What a Marketplace ... !!

If you are guessing that I am going to brag about something in Sweden ... you are wrong ...

This is about a movie that I experienced yesterday (Yes, I call it an experience). Its called Mandi. Its an old movie(1983) directed by the legendary Shyam Benegal. So whats it about? Why do I call it an experience and adorn it with exclamations?

Well, the story is very simplistic fundamentally but the way it has been woven ... it seems surreal ...

Its about a Kotha based in old town Hyderabad and its several inmates. This Kotha is run by the effervescent Paan-chewing Rukmini Bai (Shabana Azmi) who is like the godmother to all the prostitutes. Note that she is not the usual godmother but has this really whacky and comic way of dealing with situations. This is the highlight of Mandi. A sensitive topic is portrayed in a comic or lets say a very relieving manner. It reminded me of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron which is a landmark comedy movie which essentially deals with a sensitive topic ...

Rukmini Bai has an ensemble supporting cast in the form of prostitutes starting with the charming Zeenat (Smita Patil). Zeenat is a great singer and practices singing for hours per day. She is treated like a jewel by Rukmini Bai and she will go to any extent to maintain the virginity of Zeenat. The reason for this unfolds through out the movie and its very funny during the scenes in which Rukmini Bai runs helter-skelter preventing a suitor from sleeping with Zeenat ... Zeenat is also very childlike and Smita Patil has pulled it off like a piece of cake ... most other prostitutes are jealous of Zeenat but not in a grudging way ...

One of them is Baasanti (Neena Gupta) ... who is also a great singer and an equally potent dancer ... she always complaints to Rukmini Bai about why Zeenat gets to do Riyaaz before her and even for a longer duration ... she is also having an interesting interlude with the sleazy street photographer Ramgopal played so amazingly by Om Puri ... Ramgopal loves to click nude pics of the prostitutes and from interesting angles :P ... he has his way with the flirty Parveena but he is very fond of Baasanti ... and Baasanti would never give him any nude pics ...

Nadira ... played by the beautiful Soni Razdan is a foul mouthed wonder piece eternally egging on Rukmini Bai in all her endeavors ... Ila Arun is a delight to watch being pregnant through out the movie without ever concealing (in fact she does not know herself) the father's name ... :D ...

There is one other prostitute (or is she?) that is inducted into the Kotha ... she cant speak ... and is unaware about her duty when she first comes in ... her name is Fulmani and much of the movie revolves around Rukmini Bai illegally using a muted person to run her Kotha ...

There are some amazing characters supporting this main cast ... Harish Patel as the Hawaldaar who always dreams of sleeping with Zeenat and is thrown out innumerable times by Rukmini Bai ... a person who knows all the Dafaas of the law :P

Annu Kapoor as the expression-less doctor who keeps frequenting the Kotha to check all prostitutes with special attention to Ila Arun since she is pregnant ...

But one of my favorites is Tungrus (what name is that?) played brilliantly by Naseeruddin Shah ... Tungrus is like the office boy of the Kotha doing petty jobs ... like picking up baggage, getting tea, running errands for Rukmini Bai ... and when the night descends, he likes to drink beer and abuse Rumini Bai for destroying the lives of women ... he hates Rukmini Bai's parrot coz he feels the parrot is a Chamcha ...

Being a story based in Hyderabad, its great to listen to the Hyderabadi Hindi especially from Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah ...

There is another angle to the movie ... that being Mr. Gupta played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda ... he is a richo annexing land after land to his riches ... and finally he lays his hands on the area where the Kotha is situated ... there are several dialogues between Gupta and Rukmini Bai about shifting them to a different location ... at first Rukmini Bai doesnt agree ...

The Womens Liberation group head, Shanti Devi, also comes by to speak ... this is one of the best scenes about how Rukmini Bai justifier her profession ... she calls herself and the other prostitutes Kalakaars ... but the way she does it is so special ...

Shanti Devi is also a member of the municipality which is headed by Saeed Jaffery who has a vested interest in the brothel ... I wont say what coz thats a suspense element of the movie ... and the municipal board votes in favor of chucking out Rukmini Bai from her current location to th outskirts ... Gupta promises Rukmini Bai that he will help her set up her Kotha in the outskirts ... apparently Annu Kapoor is also a member of the municipality and the only one who votes against the municipality's decision :P

Gupta has a daughter to be married in Ratna Pathak Shah and Saeed Jaffery has a son Sushil whom he wants to marry to Ratna's character to settle debts with Gupta ... Gupta invites Rukmin Bai to his place to provide some entertainment during the first meeting between Sushil and Ratna ... Rukmini Bai comes with Zeenat and Baasanti ...

Sushil is smitten by Zeenat's beauty and her singing and falls for her immediately and keeps pursuing her for the remainder of the movie ... there is a very funny scene where Ramgopal, Hawaldar and Sushil end up at Zeenat's room at one time and Rukmini Bai shows up to chuck all of them out :P

When Rukmini Bai moves to the outskirts and starts setting up her Kotha there, Tungrus does not accompany them since he is very fond of the old place ... he drinks and abuses everyone and cries ... everyone at the Kotha miss Tungrus so much coz they feel handicapped by his absence ... and finally Tungrus comes walking along to the new place ... just amazingly shot ...

Rukmini also asks the prostitutes to do stuff that Tungrus used to do like the household chores but they are quick to snap "Hamaara kaam jo hai wohi karenge" :P

The best scene for me is ... between Rukmini Bai and Amrish Puri's character ... he plays a Jogi Baba and finds himself at a place where Rukmini Bai is venting her frustration to herself that no one is listening to her like before ... this scene is so funny that it will bring tears to your eyes ... watch it yourself ... Amrish Puri is great in a 2-minute role ...

Ramgopal and Baasanti also hit it off ... with Baasanti agreeing for nude pics ... its something like "Tu Parveena ki nangi photo kheechta hai ... meri kyu nahi kheechta?" :D and Ramgopal promises her that he will help her to become an actress in Bambai ... he has contacts you see :P

At the time of the delivery of Ila Arun's baby ... Rukmini Bai is coaxing her to deliver a baby girl ... coz then the girl would inherit her mother's job ... it is a very stupid thing to think about but it has been done in a very comic way ... Rukmini Bai is happier than the mother when Ila Arun delivers a baby girl ...

The essence of the movie is the camaraderie between all inmates of the Kotha and the amazing support cast ...

There is Pankaj Kapoor and Satish Kaushik too in itsy-bitsy roles but they do impress you ...

The movie flows from the beginning ... hits top pace in between and has an equally twisted, emotional and comic climax ...

I would seriously recommend this movie to everyone who likes meaningful (and in a way meaningless :P) cinema ...

4.5 out of 5 ... go lay yourself :P

Cheers ... !!