Ankur: The Seedling of Good Cinema

There is a god for one who believe and there is a holy land for one is ready to explore. Movie lovers are not devoid of their God as well and my Shradhha in the movie god is multiplied every time I watch a movie like Ankur. To show us the light of good cinema, s/he sends those lovely movie angels that we come to know as Directors. Shyam Benegal is one such angel and Ankur is his gift to us. Released in 1974, along with Benegal it is also the debut of the lead actors Anant nag and Shabana Azmi.

The movie is set in and around Hyderabad. Not a coincidence that Benegal is from Hyderabad as well. Surya, played by Anant Nag belongs to a Zamindar family – has a typical Authoritarian father and several acres of farmland in the ancestral village. But like most Indian families, his family too has an unspoken secret- Surya’s father has a mistress in the village and she has been given a part of land for sustenance, basically to keep her mouth SHUT. And even though Surya’s mother has learned to live with this uncomfortable truth, Surya did not.

Post completion of high school education his father immediately initiates surya into ‘real life’ by marrying him off to an underage Girl, Saru. And after this, he is sent off to take care of their farmland all alone. There he is welcomed by a Low caste couple, Lakshmi played by shabana Azmi and Deaf and dumb Keshtiya who is impotent. More characters like Sheikh Chand, the glib talking overseer of his property, the village pundit and a few others add life to the setting. Benegal has shown dexterity with characters and camera work to bring out subtle peculiarities of rural life that can be easily overlooked. Once in the village, surya sets off to get things right but with an ‘I don’t belong here’ attitude and is apathetic towards the advances made by several villagers to gain his favors.

Initially indifferent, Surya starts lusting Lakshmi given his sexual frustration and boredom from rural life. Special Mention: The camera work has been done by the young Govind Nihalani. Reminiscent of European cinema all the indoor shots carry a lot of emotional weight as they hold on a bit longer and the wonderful actors yield in by letting it capture their intentions in entirety. The camera does a brilliant job in switching between Surya’s voyeuristic gaze and an objective narrator. Meanwhile, Keshtiya goes missing and this gives wings to Surya's fantasies.

Benegal desists from telling us the reason/motivation behind Lakshmi getting drawn towards Surya. Instead he has dropped a lot of hints and It is for us to figure out if that is because she is desperate to bear a child or it’s her unsatiated sexual need or a hope for a better life (or plain boredom). Apart from this, two brilliant episodes make a sharp commentary on the issues of sexuality and patriarchy. One is the Trial of Rajamma-I cannot think of a better sequence to capture Benevolent and violent versions of patriarchy.And second is the sequence in which a drunken man bets his wife in a game of teen patti on diwali night, because to withdraw from the game is against his masculinity. I can go on about what happens to the pregnant Lakshmi after Saru(Surya's underage Wife) arrives after Gauna and how does Surya cope up with the new reality but that will all be lost in the meaning making process.

Conditioned on years of bollywood Masala most of these films are not readily palatable, for most of us. But with some openness, little patience and very little deliberation you can initiate yourself to the realism of this cinema- and you will enjoy every bit of it. This film moves from one chapter to another neatly and effortlessly. You will enjoy being in the intimate space of Lakshmi enjoying the supple and graceful body of then Shahbana Azmi and the confused space of Surya which is somewhere between fantasy and guilt.

Watch it for its brilliant camerawork and framing of village life, the work of Govind nihlani. The director also understands and tells us that the issues of poverty, caste, gender roles, religion, urban-rural divide can’t be talked and analysed in separation as they are so tightly convoluted and multi layered. These are all forms of subversions used by people who can wield it as they see suitable. But i do not think this is a tragic movie. Finally beyond all our roles, all of us are completely responsible for our mistakes and nobody can escape from its stigma. Even Lakshmi who seemingly lost everything in the movie, by the end of it gains an Ankur in her womb, the reformed husband comes back to her and without questioning, and most impotently the village is not with the powerful and wealthy Chote Raja but with her.

Time for EMI rating-
E- 7/10
M- 8/10
I- 7/10
Tota Score- 7.5/10