Bhumika - movie by Shyam Benegal

A good movie and a good scotch both briskly transport you to another plane of thoughts and brings back at a speed of ' slow flyer ' leaving behind a refreshing outlook of ' the world around you' that stays over a long time.

Yesterday, I watched 'Bhumika' - a movie that I had read, heard and talked about but not seen. Few questions that immediately posed and stirred my mind ' Does an Indian actress go through the same journey as that of Usha ? '. Is that the reason why every established Bollywood movie star though put all his financial and social might in launching his son as a movie hero, is not keen for his daughter to be a movie heroin? Examples of Sunil Dutt, Amitabh Bacchan, Rajendra Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Jeetendra, Firoz Khan, Sanjay Khan come to my mind.

On the larger canvas, 'Bhumika' also made me squirm of the feeling that being a woman is to some degree 'less advantaged' and ' less privileged' gender compared to a man. Statements like ‘Raising a girl is not easy as that of a boy' a phrase that I had often laughed and discarded now made some sense.

'Masks may be different but the men behind the mask are all the same". "Women may change any men in search of her happiness and identity but she would have to live with the kitchen and the bed with every man she goes with". An advice given by a paralyzed matured woman to Usha who remained in elusive search of a man to provide her own cocoon of happy existence, does make me sympathize with the life of a woman who at every stage of her life gets guided, goaded and exploited by men who do it for their own benefit. "There is no difference in the way human live his life than that of animal and insect. In fact, In order to make it appear different, they try hard to fill and fit some meaning in it ". An innocuous statement used by a movie director to charm his actress also did a profound impact on my mind.

Smita Patil, Amreesh Puri, Nasiruddin Shah, Amol Palekar, Anant Nag, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Sulbha Deshpande, Girish Karnad, Satyadev Dube, Shyam Benegal must have always regarded 'Bhumika' a special place in their heart as every one of them went on to create his/her success story in India's movie industry.

I am sure every woman would identify a part of her life with that of 'Bhumika ', a movie based on the autobiography of ' Lavni dancer’. With a provoked mind, I also could relate myself with every mask of the male character of 'Bhumika'.

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