| Taptapadi (2014) Country: India Language: Marathi Year: 2014 Color/BW: COLOR Category: Feature Film Genre: Drama
Description India in early 20th century.... An early marriage and a miscarriage take their toll on Meera's health. She starts losing her vision, her husband Madhav wants to cure her on his own, refusing to consult a qualified doctor. Meera's Brother takes her to a doctor against her will. But she refuses his medication, since an Indian wife must faithfully worship her husband life God. She is blinded by Madhav's botched attempts to cure her. Like a dutiful Indian wife, the blind woman still continues to dote on her husband. The husband loves her in return. How much of his love is really a form of guilt and obligation for the faith shown in him? How much of his love is really a form of guilt and obligation for the faith shown in him? How much of her love is just out of her traditional outlook? Can their love withstand the tough challenge of life? The challenge comes in the form of a liberated woman with a mind of her own, much like Rabindranath Tagore's vision for a 20th century India. An elderly relative wants to marry off her niece Sunanda to Madhav, attempting at paving a way for his happiness. Madhav falls for Sunanda; too, exposing the limitations of the love he has for Meera. Meera is fond of Sunanda but, how can she sacrifice her own happiness by letting her husband marry another woman? Given the status of women in traditional Indian families, does Meera have any choice but to accept her husband's wish? And what choice does the liberated Sunanda have? Will she too end up being a helpless victim of her fate, like Meera?
The Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was fascinated with India on the cusp of modernity. The conflict between ancient wisdom and modern, rational thoughts takes various forms in his work. Need the political struggle for freedom from British rule pit itself against modern western values of freedom and equality? Can an individual find happiness and love within the feudal family structure? The personal and the political merge in Tagore's epic vision for India.
Cast: Kashyap Parulekar, Veena Jamkar, Shruti Marathe, Ambrish Deshpande, Sharad Ponkshe, Ashwini Ekbotey, Neena Kulkarni |
