| View Larger Image | Water | DVDStarring: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala, Buddhi Wickrama
Directed By: Deepa Mehta
Also With: Deepa Mehta (Writer), Ajay Virmani (Producer), Claire Welland (Producer), David Hamilton (Producer), Dilip Mehta (Producer), Doug Mankoff (Producer), Anurag Kashyap (Writer)
| List Price: | $14.98 | | Price: | $12.49 | | You Save: | $2.49 (17%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 117 minutes | | Format: | Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | 20th Century Fox | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 2.35:1 | | Release Date: | August 29, 2006 | | Sales Rank: | 11,296th |
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FEATURES | - Extremist groups waged a campaign of death threats, arson and riots to stop the production of this controversial film, but director Deepa Mehta would not be silenced. Set against Gandhi's rise to power, Water tells the profoundly moving story of Chuyia, an Indian girl married and widowed at eight years old, who is sent away to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feis
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Extremist groups waged a campaign of death threats, arson and riots to stop the production of this controversial film, but director Deepa Mehta would not be silenced. Set against Gandhi's rise to power, Water tells the profoundly moving story of Chuyia, an Indian girl married and widowed at eight years old, who is sent away to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the other residents, forcing each to confront their faith and society's prejudices. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 80 reviews)
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Water by Nadya (New York, New York)  4 Stars
October 25, 2009
Interesting title for a moving story...that must be why; it moves you to think about how grateful to be born a Westerner. Life as a widow can be painful as an adult imagine being a widow at eight and not even realise that you are. Well worth watching.
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Insightful social commentary & thoroughly absorbing by z hayes (plano,texas)  5 Stars
June 17, 2009
Deepa Mehta's "Water" is the final part of a trilogy of movies [the other two being "Fire" and "Earth"]. All three explore certain facets of Indian culture and are excellent social commentaries.
In "Water", the film is set during the time of British Colonial rule of India, known as the British Raj. The year is 1938, and despite British rule, there is a prevalence of child marriages. Many young girls are married off to much older men, and one such unfortunate is Chuyia [Sarala Kariyawasam]. She is an eight-year-old who has just been widowed and as per the custom of the time, is packed off to a widow's ashram to spend her life expiating her 'sins'. The other motivations for consigning the widows to ashrams is to offset their families' financial responsibilities and also alleviate the social stigma of having a widow in the family [ widows are frequently seen a symbols of bad luck, a perception that has lifted somewhat in contemporary Indian society but not altogether dispelled].
The presiding authority over the ashram is Madhumati {Manorama] an obese and completely ruthless lady who rules over the ashram with the aid of a pimp, Gulabi [Raghuvir yadav],and a eunuch. In order to keep the ashram functioning [apparently donations are insufficient] and Madhumati well-fed, the old witch prostitutes one of the ashram's residents, young widow Kalyani [an ethereally beautiful Lisa Ray]. Because of Kalyani's economic importance, she is the only one of the widows who is allowed to keep her hair [all the others, including young Chuyia have their heads shorn]. Then there is the literate widow [not many of the women can read] Shakuntala [portrayed by the talented Seema Biswas] who is battling her own inner demons.Shakuntala finds it hard to reconcile her devout Hindu beliefs with the fact that she abhors being a widow. Young Chuyia on the other hand, keeps thinking that she will be eventually taken away from the ashram by her mother, having no clue as to how dire her situation really is.
The story gets moving with the introduction of another character, Narayan [John Abraham], a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi, and who comes from an affluent and influential family. When Narayan and Kalyani meet, sparks fly but both are very much aware of social taboos which hold them back from each other.Kalyani begins to refuse servicing clients, inciting Madhumati's anger. Narayan finds a way to meet Kalyani and the pair make plans to get away, a secret that Kalyani divulges to Chuyia. The young child accidentally blurts out the secret to Madhumati and this sets the stage for a series of tragic events.
Beautifully filmed, the story serves as a powerful social commentary on the plight of widows in India as set during the late 1930s. Though widows are much better off in contemporary India, their situation is still dire, with lives spent in poverty and under oppression, primarily in the rural areas. With "Water", director Mehta has given us a remarkably human story of substance that lingers in one's consciousness long after the credits have rolled.
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Water by Theresa Thakordeen (Winston-Salem, NC)  3 Stars
May 04, 2009
Most of the words in the sub-title were truncated, which made it difficult to follow and you could not enjoy it. I wanted to recommend this movie to friends, who are non-Indians, but won't. I also wanted to buy copies to give as gifts but changed my mind.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
T. Thakordeen
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A masterpiece by JD (Raleigh,NC) 5 Stars
February 12, 2009
Well, to start with this is a movie set in the early 1940s in India. It has a very powerful script that keeps you invloved till the very end. The treatment of the charcaters is first rate, equally matched by extremely strong performances.
Despite not exactly being a happy movie you are bound to see it a few times to fully appreciate the work.
Everything is really good, the acting, music, direction, art direction etc. You are really being transported to the 1940s India, and are shown exactly the injustices that are beign inflicted on the widows.
Its a must see.
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touching movie by P. J. Singh (MI) 5 Stars
November 20, 2008
i watchedit with my husband and the movie was very sentimental and touching. a must see movie
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