Disha

This is a Hindi language film starring Nana Patekar, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri in equally pivotal roles.

1992 is a year of two hard hitting films that will stay with you for their intensity. Both of them have Nana Patekar in key roles. While Disha is one from the art film genre, the other is Angaar, a crime and gangster genre film. Both are a highly recommended watch.

Disha is a study by director Sai Paranjape on the theme of urban migration. The compulsions and temptations around it. The struggles involved by those who migrate and those left behind. And the alternate choices made by those who desist migration and stay back. While the story here is about migration to Mumbai from a rural village in Maharashtra, it's a story that can be retold about many such economic labour migrations. Significantly by the Malayalee population out of communist Kerala for job opportunities - either again to cities like Mumbai or to the Gulf.

The verdict through three hard-hitting parallel stories is that migration - while bringing economic benefits to some - comes with a price. Loneliness, loss of relationships on the personal strata. And breakdown of social and family structure, and corruption - violation even - of cultural norms and values from a broader perspective.

There is also a message of hope in the character of Om Puri: A message that perseverance pays, and that those who stay back might well strike gold!!

DISHA (THE UPROOTED) - Sai Paranjpe / India 1990 (3.5 STARS) 25 December 2003: It is not often that there is a film from India that furthers a western audience's understanding of the Indian ethos. Disha does so, and does it well. In a tale of alienation and pathos, Sai Paranjpe compellingly interweaves the lives of members of two families from the same village, even as some of them migrate to for the city of Bombay to find their treasure, and improve their tribe's stock. . Mise-en-scene: Disha belongs to the Parallel Cinema movement of the 1970s and 80s and in the true tradition of the movement goes into painstaking depth to establish and introduce each character to us, sometimes at the cost of exposition. Yet that introduction is rewarding for we start empathizing for them, as we root for their aspirations and feel for their disappointments. . The typage-like feel of the characters is carefully controlled by Paranjpe who takes great care to set up conflicts of desire for issues which we in the western world would have no resource-tradeoffs for. Yet this is what furthers our understanding of the pathos of Indian rural-existence. Method-actors such as Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Nana Patekar and Raghuvir Yadav, all icons in India Theatre and Film, lend themselves to the screen. Yet the discomfort in chemistry is there to see at the beginning of the film, but soon eases off as the characters get comfortable with each other and we get drawn in, layer by layer, absorbed by the narrative. . Cinematography: The camera has always been the conservative eye in Indian cinema. Filmmakers have been reluctant to experiment with angles, camera height or lenses, often sticking to the 50mm lens. Disha is no exception. Yet this artistic choice works, to give the film an almost documentary feel, augmenting the narration. . The brown washed out outdoor colors of India are complimented well by the saturated colors of ethnic Indian life. The emphasis on medium shots helps move away from the staged feel and allows Paranjpe to interact with the protagonists in three-dimensional space. . The Editing literally serves the purpose of joining shots. There is minimal experimentation, an absence of a role beyond matches on action. The editing remains linear throughout and the use of off-screen space is restricted. . Sound: India is a high decibel country, especially in the cities, and any good filmmaker knows the importance of playing with soundtrack. Paranjpe goes a step further and integrates the soundtrack as a narrative element, often using it to establish scenes through sound-bridges and change moods within scenes. Yet she does so with subtlety, and without the harsh overkill that we have come to expect from sound in Indian Cinema.

'Disha' tells the tale of two families (who're also friends) living in a poor dry village. However, the poverty and lack of employment leads Soma (Raghuvir Yadav) and eventually the newly-wedded Vasant (Nana Patekar) to go to the city and search for work. Amidst their struggles in the city, we see an obsessed Parshuram (Om Puri) who's spent twelve years digging a well and his wife Hansa (Shabana Azmi) who is fed up with his obsession and struggles with raising her four children and working. Then, there's Vasant's young bride Phoolwanti (Rajshree Sawant) who alongside Hansa works for a sleazy employer in a tobacco factory. Paranjape cleverly shows the contrast between the city from the character's point of view and we feel how they are more at home in the village, how they adjust to the difficult overcrowded city and eventually how the circumstances transform them. In addition to that she brilliantly contrasts between the quiet village and the noisy city. The use of sound (and minimal background music) finely reflects this. Paranjape also gives 'Disha' a touch of comedy which is very subtle. The brown tinted colour adds to the rawness and stresses on the stifling heat that adds to both the village and city chaos. Raghuvir Yadav, Nana Patekar, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi are all seasoned actors and one wouldn't expect anything short of great performances. On that front, the actors do not disappoint at all by playing their well-written characters and they only it easier for the viewer to get involved in their lives. Editing could have been improved, especially by leaving out the first song (or cutting it shorter). It seems as though the song was there to remind the viewer that this was a Hindi film. Summing it up, 'Disha' is worth a watch for its wonderful storytelling, excellent performances and raw realism.