A More Equal World

Sthal | Director: Jayant Digambar Somalkar | Cast: Nandini Chikte, Taranath Khiratkar | Marathi

The slap at the end of the movie makes the indignities Savita suffers worth it. Every time a boy comes to see the cotton farmer’s daughter who has ambitions to be a state service officer, she is asked the same questions: name, mother’s clan, height, education and hobbies. Every time she recites the answers, you can see something dying inside her. Her father looks increasingly defeated, her mother stoic, understanding but helpless, her brother obsessed with IPL and tobacco. A farmer’s son should never aspire to love, say his drunk friends, even as he tries desperately to keep the woman he loves. This is Dongargaon, a village in Maharashtra, but the aspirations are equivalent to young people anywhere. The romantic ambitions sparked by movies, expensive weddings imitating those of celebrities. No one wants to cook anymore, everyone wants a caterer, says a man who is soon to become father of the bride. And even as young women are told to make decisions for themselves, they are thwarted by men who refuse to change except superficially. Our heroine, Nandini Chikte, an untrained young actor, mines scorn and anger, as the placard on the wall echoes BR Ambedkar: be educated, be organised, be agitated. Sthal makes you agitated but in the best way. Farmers’ daughters can aspire for a better life, as can all of us.

film reviewJayant Digambar SomalkarmoviesNandini ChikteSthalTaranath Khiratkar