Rudaali

Shanichari is a woman living in Rajasthan. She comes from a caste counted at the bottom of society. Her life has been hard from the start. She lost her parents early. Her husband drinks and her son brings her trouble. Poverty never lets go of her. Through all of it she does not weep. Tears simply will not come to her. There is an old custom in that region. When a man of a wealthy family dies, women are hired to mourn him. These women are called rudali. The women of such families cannot show their grief openly. Weeping in their place is paid work. In the end Shanichari learns that trade. The link between her own pain and this work sits at the centre of the film. It was adapted from a story by Mahasweta Devi. Dimple Kapadia and Rakhee Gulzar appear in the hundred and twenty eight minute film, an Indian production Kalpana Lajmi finished in 1993.