackeray, asked in a magazine interview. “It can corrupt tender minds. It is a sort of a social AIDS.”
Thackeray was referring to the lesbian relationship between the two main female characters in the film,
relationships which he claimed did not exist in India. Every newspaper in India and many around the world
including the New York Times carried coverage of these events and thus Thackeray achieved his
objective of being seen as the protector of the Hindu faith. In spite of the fact that the Supreme Court
ordered that troops be mustered to protect the theatres and armed guards be provided for director
Mehta, the theatre owners were too intimidated to re-open Fire to the public. Fire became the highest-
selling pirated DVD in India.
Mehta’s next battle with the fundamentalist element did not occur until 2000 when a rioting mob of 2,000
attacked and burned the sets of the production of Water and issued death threats against the director
Mehta and the actresses Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. This confrontation was organized by the RSS,
another Hindu fundamentalist faction closely aligned with the Shiv Sena and the cultural arm of the BJP
party, who were in power in New Delhi at that time. The Indian government publicly decried this effrontery
to free speech and provided 300 troops to protect the production and heavily armed security for Mehta.
This did not hinder the well-organized opposition to the film who, it was alleged, had a mole in the
production office and found a way of tapping the cell phones of the producer and director. For two weeks
the production held on in Benares, soliciting support from the local religious authorities and government,
but to no avail. Mehta’s effigy was being burnt in cities across the country daily, in each case covered
broadly by the Indian media feeding onto the objectives of the perpetrators. Finally, following a protester’s
attempted suicide jump into the Ganges in opposition to the filming, the local government shut down the
production under the issue of “Public Safety.” During this period, support poured in from around the
world, including a full-page ad placed by George Lucas in Variety encouraging Deepa to continue the fight.
None of this unfortunately had any impact on the radical fundamentalists or the local government.
It took almost five years to put the production of Water back together and it was finally shot in Sri Lanka
under an assumed name and strict code of secrecy.
Water is set in a house for Hindu widows in a Holy City in 1938 India and it is assumed by many that the
living conditions of the characters in the film are not found in present day India. This is sadly untrue and
the desire of the right-wing fundamentalist elements to partially hide this explains the vicious attacks on
the production and the director.
The film is now complete but the struggle with the fundamentalist element is not. Mehta continues to
receive calls from unknown men and women who offer “friendly advice” that she not release this film in
the West as audiences there will not understand the complex religious and social order of India.
--© Fox Searchlight
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
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