[1208] in peace2
Sun(11/11): Hari Bhari: Indian film about women and their bodies
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Payal Parekh)
Thu Nov 8 10:28:39 2001
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 10:27:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Payal Parekh <parekh@pimms.mit.edu>
Reply-To: Payal Parekh <parekh@pimms.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@mit.edu
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95q.1011108083339.11928A-100000@pimms>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Shyam Benegal, the filmmaker is one of India's most gifted. His films
deals with issues related to development and social change in India.
Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, two actresses in this film were the main
characters in the film, "Fire".
Aid Boston presents
HARI BHARI (Fertility)
A film by Shyam Benegal with English Subtitles
************************************************************************
Date: Nov 11, 2001
Time: 6pm
Venue: 4-237 at MIT
Duration: 134 mins
Contact: Seema Damani (seema@ccs.neu.edu/617.491.4573) for more info
*************************************************************************
About the movie, Hari Bhari(Fertility):
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Surekha Shikhri-Rege, Lalit Tiwari, Alka Trivedi,
Srivallabh Vyas, Nandita Das, Rajit Kapur and Rajeshwari Sachdev
Hari Bhari explores the sensitive issues of population control,
atrocities on women and their empowerment. This is a film about women
and for women, made by that staunch man of realistic cinema - Shyam
Benegal.
A master craftsman, Benegal has neatly packed four stories in one
story, based in a semi-rural area of western Uttar Pradesh. 'Hari Bhari' is
the story of five women of a Shaikh Muslim landholding family who live
in a 'Qasba' which is in a semi rural area of Badayum District,
Western Uttar Pradesh.
The frame story deals with three generations of women: grandmother,
her two daughters-in-law, a daughter and a grand-daughter. Within the
frame story are individual episodes dealing with the various crises
faced by each of them.
The film concerns itself with the need for women to develop an
awareness of female health problems and their rights over their own
bodies as a necessary factor in their empowerment. Although the film
is a fictional saga of a
family, it is based on actual case studies made over a period of time
in the region where the film is located.
Hasina is an ailing matriarch in a joint family which is run by her
older son Khaleel Ahmed and his perpetually pregnant wife Najma has
two young sons with a history of miscarriages and children having
died in infancy. Hasina's second son khurshid works in Meerut but his
conservative wife Afsana and her two young sons and an infant daughter
live in the same house. Hasina's daughter Ghazala comes to stay with
her after being driven out by her husband Munir who blames her for not
giving him a son. Her teenaged daughter Salma shuttles between her
father's and her grandmother Hasina's house depending on Munir's
erratic moods. The bittersweet events taking place in the house during
the course of several months constitutes the story of the film.
About Aid-Boston: Association For India's Development(AID), is a
volunteer-driven charitable organization supporting grassroots
development activities throughout India. AID works in the area of
poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, dependency, disease, social
inequalities, corruption and many such other problems that are
interconnected. Detailed information about AID can be found at
the www.aidindia.org.
