''Mandi'' (English: Market Place) is a 1983 Hindi-language film directed by Shyam Benegal. Based on a classic

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

short story ''Aanandi'' by writer '' Ghulam Abbas'', the film narrates the story of a brothel, situated in the heart of a city, an area that some politicians want for its prime locality. The film is a satirical comedy on politics and prostitution, and stars

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

, Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah among others. The film won the 1984 National Film Award for Best Art Direction for Nitish Roy. It was selected at Indian Panorama at Filmostav, Bombay 1984, and was invited to the Los Angeles Exposition (FILMEX), the

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens ...

1984, and

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

1983.Shyam Benegal Awards
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Plot

For years, an aging Rukmini Bai has been the Madame of a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. The women in the brothel live in harmony. Rukmini Bai takes pride in the talent of her women, especially Zeenat who is a classical singer, and Basanti who is a classical dancer. Rukmini Bai is quite possessive about Zeenat and does not let her get engaged in

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. She is protective of her from the customers who wish to deflower Zeenat. One day Rukmini Bai gets the news, that she, now, has a new landlord Mr. Gupta, whose daughter Malti is to marry Mr. Aggarwal's son, Sushil, shortly. Given the finesse of Zeenat and Basanti, Mr. Gupta invites Rukmini Bai with her women to perform at his daughter's engagement ceremony. During the performance, Sushil is smitten by Zeenat's beauty and approaches her in the dressing room. Zeenat also gets attracted to Sushil. In the meanwhile, it is shown that the City Councillor, Shantidevi, who also runs the Women Organisation of the town is averse to Rukmini Bai and her doings. In a Municipal Committee meeting, she proposes that the brothel should be moved out of town, in order to protect the town from getting corrupted. The committee agrees to her demands and Rukmini Bai and her women are forced to relocate to a new place on the outskirts of the city which happens to be near the Dargah of Baba Karak Shah. This attracts a lot of people, and Rukmini Bai's brothel starts thriving. In the meanwhile, Rukmini Bai gets to know about the budding love between Zeenat and Sushil and forbids Zeenat from going ahead with the relationship. She reveals that Zeenat is the illegitimate child of Mr. Aggarwal and another prostitute, and Rukmini Bai had kept it as a secret for years, in order to save the face of Mr. Aggarwal. It makes Zeenat and Sushil siblings and renders their romantic relationship prohibited. The complications set in when Sushil refuses to marry Malti and runs away from his house in order to pursue Zeenat. He asks Zeenat to elope from the brothel with him in search of a better existence and Zeenat accepts his proposal. The whole brothel is in a state of panic when the news of Zeenat's elopement breaks out. Rukmini Bai and Aggarwal go in search of the children. However, along the way, Zeenat is overcome by guilt as she is aware of their biological relationship and thus, runs away from Sushil as well. Sushil is heartbroken. Rukmini Bai too is unable to come to terms with the news of Zeenat's disappearance. She is sobbing in her brothel and instead of getting sympathy, she is rebuked by Nadira, a prostitute who works for her. She asks Rukmini Bai to exit the brothel as the women do not need her anymore and can run the brothel on their own. Rukmini Bai is in a state of shock and with a heavy heart, she quits the brothel with her faithful helper Tungrus. On their way, due to exhaustion, they halt for water. While looking for water, Tungrus accidentally comes across a Shiv

Lingam A lingam ( , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or Aniconism, aniconic representation of the Hinduism, Hindu Hindu deities, god Shiva in Shaivism. The word ''lingam'' is found in the Up ...

. He calls out to Rukmini Bai and they both pray to the Shivlingam for a better future. Just then, they see Phoolmani, a former brothel woman, running towards them. Rukmini Bai is delighted at the sight of Phoolmani and thanks the almighty.

Cast

as Rukmini Bai * Smita Patil as Zeenat * Naseeruddin Shah as Tungrus *

Amrish Puri Amrish Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Cinema of India, Indian cinema and Theatre of India, theatre. He acted in more than 450 films, established himsel ...

as Darvish *

Kulbhushan Kharbanda Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group ' Yatrik' in the ...

as Mr. Gupta * Saeed Jaffrey as Mayor Aggarwal * Om Puri as Ramgopal * Sreela Majumdar as Phoolmani * Neena Gupta as Basanti * Gita Siddharth as Shanti Devi * Sunila Pradhan as Mrs. Gupta * Soni Razdan as Nadira * Anita Kanwar as Parweena * Ratna Pathak Shah as Malti * Pankaj Kapur as Shantidevi's assistant * K. K. Raina as Shrikant * Satish Kaushik as Councillor * Khokha Mukherjea * Athar Nawaz * Harish Patel as Policeman * Ila Arun as Kamli * Annu Kapoor as The Doctor * Aditya Bhattacharya as Sushil * Ashay Chitre

Soundtrack

The lyrics of the film by

Mir Taqi Mir Mir Muhammad Taqi (February 1723 – 20 September 1810), known as Mir Taqi Mir (also spelled Meer Taqi Meer), was an Urdu poetry, Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal Empire, Mughal India and one of the pioneers who gave shape to the Urdu ...

Bahadur Shah Zafar Bahadur Shah II, (Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad; 24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' ), was the twentieth and last List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Mughal emp ...

, Insha, Makhdoom Mohiuddin and Sarwar Danda and music is by Vanraj Bhatia. Vocals are supplied by

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...

for Smita Patil, and Preeti Sagar for Neena Gupta.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
1982: On the sets of Mandi

Screen (magazine) ''Screen'' is an Indian weekly film magazine published by Indian Express Limited. Established in 1951, it was owned by The Indian Express Group. The magazine was acquired by Star India in 2015 and subsequently ceased publication. It was rela ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandi (Film) 1983 films 1983 comedy-drama films 1980s Hindi-language films 1980s Indian films Indian satirical films Films based on short fiction Films about prostitution in India Films set in Hyderabad, India Films directed by Shyam Benegal Films scored by Vanraj Bhatia Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award Films with screenplays by Shama Zaidi Hindi-language comedy-drama films Urdu-language Indian films 1980s Urdu-language films Films shot in Hyderabad, India