Bhumika: The Role (1977)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Shyam Benegal

Writers:

Hansa Wadkar (inspired by the book "Sangtye Aika")
Girish Karnad (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 November 1977 (India)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Coming from a poor and destitute family, Urvashi is encouraged by her mother, Shanta (Sualbha Deshpande)...

Plot Keywords:

Extramarital Affair | Told In Flashback | Actress | Movie Business | Suicide Attempt

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Smita Patil	...	Usha (Urvashi) Dalvi
Anant Nag	...	Rajan
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Sunil Verma
Amrish Puri	...	Vinayak Kale
Amol Palekar	...	Keshav Dalvi
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Film producer
Sulabha Deshpande	...	Shanta
Baby Ruksana
B.V. Karanth
Dina Pathak	...	Mrs. Kale
Mohan Agashe
Kusum Deshpande
Rekha Sabnis
Baby Bitto
Savha Bajaj
Sunila Pradhan
Master Abhitab
H. Lani
Kiran Vairale	...	Sushma Dalvi
G.M. Durrani
Abhishek
Om Puri
Mathew
Swadesh Pal
Sudarshan Dhir		(as Sudarshan Dheer)
Vijay Padukone
Santosh Shah
Benjamin Gilani

Directed by
Shyam Benegal

Writing credits
Hansa Wadkar		(inspired by the book "Sangtye Aika") (as the late Hansa Wadkar)
Girish Karnad		(screenplay) and
Satyadev Dubey		(screenplay) (as Pandit Satya Dev Dubey) and
Shyam Benegal		(screenplay)
Satyadev Dubey		(dialogue) (as Pandit Satya Dev Dubey)

Produced by
Bhisham M. Bijlani	....	executive producer
Lalit M. Bijlani	....	producer
Freni Variava	....	producer (as Freni M. Variava)
Silloo F. Variava	....	executive producer (as Silloo Fali Variava)

Original Music by
Vanraj Bhatia

Cinematography by
Govind Nihalani

Film Editing by
Bhanudas Divakar		(as Bhanudas)

Art Direction by
Shama Zaidi

Makeup Department
Lilabai Deshpande	....	hair stylist (as Leelabai)
Vishwanath Govekar	....	makeup artist (as V. Govekar)

Production Management
Ishwarlal G. Sharma	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Manohar B. Ghanekar	....	assistant director (as Manohar Ghanekar)
Prahlad Kakar	....	assistant director
Dayal Nihalani	....	assistant director
Swadesh Pal	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Mangesh Desai	....	sound re-recordist: Raj Kamal Kalamandir Pvt Ltd.
Hitendra Ghosh	....	sound
Ismail	....	assistant sound
Mohamed Husein Kalsikar	....	assistant sound (as M. Kalsikar)

Camera and Electrical Department
K. Kanti	....	assistant camera
Gyan Sahay	....	assistant camera
S.R. Shekhar	....	still photographer: Blaze Audio Visual (as S.R. Shekar)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Kalpana Lazmi	....	costume assistant (as Kalpana Lajmi)

Editorial Department
Jagdish Mohite	....	assistant editor
P.G. Mulay	....	color consultant
Ramnik Patel	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Chandru Atma	....	playback singer
Robin Chatterjee	....	song recordist: Mehboob Studios
Firoz Dastur	....	playback singer
Vasant Dev	....	lyricist (as Vasanth Dev)
R. Kaushik	....	song recordist: Recording Centre (as Kaushik)
Uttara Kelkar	....	playback singer
Kumari Meena	....	playback singer
Saraswati Rane	....	playback singer
Preeti Sagar	....	playback singer
Bhupendra Singh	....	playback singer (as Bhupendra)
Majrooh Sultanpuri	....	lyricist
Raj Trehan	....	song recordist: Blaze Recording

Other crew
Nira Benegal	....	continuity assistant
Sudarshan Dhir	....	choreographer (as Sudarshan Dheer)
Devi Dutt	....	executive production controller
K.B. Kamat Ghanekar	....	technical advisor (as Kamat Ghanekar)
N.J. Kenny	....	production assistant
Deepak Parashar	....	location assistant (as Deepak Prashar)
Bunny Reuben	....	public relations officer
Santosh Shah	....	location assistant
Ravi Uppoor	....	production assistant
Fali M. Variava	....	production controller

Thanks
Mrs. B.S. Bhagat	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
Mohan J. Bijlani	....	dedicatee
Mr. Mohan Borade	....	grateful thanks: Mobos' Hotel, Pune
Shree Nav Durga Devasthan	....	grateful thanks: Madkai, Goa
Mr. G. Lajmi	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
Mrs. G. Lajmi	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
Mr. S.Y. Rege	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
S.Y. Rege	....	grateful thanks: Bombay (as Mr. S.Y. Rege)
Dr. B.S. Sabnis	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
Mrs. Zarina Sayani	....	grateful thanks: Bombay
Fali M. Variava	....	dedicatee (as Fali Meherji Variava)

Production Companies

• Blaze Film Enterprises

Distributors

• Video Sound (2001) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Video Sound (2001) (USA) (theatrical)
• Video Sound (2001) (Canada) (DVD)
• Video Sound (2001) (Canada) (VHS)
• Video Sound (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Sound (2001) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Bhumika (India: Hindi title) (short title)
The Role

Runtime:

142 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Blaze Film Enterprises

One of the great melodramas.

For years I had been lead to believe that the Indian cinema basically consisted of the florid excesses of Bollywood and the restrained humanism of Satyajit Ray. No-one told me that it could be as marvellous as this, combining the vibrant, visual energy of Bollywood, the depth of character of Ray, with a narrative complexity, formal daring, and willingness to experiment alien to both.

Like that other overwhelming Indian masterpiece I experienced recently, 'The Cloud-Capped Star', the film betrays a knowledge and mastery of the Hollywood melodrama, taking not only its visual cue from it (compositions that constrict characters; lighting and editing that reflect sensibility rather than reality etc.), but its use of a despised, populist form to create a charged, critical work.

Many of the characters recur through Indian cinema - the workshy men who produce only dreams, sapping their families; the women forced to become breadwinners in a rigidly patriarchal society, often becoming hardened and soul-calloused in the process; the children who seem to breathe the fresh air of a freer future, but are eventually suffocated by tradition and circumstance.

And Benegal doesn't stint on the melodramatic aspects. The expected emotional rollercoaster is here - quiet joys (a walk in a beautiful countryside; joking about with friends) alternating with scenes of harrowing violence (the beating of a young girl; the dragging of an unfaithful wife to swear fidelity before an altar).

What is different from Ray, say, is that these are put into an intelligently worked out context. Not some spurious historical one - Rajan listens to the radio droning, useful for giving us chronological markers otherwise absent. People's lives don't change in spite of the shattering historical events going on we normally think of as important. Benegal is interested in the lives that exist parallel to official history, that remain untouched.

this is where his complex narrative framework comes into effect - the present story punctuated by sepia flashbacks. This format is now a narrative cliche, but Benegal richly patterns his, creating a vicious circle imprisoning his heroine, doomed to repeat the mistakes of her mother and grandmother, just, we fear, as her daughter and granddaughter will repeat hers. Trapped in a loveless marriage, or, later, literally in the house of a fundamentalist lover, she is also trapped in time, in narrative, as a woman in a society where being a woman is a role, it doesn't matter who fills it.

The film is full of repetitions, of the heroine being brought back to scenes again and again, situations, people. The pretexts for these scenes may change, but their fundamental character - someone else wielding power over her - remains unaltered; any escape can only lead to humiliation, degradation, violence, becoming an outcast, a broken non-person, stripped of a role that is not life-defining, but life itself.

This is why 'The Role' is such a brilliant film about films; not naval-gazing about itself like Hollywood or il Maestro, but showing how popular modes can reinforce certain roles for their audience. The heroine may be an actress, but there are no paparazzi or glitzy cars here: for all her popularity, she is socially despised. ironically, although the Bollywood movies she stars in may seem formulaic, they give her an acceptable forum with which to express her anguish - as well as allowing her the freedom to try out roles (including a gender-bending swashbuckler), and to question assumptions, normally denied her in real life. The film may reveal the gap between fantasy and reality, but the distinction is never THAT easy.