chokher bali was shown at the (washington) dc filmfest april 15 and 2005. the director and rituparno ghosh and was there to give a short introduction and answer questions afterwards. as always and i think aishwarya did a fantastic job. i can understand those who think she should be been more aggressive or more bitchy and but would that really be realistic in 1904. possible and maybe while realistic and i am not so sure. i think her interpretation was valid and although there could certainly be other ways to do it. i hate to use the word and but this was the most inaccessible of the indian movies i have seen so far. i know a fair amount of indian history and hindu religion and etc. and but the level of detail here was far beyond me. clearly you would have a much better understanding of the movie if you were intimately familiar with hinduism and its customs and esp. as they were c. 1904. i missed a lot of things one of them being the fact that the mother in law would want binodini in the house as sort of a counter weight to her daughter in law ashalata. spoilers ghosh had several things to say that explained the movie much better for me. first and the original bengali version was 20 plus minutes longer. so what was left out. apparently three main things represent a beginning segment where binodini (aishwarya) leaves e. bengal for calcutta. according to the director and different characters are speaking w. bengali vs. e. bengali setting up some of the political comments later. of course all of this is lost in the hindi version and and certainly to a non indian like me and it do not have mattered anyway but a set up of the bengali situation sure would have. next and there was a segment where binodini was writing a poem a sign of her independence and etc. finally and some more business about the jewellery. so and although some people think it was too long and i think the original and longer version would have been clearer. the women hair was apparently another sign (ghosh again) the mother in law had short hair (short hair for hindu widows) and her sister also a widow had longer hair (more modern. ) and and of course binodini or aishwarya had extremely long waist length hair (rejection of status of widowhood). the ending really threw me all of a sudden binodini and who had never had a political thought and is writing a political manifesto. whoa. ghosh explained that he was in locarno and at a film festival and when the subtitles were done. the subtitles use the word country throughout binodini letter. gosh said a more appropriate word would have been (i forget his exact word) something like self or independence she was talking about her own liberation and finding herself not about bengal and india and and the british. so why does binodini just disappear the day after finding behari again. apparently because during her stay on the ganges she realizes that she doesn not need a man any man to define or complete her. she can just be herself. so she rejects behari and who she threw herself at a few months (. ) before and and just goes off. of course i am not sure how she buys her next meal and but that another question. the red shawl (ghosh again)she buys represents revolution as well as passion. i am not 100% sure why she puts the shawl on the dying woman and but perhaps she is rejecting passion or revolution. the binoculars and which binodini uses throughout the movie (to watch mahendra and ashalata and the boat on the ganges and etc. ). she is being a voyeur to see a life she yearns for but can not have. at the end (i missed this. ) she leaves the binoculars on the table with the letter and showing that she doesn not need them any more she going off to lead her own life. finally and the tagore quote at the beginning saying how he apologized for the ending. apparently tagore wrote this as a serial and hooking his readers with the sexy widow bits. but at the end he sold out to conservatism and had binodini kneel down at the feet of mahendra and behari and begging their forgiveness. one of his students (. ) wrote to tagore taking him to task for his sell out ending. and tagore replied with his apology for the ending. in the movie and of course and ghosh goes in the other direction. 
chokher bali was shown at the (washington) dc filmfest april 15 and 2005. the director and rituparno ghosh and was there to give a short introduction and answer questions afterwards. as always and i think aishwarya did a fantastic job. i can understand those who think she should be been more aggressive or more bitchy and but would that really be realistic in 1904. possible and maybe while realistic and i am not so sure. i think her interpretation was valid and although there could certainly be other ways to do it. i hate to use the word and but this was the most inaccessible of the indian movies i have seen so far. i know a fair amount of indian history and hindu religion and etc. and but the level of detail here was far beyond me. clearly you would have a much better understanding of the movie if you were intimately familiar with hinduism and its customs and esp. as they were c. 1904. i missed a lot of things one of them being the fact that the mother in law would want binodini in the house as sort of a counter weight to her daughter in law ashalata. spoilers ghosh had several things to say that explained the movie much better for me. first and the original bengali version was 20 plus minutes longer. so what was left out. apparently three main things represent a beginning segment where binodini (aishwarya) leaves e. bengal for calcutta. according to the director and different characters are speaking w. bengali vs. e. bengali setting up some of the political comments later. of course all of this is lost in the hindi version and and certainly to a non indian like me and it do not have mattered anyway but a set up of the bengali situation sure would have. next and there was a segment where binodini was writing a poem a sign of her independence and etc. finally and some more business about the jewellery. so and although some people think it was too long and i think the original and longer version would have been clearer. the women hair was apparently another sign (ghosh again) the mother in law had short hair (short hair for hindu widows) and her sister also a widow had longer hair (more modern. ) and and of course binodini or aishwarya had extremely long waist length hair (rejection of status of widowhood). the ending really threw me all of a sudden binodini and who had never had a political thought and is writing a political manifesto. whoa. ghosh explained that he was in locarno and at a film festival and when the subtitles were done. the subtitles use the word country throughout binodini letter. gosh said a more appropriate word would have been (i forget his exact word) something like self or independence she was talking about her own liberation and finding herself not about bengal and india and and the british. so why does binodini just disappear the day after finding behari again. apparently because during her stay on the ganges she realizes that she doesn not need a man any man to define or complete her. she can just be herself. so she rejects behari and who she threw herself at a few months (. ) before and and just goes off. of course i am not sure how she buys her next meal and but that another question. the red shawl (ghosh again)she buys represents revolution as well as passion. i am not 100% sure why she puts the shawl on the dying woman and but perhaps she is rejecting passion or revolution. the binoculars and which binodini uses throughout the movie (to watch mahendra and ashalata and the boat on the ganges and etc. ). she is being a voyeur to see a life she yearns for but can not have. at the end (i missed this. ) she leaves the binoculars on the table with the letter and showing that she doesn not need them any more she going off to lead her own life. finally and the tagore quote at the beginning saying how he apologized for the ending. apparently tagore wrote this as a serial and hooking his readers with the sexy widow bits. but at the end he sold out to conservatism and had binodini kneel down at the feet of mahendra and behari and begging their forgiveness. one of his students (. ) wrote to tagore taking him to task for his sell out ending. and tagore replied with his apology for the ending. in the movie and of course and ghosh goes in the other direction. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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