Sardari Begum

This is a Hindi Language film starring Kiron Kher and Smriti Mishra playing the title character at different stages of her life.

The film's direction, script and narration style is brilliant. Created in the style of Roshomon and Pulp Fiction before it, this film's story is best suited to this narrative style. Which is why I consider this as perhaps Shyam Benegal's best!

The film's story revolves around the life and times of a courtesan who has recently passed away, and the performances are excellent! Especially that of the underrated Smriti Mishra who's allure as the younger Sardari Begum is so believable!

A must watch, you'll be hooked!

This is the story of Sardari Begum who is a popular thumri singer and her life she lives on her terms and the challenges she faced. The movie starts with the scene when Sardari Begum gets killed in the riot and a young journalist Tehzeeb Abbasi (Rajina Raj Bisaria) comes to cover the news. She is shocked to see her father present during the funeral. Her father the narrates the story about Sardari and Tehzeeb is now on a journey to explore more about Sardari Begum, who she was and what was her life.

The movie touches various subject like the complex relationships, family issues, politics and the women in our society. There are many aspect of Sardari's life which also tells us about that time and our social mindset. Sardari Begum was a woman of many contrasts. She constantly rebelled against men's patriarchal attitudes and lived life on her own term. But when it comes for her daugther Sakina(Rajeshwari), Sardari puts all kind of restriction on her and wants Sakina to devote her life to music. The relationship between Sakina and Sardari was strained one.

Shyam Benegal has done a remarkable job in dealing with such a complex storyline. The credit must also be given to Khalid Mohammed, who has written a great story. It's not easy to portray this kind of story on screen with such ease. There isn't many flaw with the movie and this one is Shyam Benegal's masterpiece. Each character has been written with conviction and each of the characters in the movie tells you the life of Sardari from their own viewpoints.

Kiron Kher as Sardari Begum is just terrific. Maybe this is her best performance and she is extremely convincing as Sardari Begum. It can be said Kiron Kher has put all her talent into this film. Rajeswari Sachdev is just brilliant. She is actually on the screen in the second half and she delivers a great performance as Sakina. Rajat Kapoor and Amrish Puri has done full justice to their role and brilliant in their performances. Newcomer Rajina Raj Bisaria as young jounralist has done a commendable job and adds freshness to the screen. She is not seen much after this movie.

Music of the movie is another very strong point of the movie. Music composed by Vanraj Bhatia and lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar is brilliant, its like the soul of the movie.

Sardari Begum is a beautiful movie overall.

I rated it high because it is not the typical Bollywood film: * There are no force-fitted song-and-dance scenes.

* The story is unfolded in an atypical style - through the journalist's interviews.

* The vignettes resemble real life in India of those times.

The movie is a musical, woven around the life of a music-lover in conflict with the traditions of mainstream society, especially her own family.

Her love of self-expressive music takes her down the path of a courtesan's life in India (esp. Uttar Pradesh) of those Nawabi times. Sardari Begum begins taking her daughter down the same path. The story of her journey brings out the social issues of those times. Thus, the movie has an important social theme and message - another reason for my high rating.

While many of the songs have religious motifs, they are expressions of romantic moods with mild eroticism. The body language of the singer enhances the sensuality. For example, the song "Moray Kanha jo aaye palat ke" connotes mischievous eroticism. The last song (also the closing song), "Chali pee ke nagar" is touching. It is symbolic of Sardari Begum's last journey - leaving this life, going to the land of the Beloved (the Supreme Being).

If you enjoy light classical music of this style, you will enjoy this movie very much. It is one more reason in support of my rating.

Great Movie. Indian CInema got a wonderful actress in Kiron Kher after this movie. Though she had done few films before but this was the first time she was noticed.Specially her next door aunt face gave the character a realistic appeal. This movie shows how someone rising from middle class background in a short age profession or one which requires patron may face. Retracing Sardari BEgum's story from different view points was interesting .But I expected her daughter to be bitter towards her which was not the case . Only negative point was the journalist trying to find the real story ,she overacted a bit. Other characters of AMrish Puri , Rajat KApoor, the director of radio station or the lover of Rajeshwari were well scripted & decently performed.

Benegal's 'Sardari Begum' follows the same line of Benegal's 'Zubeidaa'. Both films are said to be part of a trilogy of which the third film is 'Mammo'. I haven't seen 'Mammo' but while both 'Zubeidaa' and 'Sardari Begum' tell the story of an enigmatic woman who lived her life on her own terms, the latter film is a lot less polished and much more raw. This only adds to the somberness and deglamour of the film making it look much more real. While the glamour works very well in 'Zubeidaa' as it deals with the upper class, the lack of it works for 'Sardari Begum' as it deals with the middle class.

Benegal is already known as a masterful storyteller, especially when it concerns women. Here he certainly does not let his viewer down. the writing is brilliant and the characters are very interestingly defined as we see them from different perspectives. The editing is crisp.

He extracts some fine performances from his actors. This is perhaps the first role that does full justice to Kiron Kher's talent. She's simply phenomenal. In the title role, Smriti Mishra does a very good job. Rajeshwari Sachdev too standouts especially in the final sequences. Newcomer Rajina Raj Bisaria adds a freshness with a sincere performance. Rajit Kapoor, Salim Ghouse and Amrish Puri lend sufficient support.

The songs are very simplistic, created with beautiful lyrics and minimal use of instruments. The cinematography, especially the use of the zoomlens shot from multiple angles is very effective.

Like 'Zubeidaa', 'Sardari Begum' is a beautiful film. It's just a different kind of beautiful. Watch it and you will see what I mean.