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More than a woman?s portrayal
Benegal?s Bhumika is also a historical reconstruction of a period long gone.
In the chronological order, Bhumika is filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s fifth film and the fourth of the seven in which he had cast Smita Patil. The path-breaking film is not merely a woman’s search for her identity and her place in society but also an artful documentation of the Marathi cinema of 30s, 40s and the early 50s. It would also lay the foundation for Benegal’s future period works like the television series Discovery of India, and films like Trikaal and Zubeidaa. Bhumika also was a shift from his first trilogy Ankur, Nishant and Manthan - all of which had tackled social issues.
Bhumika is based on the life of the famed Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar – one of the most sought after and bohemian actresses of her time. The film had been inspired by her autobiography Sangtye Aika (Listen I am Telling You) which had been narrated to the writer Arun Sandhu. The book had created substantial controversy for Wadkar had been involved with several well-known men. For Benegal, the interest lay far beyond the lifestyle that Wadkar talks about in her work. It was the historical reconstruction of a period long gone. The screenplay was jointly credited to theatre personalities Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad and Benegal himself and the trio received the National Award for it as well.
In brief, Hansa Wadkar had begun her career at the age of 11 after being forced to discontinue her studies. She became the sole bread winner of her poor family and by the time she turned 14, she had already acted in 10 films. Rebellious and determined to succeed, Wadkar had striven to be where she wanted. According to Shyam Benegal’s biographer Sangeeta Dutta, “Her husband, Bandarkar, dominating and suspicious, turned out to be as exploitative as her own family. She left home several times and had affairs to spite her husband. At the peak of her career, Hansa left home for three years during which she lived as the third wife of a rich landlord. One of her best known roles is that of the tamasha dancer Baya in Lokshahir Ramjoshi (1947).”
Smita Patil plays Usha (with her screen name as Urvashi) essayed the role of an unhappy soul poignantly. It fetched for her the National Award for Best Actress as also recognition internationally and established the young beauty as a formidable force in the film industry. The story of Bhumika is told in flashbacks thereby highlighting the contrasts between the past and present and are also represent of the sameness of emotions down the years.
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Usha is the granddaughter of a courtesan and the child of an alcoholic father. While Usha whiles away the day playing around and learning music from her grandmother, her mother (Sulabha Deshpande) runs the household on a frugal budget. Keshav (Amol Palekar) a neighbour’s son often helps out the family, but because of his own selfish interests. He is covertly interested in the mother and also her teenaged daughter, Usha. When the father expires, Keshav suggests that Usha be allowed to join films since her training in classical music may help earn bread for the family, but the mother is opposed to the idea. She is worried about the family’s reputation since girls from respectable families didn’t join the profession. But poverty forces her to change her mind.
As the child grows from strength-to-strength and eventually becomes a big film star, the family becomes increasingly dependent on her, and she ends up marrying Keshav – now also her manager. His attempts at using her business to establish his own business fail and he deliberately prevents Usha from leaving films permanently – despite the fact that she is now a mother and wants to be with her girl child. Usha’s growing disenchantment with the family makes her look towards professional colleagues to combat her loneliness. She gets involved with a series of men, before realising their duplicity. Ultimately, she prefers to move out of her home permanently and refuses attention from the men who had once rejected her but now hanker for her. Alone, she finds her peace and solace in the neutralised space of a hotel room – urging her daughter not to take the path forced upon her.
Produced by Blaze Enterprises - who also funded Ankur, Nishant, Mandi and Trikaal – Bhumika went on to become a hit only when it released for the third time. The film had received an ‘Adult’ certificate and that killed its initial audiences. The society was still more conservative when it was made and an adult certificate meant that the audiences were reduced by half. Says Benegal in an interview with Dutta, “In pre-television days, a film could be released two-three times. When Blaze released the film a third time, word of mouth for the film was so good that it became a success.”
As well it did, for a film like Bhumika certainly didn’t deserve the canned status.
