Why was Water banned?? - Page 2

I saw Water, and I literally went through an entire box of Kleenex tissues😭. I read about the sets being destroyed 5 years ago, and the film being banned in India and Pakistan.

I feel the movie was brilliant. But many people (Indians mostly) feel it show-cased India negatively. I have heard arguments where people claim that "It doesn't happen anymore" or "Deepa wants the west to think of India badly". Then I hear that Water was based in the 1930's, so there is no need to showcase it right now.(Then why does India make movies about 1947 partition in India?, when it happened in the 1940's, when it isn't happening now?😕)

I don't think Deepa Mehta has show-cased India badly. Rather, she wanted people to know that ashrams still do exist today (WHICH THEY DO).

Instead, I feel the people who protested against Water being filmed and burning the sets are the ones degrading our image. Clearly, they don't want to accept the fact that the Indian society has to make changes in some traditions. Also, they proved how backwards they are themselves. If they claim everything today is not the same as it was many years ago, then why is there still stigma associated with female widows remarrying even today??

What are your views on Water and the message it conveyed??

 

Another fabuous post.  👏
I think the trouble is that we cannot accept anything that makes us look crass and crude and unjust.  We are overly protective of our image, and we are not taught to judge ourselves, especially the elders.. and to criticize. 

I loved water except that I felt the romance between Lisa Ray and John Ab remained a bit half baked.   Other than that, the movie provided excellent critic of life in those ashrams. 

We should be proud to have leaders such as DK karve, Jyotirao Phule who remarried widows even prior to the time showe in the movie Water.  👏  I am !!    But since it depicts the Indian traditions at the time in barbaric light (the getting rid of hair, the leading lady who pimps Lisa, Lisa's forced visits to renouned figure in the society, and her anguish and death). 

I think as long as it depicts UPLIFTMENT and PROGRESS, it makes a great movie.  No culture is perfect, and we should accept that ours is neither.  I loved the ending / should I say beginning for the little girl as she escaped!!  That was a very positive angle.👏  It is not as if they showed all Indians to be barbaric.  It was a movie about HOPE. 

But all the earlier described scenario tarns the IMAGE that we DEARLY care about.. while bride burning, dowry and sati still happen in 2007. 
As you rightly said, we are not open-minded.  We like to believe that bad things happen outside of our territories..  Canada entered WATER for Oscar nomination, while we managed to ban it.

FIRE was a fabulous movie, also banned in India for similar reasons.  One should open their eyes and ask instead whether FIRE happens really?  If incest happens, why not fire?  And if all this is happening anyway, then why ban WATER??  😆😆 
Edited by mermaid_QT - 17 years ago

Thank you jaanuu😳

Nice post Monica ji!!👏

I will see this movie as soon as I get the oppurtunity and time to watch this film.

Deepa Mehta tried to address the issue of widows and their state .People who protested it are just Male Chavounist Pigs🐷 and so called torch bearers of Indian tradition.

wishes,

Mythili

I agree. People who have protested against the movie and the ppl who have banned this movie are the ones who r responsible for corruption in India. They dunt want the wrong methods of Indian society to be shown. And this shows that they are ashmed of themselves but they still refuse to admit it. And thats the most dissapointing part.

nice one pooja

To the best of my knowledge shooting of Water was never baned. However, the shoot was disrupted by several hardcore Hindu organizations. They demanded to see the script first, but obviously none of the directors would agree with that. Infact then Chief Minister of West Bengal invited Ms. Mehta personally to come over to W. Bengal and shoot whole movie with protection. Personally it was bit embarrassing to see all these drama. And now that Canada has promoted it as their Oscar entry I would really like it to win the Oscar to win the Best movie in foreign category. I think music and cenemetography where the best part of hte movie and obvious the story was very real and it also touched my heart being a mother of daughter. Edited by sowmyaa - 17 years ago

Yeah you all have good points, seriously. But I don't get why India would ban it.. I mean the movie was not trying to
show India as a bad place or anything.. No culture is perfect & there are flaws in every culture.

see as far as injustice to women ar concerned it was done to women through out the world. not only in india. but the thing which bugs me is y is it that films that show the age old discriminations r only accepted in oscars? y is it that india is only seen for its black past? its slums naked malnutritioned children.

now i have heard that deepa mehta is gonna make a movie on racial discrimination and i will wait to see whether that movie wil get a place in oscars or not.

Because India still has age-old discriminations and there are malnourished kids without clothing living in slums.

 

Usually, movies that are touching and that have an important  message are popular at the Oscars.

What do you want Deepa Mehta to send? A movie with the hero and herione dancing and singing to each other?? I am sorry, but that is TOTALLY not relevant to the image of India either.

Instead of trying to suppress the movie, suppress the problem that still exists.

Deepa Mehta is an Indian or of Indian origin(Not too sure), but she is bound to make a movie about the Indian society, rather than, let's say, American or Chinese. Women in India are still highly suppressed.

God forbid, if you were to become a widow, how would everyone around you reacte??