Mirch Masala (1985) – Sonbai walks tall
Sonbai walks in the lanes of an unnamed village with a ghada (metal matka, water container) on her head. She is in the middle of her hen-party, with all members skillfully balancing the ghadas on their heads, and you know that Sonbai is a leader.
As the group of these exotically dressed women pass through a gang of by-sitters loitering around the quintessential banyan-tree-chowraha combination, they are welcomed with derogatory remarks. One of the men calls her a diamond yet unpolished. Sonbai pretends to ignore and avoids a retort, but not without uttering a few disapproving obscenities to her friends and followers. The leader knows how to handle those men whose idea of contempt of a woman comes from low self-respect and a pretense of strong masculinity.
As the group of women disperses to walk towards their ‘destiny’ation. Sonbai has business to attend to, and she walks up to the baniya store to buy some oil. The baniya demands money for the goods purchased; in an undertone, he probably insinuates acceptance of other favors in the absence of currency . Sonbai dodges any implied meanings, cajoles him with purpose and walks off with the desired quantity of oil with a smirk on her face. She cannot tell the baniya off, as he employs her and her husband. As the boss sees the luscious back of Sonbai walking away, he can’t help but yell out his frustration with a risque remark; “Sasuri puri raat jagati hogi marad ko” – reason why once again her husband didn’t show up for work. Yes, she can do that. She has the beauty and attraction capable of doing that, but they are reserved for but one man.
And she meets the man sleeping outside what’s almost a hut. Sonbai gets playful, and teases the husband. The husband is grumpy over the hopeless working conditions in this hopeless land. He wants to go to a city to find a good job. Sonbai is clearly unhappy with his dream, and pleads, shows love and plays about every card available up the sleeve of a woman in love.
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A gang of sepoys pass by an insect-infested scarecrow standing in the middle of a farm. The scarecrow has just been beheaded by a farmer’s stone. It doesn’t mind it, as it is not a living organism.
There are women at the lake feeling water in their ghadas. The sepoys, now visibly lead by someone arrive at the lake and all women scatter, expectedly. Un-expectedly one maintains her ground, looks in the eye of the leader. The leader, a lanky figure with commanding eye stares back. His eyes hold more bewilderment which turns into lust quickly, still not just letting it out. Both the alpha male and female exchange dialogues; – the male wants to quench his thirst and the woman wants him to behave properly, not like an animal. The woman gives him water when he promises to comply, but when he is done drinking, we know the woman played nicely and won. The leader, called Subedar, was not able to get what he wanted. Not yet.
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The Subedar would not live without having Sonbai, or he promised havoc that no one can afford. Sonbai would not give away her pride, and the man who is supposed to protect her is not around. The men who are supposed to protect her have given in to the will of the man who holds the gun. Some woman who are aged, mature and with a knowledge of the schemes of the world also try to persuade Sonbai to give herself in to the Subedar, for the greater good of the village and its people. No, is the answer. Always. Firm. What happens after that, is the clash between only the power and the seemingly weak, but also between the conventional wisdom and someone who have just found their way of doing things.
The 1980’s saw a very consistent and continued rise of parallel films in Hindi film industry. On one hand we had films that still linger in our memory as Torture series, on the other hand a fistful of directors fresh out of film institutes, full of attitude and josh to change the world were giving a new voice to their dreams, hopes, frustrations and struggles.
One from the crop of those directors was Ketan Mehta. His first film, Bhav ni Bhavai and second film Holi (with Aamir Khan) were two different subjects completely unrelated in nature, with the central theme of rebel. While the rebel had a form of subdued frustration in the first one, the second took it to another level of aggression.
His third film, Mirch Masala had a different class raising its head against the societal norms. This is a story which can be described as a microcosm of India at any time in the history. The women in the film have been conveniently denied their rights, and not only by men but by conventions. There are male characters who do not quite agree with the stronger members of the society, but their voice is oppressed. How they find their own voice against the society is a theme Ketan Mehta once again tries to explore with. The original story is written by Chunilal Madia and screenplay by Ketan Mehta and Shafi Hakim. There is a Zaverchand Meghani flavor to the subject matter, but to do justice to writers they maintain their own style.
At times you feel that all the characters are a little bit too obvious. A villain is a villain and he is supposed to be bad. So he is bad, with a wicked mustache. Often the “Men bad, women good” is not so subtle. An educated men is like one in the frogs’ party. He is ridiculed for his unconventional views, harassed and he also wears spectacles. So we are to understand that the villagers do not value education or anything that challenges their existing thought process. But Sonbai is one character that makes up for any nitpicking flaws.
The cast includes Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Supriya, Deena, Ratna Pathak, Raju Panchal, Om Puri, Raj Babbar (in a cameo), Suresh Oberoi, Ben Gilani, Paresh Rawal and Mohan Gokhle. There is Amole Gupte in a small role, and he is also AD of the film. The acting is adequate from the supporting lot. Naseeruddin Shah acts well but his character is sort of uni-dimensional. Om Puri acts as a character of an age that he even today does not look, but very convincingly. Deepti Naval is good, and so are sisters Supriya and Ratna in their bubbly, naive villager act.
Show stealer is without any doubt Smita Patil. Here she looks so sensuous you wish why she didn’t do a few more ‘Jaane Kaise Kab Kahan’. She looks so strong in her character as a woman who after all her village life knows her ways, you wish why she did not go for politics as a parallel career. And you realize what we are missing in the roles of women today, and the actresses that depict them. Watch it for Sonbai and Smita Patil.
Note: While I am revising the draft for the last time, I have read TOI article on the Khap Panchayats of Haryana, Northern UP and Rajasthan. I do not want to comment on the situation there, but I feel this movie and the milieu somewhere match real life despite it’s highly fictionalized and often stereotypical nature.
Tags: ketan mehta, mirch masala, naseeruddin shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil
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
I loved its climax !!! Red chilies all around , Naseer trying to break in the haveli and Om puri guarding the gang of women.
as a kid I remember seeing the climax like some 6-8 times, no clue why doordarshan kept airing it over n over again… but every time equally anxious… the slamming on the door, om puri aiming, smita patil clutching the knife, moan gokhle looking helplessly, dina pathak and other women stunned silent, and naseeruddin shah waiting outside with his men… this movie sure gave me a troubled childhood of being tense
I had seen this film on television when I was a kid. This was my first initiation into cinema unlike fillums of the 80s. I am glad you wrote a review on this and quite eloquently too.
Fabulous movie, Smita Patil in a memorable performance, it was so sad that she died at her peak, or maybe in a way good, or else by now she would have been slotted into maa/bhaabi/daadi kinda roles. Have rarely come across such a “fiery” performance( pun intended), and the confrontation between Smita and Naseer, awesome, two performers who can scorch the screen with their intensity. This was one of Ketan Mehta’s best along with Sardar, Holi, sadly of late he has been reduced to peddling crap like Mangal Pandey, kya ho gaya Ketan bhai?
Yeah, when i wuz a kid, my dad used to detest these sunday afternoon movies, because they were all national award winners and these kinds are definitely arty kinds. So did I. Of course Mirch Masala kept us all interested. Fab unexpected climax. It wuz clear that Naseer would win, because Om Puri would definitely not match Naseer’s men and guns. Every one was stunned with the climax. This review definitely rekindled the scenes. Written very deftly!
Yes, this was one of those quintessential 80’s film on TV. My family loved it so much that it was a staple diet whenever we rented a VCR and a few VHS.
felt good to read about one of my favorite characters.
havent yet watched the movie, but the article is inspiring, i think i need to watch it
I have not looked up imdb, but i guess the cinematographer was either KK Mahajan or Ashok Mehta and whosoever it was, it was brilliant with the colour, the lighting, the shadows, the apt lighting to show character, determination and intimidation.
It was a textbook in cinematography propping the story on screen.
Actually, cinematography was by Jehangir Chaudhary.
@Nadi – what did you think of Deepti Naval’s character in the film?
Tejas- quite an interesting take on one of the standout movies of the 80’s.Though I watched it ages ago some of the moments are still firmly etched in my memory especially the climax.I even remember watching a watered down Tamil ripoff of the same
( called Irandil Ondru I think ).
Smita Patil was good in any movie- be it a commercial movie like a Namak Halaal or a Shakti or in movies like MM,Manthan,Chidambaram,Bhumika etc.
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Smita had a quality about her that enabled her to play many characters and complexities with ease. She made characters believable and stamped them with her own signature acting style. I thoroughly enjoyed the article- well written and brought back the entire movie vivdly to mind.