Women have since time immemorial been either elevated to the pedestal as goddesses or been relegated to the fringes of society. More often than not, a woman’s worth is associated with that of the man she can be associated with – be it as a daughter, a wife or a mother. Within this socio-political context, marriage takes the centerstage and is viewed as the epicentre of a woman’s life. However, what happens when your husband dies prematurely? What happens when you can no longer be associated with a man but only viewed in the context of the absence of it? 22-year-old filmmaker Mitali Solanki tackles with this difficult theme in her musical mood film Bindya.
Talking about the theme of the film, Mitali tells us, “Bindya is a woman’s last day as a wedded bride and the significance of a ‘bindi’ for a woman before she embraces becoming a widow. Society outcasts these women when they become widows but I want to show how beautiful they still are.” The idea of driving the woman-based narrative with the juxtaposition of the married and widowed in the short musical mood film without any external elements and just the woman protagonist in the centre of it all forces us to analyse every frame from her perspective. The fear in her eyes becomes ours, her memories become our own and thus, her eventual acceptance too.
Sometimes silence can be more profound and punctuate instances with more meaning than words can offer. But in a musical mood film, where there are no words to express the emotions, music functions as a device plot to heighten our emotions. In Bindya, it further adds to that sense of beauty that Mitali wants us to embrace. The hauntingly beautiful music adds to this sense of ache and pain that the protagonist feels. The dichotomy between the married woman’s red and the widowed women’s white too is woven into a thread around which the plot revolves through the music.
Mitali believes the inspiration for her work comes from “Everything & Anything – as an artist, everything inspires me. I perceive my surroundings, the books I read, the art I feel, the music I listen to. I’ve never had just one source where I gain my inspiration, it’s always been diverse spectrum.” Maybe it is this inspiration that she translates into her storytelling that allows her the ability to perceive the plot in a way that she does. Using various tropes to make the frames both aesthetically pleasing and as real and vulnerable as they can be.
On a parting note, Mitali says, “I want to create art forms that move people, make them think, I don’t necessarily want to produce beautiful things–things that have got any great conceptual or assumed profundity.”
The credits for the short film are:
Featuring: Rachna Rai; Written/Directed by : Mitali Solanki; DOP : Sourav Das; Editors : Mitali Solanki, Sourav Das; Jewellery : Dhora India
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