Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
: ''Conflict'') is a 1999
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n feature film directed by
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...
Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fil ...
among others. The film is in
Hindustani
Hindustani may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India)
* Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu
* Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...
. The film's music is composed by
Vanraj Bhatia
Vanraj Bhatia (Hindi: वनराज भाटिया ; 31 May 1927 – 7 May 2021) was an Indian composer best known for his work in Indian New Wave cinema. He was also one of the leading composers of Western classical music in India.
Bha ...
The film is based on a real-life story of a Madhya Pradesh village, where a farmer had committed the "crime" of entering the village temple for a thanksgiving, for which he was publicly humiliated by the village priest. When a film actor is to enact the scene of humiliation, he revolts, thus sparking off another cycle of violence in the village.
It also presents an unflattering image of modern filmmakers, especially those who visit far-flung rural areas, in search of "sensitive" stories, while themselves remaining insensitive to the rural dynamics, and in turn adding their own preconceived notions and bias to the entire film making process.
Plot
The larger theme of the film is centred on India's caste system, though it is depicted as a film within a film.
In a small village in Madhya Pradesh, two different communities fight over a water pump installation. When a member of one of the communities, Nathu (Kishore Kadam) decides to protest against a decision he feels is unjust, he angers the local land owner, who decides to impose economic sanctions on the community in an effort to starve them out of the village. When Nathu's house is burned down under mysterious circumstances, Nathu seeks the comfort of a temple, and prays for a solution. Instead, he finds himself abused and beaten by the land owner for breaking a rule that bans members of Nathu's community from entering the temple. It later emerges that the situation in the area is being used as a plot for a film made in Bombay, however characters featured in the film are misrepresented, which leads to tension on the set and eventually violence erupts.
Rajit Kapur
Rajit Kapur is an Indian film and theatre actor and director. He is known for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1996 film, '' The Making of the Mahatma'' for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor. Other notable roles are as ...
... Director Kartik
*
Divya Dutta
Divya Dutta (born 25 September 1977) is an Indian actress and model. She has appeared in Hindi and Punjabi cinema, in addition to Malayalam and English-language films. She has received many awards including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Aw ...
... Bedani
*
Kishor Kadam
Kishor Kadam (born 9 November 1967) is an Indian actor and poet who has acted prominently in Marathi and Hindi movies. He has also acted in Tamil movies and has appeared in some television serials as well. He is a veteran Marathi poet, writing ...
Raghuvir Yadav
Raghubir Yadav is an Indian actor, music composer, singer and set designer who works in Hindi films. He made his film debut with ''Massey Sahib'' (1985), in which he played the title role. He has won two International Awards as Best Actor for ...
.... Nathu
*
Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fil ...
... Dulari
*
Sadashiv Amrapurkar
Sadashiv Dattaray Amrapurkar (11 May 1950 – 3 November 2014) was an Indian actor, best known for his performances in Marathi language, Marathi and Hindi films from 1983 to 1999. He acted in more than 300 movies in Hindi, Marathi, and other r ...
... Superintendent of Police Hiralal
* Rupal Patel
*
Rajkamal Nayak
Rajkamal is an Indian actor who has worked on Tamil films and television series. After making a breakthrough as an actor through television serials, he has worked on films including ''Sandikuthirai'' (2016) and ''Melnaattu Marumagan'' (2018).
...
National Film Award for Best Screenplay
The National Film Award for Best Screenplay is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one o ...
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Ashok Mishra
Amishra is an Indian screenplay writer and lyricist in Bollywood films. He is most noted for his work in the Shyam Benegal film ''Welcome to Sajjanpur
''Welcome to Sajjanpur'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi comedy film directed by Shyam Benegal and s ...