Mandi

The film is set in a brothel. A woman named Rukmini Bai runs the house. There is a crowded community inside. The women carry on their own quarrels among themselves. Affections, jealousies and old scores are tangled together. Pressure comes from outside as well. There are developers with an eye on the land. The building stands on a valuable part of the city. A politician is running a campaign on morality. He wants the women driven out of town. Closing the house comes onto the agenda. Rukmini Bai resists. The women defend their own lives. The film was adapted from a short story. The account is built with comedy mixed in. Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil appear in the one hundred sixty seven minute film, an Indian production Shyam Benegal finished in 1983.