''Samar'' (
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
: समर,
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 ...
: سمر,
translation: ''Conflict'') is a 1999
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n feature
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
directed by
Shyam Benegal. This movie is based on the book
Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives by
Harsh Mander. It was produced by
National Film Development Corporation of India, a government agency.
It stars
Rajeshwari Sachdev, Jonhawiwi Forsywas, Kishore Kadam and
Seema Biswas among others. The film is in
Hindustani. The film's music is composed by
Vanraj Bhatia. It won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1999.
Overview
The film is based on a real-life story of a Madhya Pradesh village, where a farmer had committed the "crime" of entering the village temple for a thanksgiving, for which he was publicly humiliated by the village priest. When a film actor is to enact the scene of humiliation, he revolts, thus sparking off another cycle of violence in the village.
It also presents an unflattering image of modern filmmakers, especially those who visit far-flung rural areas, in search of "sensitive" stories, while themselves remaining insensitive to the rural dynamics, and in turn adding their own preconceived notions and bias to the entire film making process.
Plot
The larger theme of the film is centred on India's caste system, though it is depicted as a film within a film.
In a small village in Madhya Pradesh, two different communities fight over a water pump installation. When a member of one of the communities, Nathu decides to protest against a decision he feels is unjust, he angers the local land owner, who decides to impose economic sanctions on the community in an effort to starve them out of the village. When Nathu's house is burned down under mysterious circumstances, Nathu seeks the comfort of a temple, and prays for a solution. Instead, he finds himself abused and beaten by the land owner for breaking a rule that bans members of Nathu's community from entering the temple. It later emerges that the situation in the area is being used as a plot for a film made in Bombay, however characters featured in the film are misrepresented, which leads to tension on the set and eventually violence erupts.
Cast
*
Raghuvir Yadav .... Nathu
*
Rajeshwari Sachdev ... Uma
*
Rajit Kapur ... Director Kartik
*
Divya Dutta ... Bedani
*
Kishor Kadam ... Kishor
*
Ravi Jhankal ... Murli
*
Yashpal Sharma ... Ramesh Singh
*
Seema Biswas ... Dulari
*
Sadashiv Amrapurkar ... Superintendent of Police Hiralal
*
Rupal Patel
*
Rajkamal Nayak ... Babba
Awards
* 1999:
National Film Award for Best Feature Film
* 1999:
National Film Award for Best Screenplay -
Ashok Mishra
References
External links
*
Samarat the on
NFDC website
*
NFDC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samar (Film)
1999 films
1999 drama films
1990s Hindi-language films
Films directed by Shyam Benegal
Best Feature Film National Film Award winners
Indian drama films
Films about the caste system in India
Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award
National Film Development Corporation of India films
Hindi-language drama films
Films about filmmaking
Films based on non-fiction books