Matrubhoomi: a movie that ought to be made and watched

Let's cut to the bottom-line straight. I don't agree with people who say that Matrubhoomi portrays extremes to garner attention and shows India in a bad light. The writer is entitled to his imagination and in this case, he has visualised a future where there is a dearth of women. Similarly, in this Internet age, we don't need movies to know the good or bad of a country. Rather, as Indians, I feel we take comfort in covering up our misdeeds.

The movie runs for about 90 minutes and is hardly boring. With the focus staying on the search for a bride and the dramatic results of success, it touches upon other aspects too. If anyone of us sits and thinks what would happen if female infanticide drove our society to a state where women become rare, we might possibly come up with most of the situations seen in the movie. Nevertheless, there are surprises -- actually more of shocks. Some scenes are certainly crude. Needless to say, this movie is a 'no-no' for children.

The title (meaning 'motherland') itself is a good piece of paradox to start with. There are quite a few metaphors, but certain (brief) digressions don't make sense. The camera is used intelligently, minimising the use of dialogues and scenes. I am not sure if the end had any significance.

The actors have done well. Sushant Singh, Piyush Jha and Sudhir Pandey stand out. Tulip Joshi impresses in her debut. She portrays the helpless small-town girl very well. Aditya Shrivastava is good, but seems a bit wasted. The background score by Salim-Sulaiman (who made a mark with Bhoot) is superb.

As a creative medium, movies shine best when such powerful message-oriented ones are made. Unfortunately, despite good backing and a widespread multi-lingual release, I wonder whether this movie reached those people who ought to be watching it.

Check out some thoughts of the maker, Manish Jha. If you don't want to know the entire story, skip the synopsis (marked in bold).

Picture courtesy: VeryCD.com