Heaven on Earth, literally…
Just watched Deepa Mehta’s (written and directed by) latest film Heaven on Earth. After Water, I thought that maybe this would be much more satisfying, but now I am not quite sure about this.
What do you make of a film that has some very good acting by all the leads (most of them being absolutely new in front of the camera), is technically very sound but story wise its bizarre to say the least? Bizarre because the subject of the plot has a very serious intent but how it is tackles is what takes the film down.
Themes on domestic violence against women isn’t new for the celluloid. Deepa Mehta is the latest entrant to make a movie that focuses on the continual physical and mental abuse that a young girl sustains at the hands of her new husband and his family. And what happens hence.
Deepa defines her protagonist as Chand, a late early-twenties girl based in Ludhiana (a town based in Punjab) who is married off into a Sikh family from Canada. Chand (Preity Zinta) is one who definitely hasnt seen the world beyond her town and more importantly beyond her immediate family and friends. Moving to Canada seems like taking one hesitant step after another, each filled with the nervousness of the unknown and hope for good times ahead. Until she lands there.
No screen time is wasted in detailing the preliminaries of these introductions. The first few scenes – a ceremony, snapshots of the city at dawn, mum daughter talk – and soon the viewer is taken along with Chand to Canada. Thats it. No fuss. It sets the tone of the story. Chand arrives and is traditionally welcomed into to a family of about seven. From there on, there is no respite for the viewer for what is to be expected. Hesitancy and hope slowly give way to the realization of the grim truth. A family where the woman (Chand’s sister-in-law) works at a local factory to make ends meet. Good-for-nothing spouse. Chand’s husband working at odd irregular jobs. A short tempered, moody man who response to any question is at times a few words. Most often than not its the hand that does the talking. A conniving mother-in-law. A silent witness to all, the father-in-law. Grand-son, a becoming example of violence begetting violence.
Chand isn’t given any time to understand the dynamics around her. Second day of her marriage, the numbness of a slap across her face is the first sign that all is not going to be well. This happens in the presence of her mother-in-law and because of her instigation. Next, she is pushed into the job at the factory. Salary is to be payed to her husband. Then, Chand maltreated more.
What could happen next? Either Chand bows down signalling the beginning of her inevitable end or she learns to stand up against the atrocities. I naturally wished for the latter. The director does too, I believe but what she does is that she offers Chand mysticism as the panacea to all her problems.
A religious story oft told by her mother about the king cobra snake being the savior and protector of all ills and that of a root given to her by a Jamaican co-worker that will work wonders when mixed with a drink for her hubby intertwine and what happens then forms the rest of the narrative. Its at this point that the taut tale loses its authenticity. It then becomes of more of a curiosity as to when will it end rather than how.
Right from the beginning, Deepa superbly manages to create an underlying tension in virtually every scene thats shot in the messy cramped home. When Chand is being hit and kicked, Deepa focuses on the rest of the people at home who grimly pretend that they are not part of this. It doesnt quite exist. It sucks the viewer right in making him/her a hapless spectator to all the happenings. Until this turn.
I was surprised with Preity Zinta’s performance. I barely watch commercial Bollywood fare so haven’t seen much of her work. But never thought that she could be so exemplary as a victim of abuse. Her body language is just to be watched for. She is Chand here. Amazing performance. Vansh Bhardwaj plays her husband Rocky and creates that blend of unpredictability and subject of abhorrence just right. A very confident debut. You don’t realize that the rest of the cast are actors. They seem a real family that could inflict such pain. Inspite of all this, the story doesn’t hold in the latter part.
A film is a work of art. And art can be interpreted in any way specific to the creator. So I shouldn’t be complaining. But when a movie portrays a story of taboos and discordant societal norms that is existent in the real world, there comes some onus, I feel, for it to take a certain direction. In this case, what eventually Chand does and decides was one aspect, but for me to interpret it in the real practical sense made my imagination go in different directions which quite negated the very end shown. I wish it wasnt so. This film would definitely be one to be seen then.
Tags: Deepa Mehta, Heaven on Earth, Preity Zinta, World Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Soemtime ago another film called provoked was released with similar themes…I think those “crossover” filmmakers are also running out of ideas…all they can think of is some confused NRI searcing for “roots” or some other NRI male beating up wives…true to the “tradition”…!
why can’t they think of some other topic?…
Hmm this seems a more slicker version of the “Amman/Nagadevata” movies i see down South. You know poor, innocent heroine is married off to a cad, husband and saas, ill treat her, and all of a sudden “Amman” or “Nagdevata” assumes human form, teaches every one a lesson, and sets things right. What made Deepa Mehta select such a muddled story?
Nagdevata??!!…
this will only strengthen the age old cliche…we are a land of snake charmers…:D
“we are a land of snake charmers”
Nah we are a land of “icchadhari nags”, “nagins”, “naagdevatas”,he,he.
One thing i do wonder is why in heroine oriented movies, men are either cads or losers or spineless guys. I mean is it not possible to have a strong male character in a heroine oriented flick.
Priety though no longer doing commercial films is doing some real good roles.In 2008,The last lear and Heroes and this year Heaven On Earth.Wishing all the best to her.
Very interesting movie with an extremely unpridictable plot, the best part of the movie is that you cant predict a single scene. Acting by all the actors is authentic specially by actors who played rocky’s parents. Deepa Mehta was able to create a thrilling atmosphere throughout the film thanks to the brilliant performance by both the leads.
What I didnt like in the movie was some of the black & white shots didnt add anything to the movie…like the one when Rocky is shown in the immigration office….why the hell was that scene in the movie. Some other b/w shots also could have been edited to make the effect of the movie even more thrilling.
But overall the movie was a very intresting watch.
Didn’t it remind u of ‘Paheli’?
Kinda??
“Nagamandala is a critically acclaimed Kannada movie released in 1997. The story of the film was adapted from a play of the same name written by well-known writer Girish Karnad. The movie was directed by award winning director T.S. Nagabharana.
The film touches one of the most sensitive issues of marital life. In folk style and form, the film throws open a question as to who is the husband – the person who marries an innocent girl and indulges in self pleasures or the person who gives the real and complete experience of life.”
Naag Mandla – Punjabi Play
It is a play written by Girish Karnad based on Kannada folklore. Neelam
Mansingh directed this play and it was in Punjabi.
Heaven on Earth – Directed by Deepa Mehta
@ Steve, never thought of it, but yes…
.
@ Arthi, great post. I saw this film back in November, and have to say that I still haven’t completely understood it or finished thinking about it. In that sense, it’s a good sign I guess… Something like this should stay with the viewer long after viewing. But this was a film that seemed jarring to me. I felt it’s rawness but not always necessarily in an artistic way. And I agree that the acting was good, but there wasn’t enough movement in the story.
Aseem Behl ji…
I think i’m one of the very few people who liked the Black & White scenes.
It’s almost as if all the colours of life had been drained out of this girl.
Thought it captured her state of mind well.
The immigration scene showed 1 of the many strains Rocky had.
He was lumbered with alot of responsibility, hence why he was full of all that rage.
The only people he’d take it out on were non family (Priety, the guy at the shop).
I loved the film.
But i’m undecided about the supernatural angle.
Aditya, Ratnakar, yup, this film is a refined version of that thought…not much of a surprise that it was much better recieved in the West.
..
The South regularly churns out a more overt version of these stories – the Amman series is the best example
Ratnakar, your question about spineless men around in such films…so true..thats one of the easy premises on which such films are based no….else the story wouldnt rely only on such supernatural phenomena to make its point…
Aseem, the B&W shots were not quite fluently used I felt. What put me off was the slight incoherrence of thought for these scenes. At times, it was when Chand hallucinates; others on Rocky. That kind of suddenly pulled me from one plane of understanding the character to anothers’ a bit abruptly. I didnt like that.
Agree. If we can put aside the supernatural angle and just watch it for the sheer charged atmosphere created by Deepa, don’t think it’d be a waste of time…
Dr.Fu Man Chu, yes, it is taken from Nagamandala. Tx..Have read the play but not seen the film. As you say, it was a folk tale and the time and treatment were very different. Hence it worked….
@ Nina – Thanks…
Steve, I thought I was the only one who kept thinking of Paheli while watching this film. I delibrately didnt mention it here as thats a film I really like. I later realized that the stories are different in a certain way specific to the characters of Rani and Preity. And what they choose to do…Hence so….Thanks for bringing it up…
Its like a kind of cross between Provoked & Nagamandala.
Steve- yes it does remind you of Paheli.Especially after the snake comes into play.
Dont expect the Indian box office to be receptive to this.Of course Preity is winning a lot of acclaim.She even did well in The Last Lear & Heroes.
The film’s images are definitely stuck in my head…
Alot of scenes were handled brilliantly and so damn realistically.
I also liked ‘Paheli’ quite alot.
And yup, I agree with u Arthi, they are different.
It was just a thought.
Having said that, I also began to think of ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ at one point!
Ofcourse there are no similarities, yet it still came to mind…
I’m gonna watch it again though.
Priety’s performance alone deserves that!
Beg to disagree Arthi. Just saw your post after I put up mine
Ratnakar,
You have said “One thing i do wonder is why in heroine oriented movies, men are either cads or losers or spineless guys. I mean is it not possible to have a strong male character in a heroine oriented flick.” It is mostly true of women oriented movies, but the Tamil movie “Indira” is an exception. It is a movie made by Suhasini Maniratnam, about a woman who ends up being the panchayat president after her father is murdered. Here, Aravind Swamy plays her husband. He is not portrayed as a mean loser. He is shown as someone who supports his wife’s cause.
It would be interesting to know if you guys have come across any other movie where men were shown in a positive light.
Skanda, does Sunny Deol in ‘Damini’ count?
Big B in ‘Black’ and SRK in ‘Veer Zaara’ didn’t stop Rani from standing out in strong roles by being negative na?
Steve,
Sunny Deol in Damini, certainly. I have not seen Veer Zaara so I don’t know. I don’t know if the character that Amithab plays in Black would have done what he did any differently if the student was a guy.
The guy in Indira is self-assured and not threatened by what his wife does. So, he is able to stand aside let the woman be what she wants to be.
People, do read this take on the film: http://dearcinema.com/videsh-taming-the-snake-god/
Forget it being different, does it capture the essence of the film just as should have been? I haing too many thoughts in my head now but I really liked the review..
Oops..”I’m having”…typo..sorry…
That review was very interesting, and I do feel the same about Rocky’s character.
Lekin, i’m not sure if I agree.
If anything, i’m now begining to accept that it was a divine intervention through which Chaand found courage and strength to speak up and leave.
Sure, all those experiences are likely to throw one into the solace of their own imagination, but I think her strength began to gradually show through her frustrations, e.g, when she pushed her M.I.Law and when she spoke in a stern voice on the fone.
And now I hear my own ‘bachpan ki kahani’…
”God helps those help themselves”.
And Priety’s character understood that in the climax when she chooses to walk out of the bedroom alone.
Either that or i’m losing MY mind :-)
…”those WHO help themselves”
Uff, sorry!
@ ratnakar, @skanda,
does akshaye khanna in aaja nachle count? he was a strong character (and positive) in an otherwise “heroine oriented movie.
Well i could add Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgan in Lajja, Shreyas Talpade in Dor, Rajesh Khanna in Aakhir Kyon, Abhishek Bachan in Phir Milenge to list also.
Palle, but Akshaye was trying to destroy Ajanta, which makes him the ’semi’ bad dude na?
And Ratnakar ji, they still made Anil & Ajay out to be a chor and daaku na?
And Abhishek was quite a judgemental character, who gradually changed in ‘Phir Milenge’.
But Shreyas? Yup, I totally see what u mean.
But didn’t he try to rip her off too at one point?
Ok, I do see what u mean, but I guess I was trying to find whiter than white heroes! :-)