| Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Manish Jha |
| Produced by | Patrick Sobelman, Punkej Kharbanda |
| Written by | Manish Jha |
| Starring | Tulip Joshi, Sudhir Pandey, Sushant Singh, Aditya Srivastava |
| Music by | Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant |
| Cinematography | Venu Gopal |
| Editing by | Ashmith Kunder, Shirish Kunder |
| Release date(s) | 17 December 2003 |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women (Bhojpuri/Hindi: मातृभूमि, translation: Motherland) is a 2003 Indian film written and directed by Manish Jha. The film examines the impact of female foeticide and female infanticide on the gender balance, and consequently the stability and attitudes of society. Its storyline bears some resemblance to real-life instances of gender imbalance and economics resulting in fraternal polyandry and bride buying in some parts of India. [1] It depicts a future dystopia in an Indian village populated exclusively by males due to female infanticide over the years.[2]
The film received widespread critical acclaim [3] and was shown at the film festivals through 2003, including the 2003 Venice Film Festival, where it was presented in the Critic's Week (Parallel Sections) and later awarded the FIPRESCI Award "For it's [sic] important theme on women's issues and female infanticide handled with sensitivity by a first-time director".[4][5]
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The film begins in a rural village in Bihar,[6] with the delivery of a baby girl to a village couple. Her disappointed father, who was hoping for a boy, drowns her in vat of milk in a public ceremony. Many years later somewhere around 2050 AD.[6], this unchecked trend leads to the village being populated solely by males. The now uncouth and aggressive young men of the village are desperate for wives and release their frustration through group screenings of imported pornographic films, cross-dressed dance performances, and even bestiality. They are shown to be willing to go to the lengths of human trafficking and courtship-driven emigration in order to procure spouses for themselves.
The wealthy father Ramcharan (Sudhir Pandey) of five boys finds out about a single young woman, named Kalki (Tulip Joshi), living some distance from the village, and literally buys her from her father. She is then married to all five sons. Each night of the week, she is forced to sleep with one of the sons, and even the father gets his weekly night with her. Of all the men in the boorish lot, only the youngest son treats her with respect and tenderness.
When the youngest son is killed by his jealous brothers, and an escape attempt with a sympathetic domestic servant goes lethally awry, she becomes a pawn of revenge in an inter-community conflict, and an unwilling object of sexual release for even more men. She is chained to a post in the cow shed and gang raped mercilessly night after night. The film ends on a violent but hopeful note, as she bears a baby girl while the men of the village kill each other off over rights to her and her child.[2][7]
Director Manish Jha's debut short film, A Very Very Silent Film (2001), had previously won the Jury Prize for the Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.[8] He got the idea of Matrubhoomi upon reading, in a news magazine, about a village in Gujarat without women. Subsequently, while surfing the Web, he read an article mentioning the fact that over the years, millions of girl children had fallen victims to gender discrimination in India. The film's French producer Patrick Sobelman asked Jha to produce a script outline on the subject, and he put out a two-page synopsis, and within a week wrote a 200-page script, which he cut back to 70 pages. The project received a green light when its Indian producer Pankej Kharabanda came on board.[9]
Having grown up in Bihar, he said he was aware of the practice of female infanticide, and wanted to write a script about a future village if the practise continued, and as women became extinct, the film also allowed him to bring to light issues like polyandry, bride buying and rape. [10]
The film's lead actress Tulip Joshi had refused the film after the first reading, but eventually decided to take it up, as she added, "But I'm glad I took it up finally, even though there was a point when I felt disgusted."[6]
The film was shot on a tight budget of Rs. 2 crore, in Renai, a remote village in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh in 29 days. [10][9] The cast included actors from Delhi theatre circuit, Sushant Singh, Aditya Shrivastav, Piyush Mishra and Deepak Bandhu.
As per film director, Manish Jha, "I wanted to examine the emotional and psychological impact of a society without women," ... "It is a very extreme situation ... a whole nation without women. [7]
The central character Kalki being married to five brothers is analogous to Queen Draupadi being married to the Pandava brothers in Mahabharata. Kalki references to the forecast of Vishnu's tenth incarnation, Kalki, who would end the Kaliyuga.[6]
After running through the festival circuit, including the 2003 Venice Film Festival, 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was commercially released two years later on July 8, 2005, with 150 prints. It was dubbed into six languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Bengali, and French, on a budget of Rs. 3 crore, to reach a wider audience.[11][12][7]