Bhumika (1977) User Reviews

Authentic, haunting, brilliant and fascinating!

[Peter_Young · 8/10 · 30 November 2009]

Shyam Benegal's Bhumika: The Role is an example of superb, masterful cinema. The film relates the life story of a troubled actress named Usha Dalvi from her very childhood to her adulthood, and slowly follows her trials and tribulations, her coming of age, her relationships with different men, her despair, and finally her self-acceptance. Benegal partly adopts the style of Satyajit Ray's film-making and the film's first sequences remind me of Ray's Pather Panchali in the way it presents the childhood of Usha. These scenes are extremely well shot and let the viewer identify with the little girl and sense her simple and miserable yet memorable childhood. Benegal's direction is absolutely brilliant. Everything in the film represents his unique technique. The use of black and white photography for sequences from the past, the static camera work, the silent moments, the attention to the smallest of characters - all contribute to the film's dark, deep and serious tone and make the narrative style believable. The screenplay is fantastic and the story unfolds through undertones in a simple and natural way. It is all about subtlety and striking realism.

Smita Patil is simply exceptional as the main protagonist Usha. She gets a role which is both demanding and difficult and plays it with complete conviction, ease and intensity. Her character has many shades and that's where the film probably takes its title from. Every new phase in her personal life is similar to the previous - she virtually gets the same script, the same role. She played many roles but never could play her own self. We really feel for Usha as we witness her experiences, confusion and dissatisfaction from life, and that's thanks to Patil, who displays something very disturbing within her. She naturally shows the growth of her character and the power of her emotions through her expressive eyes and stark silence. This really is an unforgettable portrait of a celebrated yet unhappy woman from one of the most talented actresses ever. Apart from Patil, who is the film's owner, every actor without exception stands out. Sulabha Deshpande is excellent as Usha's mother, Amol Palekar is incredible as her devious husband. Naseeruddin Shah, Anant Singh, Amrish Puri and Dina Pathak are equally competent although they have much smaller parts.

All-in-all, Bhumika is an extraordinary piece. The film can be described as a drama but it is dramatic in a very different way from the usual Hindi films. As can be expected from a Shyam Benegal picture, you won't find here the dramatisation and the clichés one uses to associate with Hindi movies, there are no songs (only in film shooting scenes), no tear-jerking or larger-than-life dialogues, it is genuinely real, and although many would find it overly slow and banal, it is thoroughly fascinating and only grows on the viewer as it goes by. It not only gives us an insight into the complexity of human nature and relationships, but also a glimpse into the world of cinema and the life in the rural India with all its principles, values and difficulties, whether social or financial. It is one of the film's strongest depictions. Usha's transitions from one life to another, from one house to another, from one man to another, and the fact that every story is similar to another and that she herself does not know what she wants and how to deal with it really explain the meaning of the film. All of us have many roles to play, and at some point we will have to decide what role remains the most crucial to us and how we want to play it. This may be the main point of this rare gem.

Good Performances, Repetitive Plot

[Jini-B · 6/10 · 28 April 2020]

This film has some iconic actors and they all deliver good performances, however, some things ended up putting a damper on my experience. I understand that this was based on a real person's life, but this seemed just a tad repetitive for me. It seemed like the main character was in an endless loop, and I didn't feel like the story progresses much. If I try to think about what the future holds for this particular character, it does not seem like there would be much of an improvement. It seemed like a very bleak ending, realistic in some aspects, but altogether, a little dark.

Smita Patil, Amol Palekar, Shyam Benegal at their best!

[varuna12 · 7/10 · 6 September 2013]

Bhumika (1977) - A film by Shyam Benegal Sahab

'Bhumika - The Role' is probably the best role ever played by Smita Patil in her career. 'Usha' the character played by her is throughout her life seeking happiness but she never attains. She falls in love and romantic liaisons with a number of men each of whom ends up unsatisfying her emotionally. One is weak and lacks confidence, another is too over the top philosophically who even hates the concept of 'love', another one almost deceives her with charm and confidence only later letting her realize that she will be a prisoner of his family traditions and their culture which won't even allow a women to step outside his house after death.

In the end she is rescued by the man called Keshav, superbly played by Amol Palekar. He is in the first place the reason for all her misery to begin with. He has his own personal needs and agendas. He sees an opportunity to exploit young Usha's charm and abilities and gets her into the film business, convincing her mother with perhaps deceiving arguments and assurances. A young Usha was only supposed to be in the profession for three or fours years but we are introduced to her character when she is her late 30s or early 40s and still in the same business.

Shyam Benegals Sahab has made a brilliant film which for majority of its running time runs in the flashbacks. A shoot is taking place. A mild twisting of an ankle by one of the background dancers halts the shoot where Usha is the lead. Since the scene cannot be completed the director decides to call for packup.

Usha doesn't have any scenes so she can go home. From the this early moment in the film one can start to see her unhappiness. She was delightfully cheerful for the eyes and the mind while she was in front of the camera. As soon as she is back in the real world, she looks sad and disturbed and a bit gloomy. This is further established by an un- importantly tiny gesture that his fellow actor makes for her by giving her a lift back home which irritates Keshav, her much older husband.

It is at this moment in story when the character Keshav is introduced. By his very looks and super makeup and costume, and on top his brilliant performance by Amol Palekar, we can anticipate and predict that the forthcoming interaction between the two characters is not going to be pleasant.

Director Sahab doesn't waste any time in any illogical and unnecessary melodrama and instead take the story right to the point. After this brief interaction and her expression of angst and frustration we come to know that this is a common occurrence in her life. This leads to an argument which is followed by Usha walking out of the house and taking a refuge in hotel.

It is at this familiar hotel in her familiar room that the flashbacks start. The very first flashback is of Usha's childhood which is brilliantly shot in black and white. A much younger looking Amol Palekar and Sulabha Deshpande who plays Usha's mother and a young Usha played by little girl (sorry couldn't find her name) perform with such sheer brilliance and conviction that you are suddenly taken back in their times and you get a feeling of actually being there.

I can keep on going about this film with its wonderful cinematography, direction, editing and performances but I'll cut the chase out and get climax of my point!

JUST WATCH THIS FILM!!!! It's a MUST WATCH!!!

I feel like punching myself in face for not having seen this film earlier!

Hats off to Shyam Benegal Sahab, Smita Patil and a very brilliant Amol Palekar sahab.

One of the great melodramas.

[the red duchess · 9/10 · 22 March 2001]

For years I had been lead to believe that the Indian cinema basically consisted of the florid excesses of Bollywood and the restrained humanism of Satyajit Ray. No-one told me that it could be as marvellous as this, combining the vibrant, visual energy of Bollywood, the depth of character of Ray, with a narrative complexity, formal daring, and willingness to experiment alien to both.

Like that other overwhelming Indian masterpiece I experienced recently, 'The Cloud-Capped Star', the film betrays a knowledge and mastery of the Hollywood melodrama, taking not only its visual cue from it (compositions that constrict characters; lighting and editing that reflect sensibility rather than reality etc.), but its use of a despised, populist form to create a charged, critical work.

Many of the characters recur through Indian cinema - the workshy men who produce only dreams, sapping their families; the women forced to become breadwinners in a rigidly patriarchal society, often becoming hardened and soul-calloused in the process; the children who seem to breathe the fresh air of a freer future, but are eventually suffocated by tradition and circumstance.

And Benegal doesn't stint on the melodramatic aspects. The expected emotional rollercoaster is here - quiet joys (a walk in a beautiful countryside; joking about with friends) alternating with scenes of harrowing violence (the beating of a young girl; the dragging of an unfaithful wife to swear fidelity before an altar).

What is different from Ray, say, is that these are put into an intelligently worked out context. Not some spurious historical one - Rajan listens to the radio droning, useful for giving us chronological markers otherwise absent. People's lives don't change in spite of the shattering historical events going on we normally think of as important. Benegal is interested in the lives that exist parallel to official history, that remain untouched.

this is where his complex narrative framework comes into effect - the present story punctuated by sepia flashbacks. This format is now a narrative cliche, but Benegal richly patterns his, creating a vicious circle imprisoning his heroine, doomed to repeat the mistakes of her mother and grandmother, just, we fear, as her daughter and granddaughter will repeat hers. Trapped in a loveless marriage, or, later, literally in the house of a fundamentalist lover, she is also trapped in time, in narrative, as a woman in a society where being a woman is a role, it doesn't matter who fills it.

The film is full of repetitions, of the heroine being brought back to scenes again and again, situations, people. The pretexts for these scenes may change, but their fundamental character - someone else wielding power over her - remains unaltered; any escape can only lead to humiliation, degradation, violence, becoming an outcast, a broken non-person, stripped of a role that is not life-defining, but life itself.

This is why 'The Role' is such a brilliant film about films; not naval-gazing about itself like Hollywood or il Maestro, but showing how popular modes can reinforce certain roles for their audience. The heroine may be an actress, but there are no paparazzi or glitzy cars here: for all her popularity, she is socially despised. ironically, although the Bollywood movies she stars in may seem formulaic, they give her an acceptable forum with which to express her anguish - as well as allowing her the freedom to try out roles (including a gender-bending swashbuckler), and to question assumptions, normally denied her in real life. The film may reveal the gap between fantasy and reality, but the distinction is never THAT easy.

Layers of Coloniality

[das-d · 10/10 · 8 September 2006]

I first saw Bhumika when I was in my college. Now, last week I saw it again from a DVD. And the movie actually is haunting me still. This is not about Usha, not about just the 'Role-playing' (like say, the Gita motif is going to hit you hard: that this reality is nothing but a show, where everyone is just going to play on and on and on everyone's role), it is a movie, that most probably went beyond what Benegal wanted it to be. It is extremely dense, multilayered in its depiction and enactment of coloniality. The colonial subject, Usha, suffering from the colonial lack of self-esteem goes on trying to discover and rediscover herself, only entangling herself into a new layer of coloniality. Why I am calling it 'colonial'? Just see the movie to understand it. Only a newer and more dense power can pluck her out of the older tangle. And that is just a new drama where she plays a new role. Nothing else. And some unfathomable depth and sublimity has come into the film, that is always beyond the conscious scheme of an artist. Great makers can wait for the moment of creation of a movie like that, but, one cannot ever know it before making a film like that.

RIP Acting powerhouse Smita Patil & Sulabha Deshpande

[hasanjosh · 15 June 2016]

Bhumika is arguably one of the best works of Shyam Benegal.The melodrama is scintillating,meaningful and above all catches the various moods in the life of a strong willed yet at times emotionally fallable woman.Technical aspects of the movie are top notch with names like Govind Nihlani,Girish karnad and recurring collaborators of Benegal namely Shama Zaidi and Vanraj Bhatia doing exemplary justice to their guilds. Smita patil essays various bhumikas or roles in her portrayal of an actress to aplomb.Supporting actors in Anant Nag,Naseerudin Shah,Amrish Puri and the brilliant Amol Palekar with a powerful act by Sulabha Deshpande makes it a rich cinematic delight.

Benegal's detailed exploration of 40s filmmaking was intriguing!

[donalupe · 7/10 · 8 December 2021]

Artistically, Bhumika is Benegal's seminal work. Storytelling is convincing, locations play a part and chronology is color coded. It's hailed as a study of feminism and 'male gaze', it's rather a character study of our impulsive protagonist, done impressively by Patil, surrounded by a pool of stereotypical antagonists who, for the length of the film, could have been used a bit better than mere shallow devices. 7/10!

The real and the reel life!

[ankurkrazyy · 10/10 · 1 December 2018]

Well nothing much say except that the film really blew me away. What made this exceptionally brilliant is the amazing huge star cast but moreover their amazing appearance gradually.

Smitha Patil is breathtaking as the main protagonist, one of her ever best films on female centric characters. She will surely be remembered for this role. Supporting her is the amazing Amol Palekar who is brutal but human at the same time as Keshav.

Following them is a series of great performances from Anant, Naseer ,Agashe and Sulbha Deshpande. However the biggest surprise was Amrish Puri! Who was really really spellbinding as this calm gentle yet patriarchal man who is very much into his own principles.

Overall worth watching and a total 10 on 10 from my side.

One of the Best Indian Movies

[Herag · 9/10 · 11 July 2012]

The movie is riveting akin to a suspense movie since the story builds up to a crescendo. Any one with a hint of how a good film should be made should see this marvel of a movie. Shyam Benegal is a genius the like of Raj Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Satyajit Ray. For example there is a long shot of a corridor with no action or actors but it builds a certain expectation. The scree play is one of the best in an Indian movie. The story even though has a disclaimer is intriguing since it is loosely based on an actress in the 40's. All have acted well but Smith Patil is the ace as in the movie within the movie she is in the witness stand and switches from acting to a normal with such an abandon that clearly set her apart from an amateur actress. This is one incredible movie that will never happen again since Bollywood is taken over by pubescent directors with kachada movies that are not even worth to be spit on.

excellent, thought provoking cinema

[ajji-2 · 9/10 · 20 June 2000]

Excellent performance by the late Smita Patil energizes this story of a girl who is manipulated by almost every man she meets in the film industry. it may sound sordid, but credit goes to the director as well as the actors for handling the material with grace. that final scene where she talks to her daughter over the phone, is a classic example.

Serious dramatic tone

[Pro Jury · 5/10 · 9 April 2000]

Seemingly based on a true story of a girl in India who becomes a movie actress without a strong drive to do so. She has a harsh mother and other problems in her life.

THE ROLE is like an American TV movie in that the story telling is a bit bland. The subtitles are easy to read. The lead actress has deep dark Indian beauty.

As with many India movies there are not many cuts to close-ups during dramatic exchanges -- just static two-shots.

The acting was above average.

The Roles Of A Lifetime

[Chrysanthepop · 24 April 2011]

With 'Bhumika: The Role', Shyam Benegal has created one of the finest character studies of Indian cinema. Based on the life of 40's Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar, is a biopic but very different from the conventional one. The film follows the life of a troubled actress who yearns to live a life of freedom where she can live the way she chooses. However, she only finds little satisfaction in her roles and while she has played a variety of characters in her films, she's stuck with the same role in life trapped in a man's world.

'Bhumika: The Role' is an exceptionally well-made film. Benegal is clearly influenced by Satyajit Ray. The black and white flashback sequences echo scenes from Ray's 'Nayak' and 'Patther Panchali'. His attention to detail is excellent as he adds subtle layers to the films (for example, notice how time is depicted through the news on the radio). The absence of a background score make the scenes raw and gritty. The remarkable cinematography deserves special mention and the lighting is superb.

But what would 'Bhumika: The Role' be without Smita Patil's tour-de-force performance? Patil was only in her very early 20s when she shot for the film and yet she's incredibly convincing as a bubbly teenager, a grown-up actress and a mother of a mother-to-be. Urvashi is a complex and demanding character with many shades and that cannot be easy for an ordinary actor to play but Patil does it with sheer ease and intensity. She dazzles the screen with a restrained and natural performance.

Patil is effectively supported by a strong cast that includes Sulabha Deshpande (notice the parallels between her role and Urvashi which hints that Usha's daughter may also repeat the sad cycle), Amol Palekar, Amrish Puri, Anant Nag, Naseeruddin Shah and Dina Pathak.

This is easily one of Benegal's best and it should serve as a prototype character study, biopic and even a textbook of acting (for upcoming actors). On different levels, it works as a social commentary, a historically accurate period piece, a study of relationships, provides an insight into the filmworld and a piece of thought-provoking cinema that makes one question the various roles humans have to play in life.

A film with some of the stellar stars of Hindi cinema displaying their acting prowess!!

[sauravjoshi85 · 9/10 · 21 February 2024]

Bhumika is a drama film directed by Shyam Benegal. The film stars stars Late Smita Patil, Amol Palekar, Anant Nag, Naseeruddin Shah and Late Amrish Puri.

The film is majorly based on the Marathi-language memoirs, Sangtye Aika of the well-known Marathi actress of the 1940s Late Hansa Wadkar.

Urvashi who becomes an actress with the help of Keshav, ends up marrying him. However, things complicate when she indulges in affairs with prominent men in the film industry.

The film which might only be remembered for the strong portrayal by the legendry actress Smita Patil in one of her very strong and to some extent underrated performance and is beautifully supported by some of the stellar names of film industry such as Amol Palekar, Amrish Puri and underrated in Hindi cinema Anant Nag.

The execution of the film is good but for the mainstream Hindi film lovers this film might be difficult to watch due to it's dead slow speed but for the right target audience the film surely be a perfect watch. The film has some great acting and everyone was very impressive be it Amol Palekar, Anant Nag, Smita Patil but the actor who impressed me the most was Amrish Puri.

Songs of the film were good and the screenplay of the film is very slow and the film is not for every viewer. A must watch film if you're willing to watch the a film with lots of acting talents displaying their acting prowess.

Masterclass

[IPyaarCinema · 9/10 · 12 August 2021]

Review By Kamal K

Shyam Benegal's Bhumika: The Role is an example of superb, masterful cinema. The film relates the life story of a troubled actress named Usha Dalvi from her very childhood to her adulthood, and slowly follows her trials and tribulations, her coming of age, her relationships with different men, her despair, and finally her self-acceptance.

An autobiographical inspiration of the 1940's famous actor Hansa Wadkar who joined the pompous film industry in order to support her on the breadline family, the film goes to show an adapted form of the same as Usha, stunningly played by Smita Patil who takes on solely, the survival of her financially trodden family, after Keshav (Amol Palekar) the family supporting intruder ( who is later her husband) delivers her into an existence surrounding the overwhelming lights, camera and action of Bombay.

The palpable tension in the eyes dialogs to a minimum but sufficient, expressions fantastic. The buildup of tension in the eyes, and the movements in the house immediately tells you everything, that there is nothing right in this house. Watch Smita's sudden and frequent change of expressions while dealing alternately between the husband and the daughter. Effort, minimal, effect, maximum.

Then the movie alternates between a flashback in black and white, and the present in color. Story is traced to a family in a village where Usha is still very young and learning singing from grandma. How she has to move from the village in search of work, to Bombay film industry, her adolescent and innocent love with Palekar, taste of early success and marriage forms the next few sequences in the movie. Back to present, fed up with the good for nothing and quarrelling husband, she leaves home to stay in a hotel. She is thinking about her past and we are in for some more flashbacks. Her quest for love takes her to different people, each different from the other. We meet Rajan played by Anant Nag and Sunil played by Naseeruddin Shah. And then another twist is in store for us. Usha makes another experiment with her life. But does she get what she is searching for? You must watch the movie for this.

Amol Palekar did not yet have the Golmaal success, and to watch him play this mean character from young to old so efficiently was a revelation. Anant Nag and Kulbhusan Kharbanda are just sufficient. A very small role for Naseer, and yet he sparkles. Amrish Puri, how I wish he was used more efficiently by the filmmakers. Smita Patil's prowess as Usha confirms her to be one of the most dynamically impactful actresses of her time. She immaculately alters from a teasing young adolescent to a conflicted mature woman, to a lonesome middle-aged woman all in one film.

Bhumika: The Role, a winner of two national awards is one more revealing testimony to Shyam Bengal's works, stalwartly displaying the director's profundity of thought and vision.

based on true story of actress hansa Wadkar in 1940s

[samrendra1263 · 9/10 · 2 September 2010]

This film was a look at the life of the 1940's actress Hansa Wadkar. Smita Patil acting is as usual superb.other star cast was also amazing. with stalwart like Nasrrudin shah,Amol Palekar,late Amrish Puri ,Kulbhusan Kharbanda. this movie was going be proving yet amazing .movie it self is very fine, some people might think it unbelievable, but it was based on true story and dirtiness of film industry from the beginning. casting couch is not new thing as we think it happened before independence also. kudos to Benegal for making this movie in 70s. i loved it for the story Star cast, direction and every thing. Smita patil, nasrrudin shah, amrish puri and kulbhushan kharbanda has worked many time. and every they have been superb.mohan ahase in his small role was also worthy.