Water

Set in 1938 colonial India against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, focuses on a group of women condemned by Hindu law to spend the rest of their lives in an institution, or ashram, on the banks of the Ganges because they are widows. While the devout Shakuntula (Biswas) spends her days assisting a local holy man, the limpid-eyed Kalyani (Ray) is forced into prostitution by the ashram's domineering housemother.

The arrival of Chuyia, a bewildered 8-year-old whose pre-destined husband has recently died, creates turmoil in the ashram. The child's impudence and high spirits encourage Shakuntula to question her fidelity to a religion that turns widows into penniless outcasts. Kalyani too is inspired to rebellion and begins a love affair with Narayan (Abraham), a handsome law student on fire with Gandhian idealism. But when Narayan's wealthy parents are informed of the relationship, the couple's defiance of religious taboos is an invitation to tragedy.

This is the third film in Mehta's 'Elemental Trilogy' - Fire and Earth have preceded it.

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