To be honest i expected more from this movie especially after watching satijat rays Version. Its difficult to describe it, but his version felt more ,, complete''.
This movie was somehow unrealistic, like which upper caste male (brahman in this case)decides to marry a former servant from the dalit caste? apart from that its highely critical that a tribal girl is shown as,,tamed'' and brahmanized and pictured as a good will project of nikhels mother and its morally questionable from nikhils side to marry a Dalit to highlight his liberal worldview. i mean come on.
Maybe thats the reason i couldnt connect to the characters at all, the whole movie felt like out of reality and addressed in my eyes a certain ,, intellectual'' group ( which might not be bad, but the movies topic is more than relevant today in indians society, and should be presented to a wider audience)and aparna sen was able to reach a wider publicum with mr&mrs iyer, which also dealed with a similar topic.
Another point i want to adress is the flat character development of sandip, he is shown as the bad guy driven only by greed for power and immorality. In rays version he appeared far more nuanced ,this also applies to nikhils character. And lastly the death of the muslim boy, which leads to a change in the thinking of his hindu nationalistic friend and adjoining vigils, feels rushed and out of place. It appears like a cheap solution to finish quickly the movie.Apart from this weaknesses it was a decent movie, addressing an important issue.
