''Tarpan'' (English title: ''The Absolution'') was a

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

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 ...

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 ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

K. Bikram Singh K. Bikram Singh (26 May 1938 – 12 May 2013) was an Indian politician and filmmaker, most known for his documentary film, ''Satyajit Ray Introspections'' (1991) and feature film, ''Tarpan'' (1994). After a short stint as a lecturer in history, he ...

, and starring

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

Revathy Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won sever ...

Dina Pathak Dina Pathak (née Gandhi; 4 March 1922 – 11 October 2002) was an Indian actress and director of Gujarati theatre and also a film actor. She was an activist and President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). A doyenne of Hindi a ...

Manohar Singh Manohar Singh (12 April 1938 – 14 November 2002) was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films. He is best known for his performances in films such as ''Party'' (1984) and ''Daddy'' (1989). Starting his acting career ...

and

Mita Vashisht Mita Vashisht (born 2 November 1967) is an Indian actress. Known for her work on screen, stage and television, she has played a wide range of roles. Her most prominent appearances includes; sci-fi television series '' Space City Sigma'' (1989-1 ...

in lead roles. This directorial debut film was jointly produced by NFDC and

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

. The film set in the 1940s, in a fictitious village in the Shekhavati region in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, where no girl child survives beyond the age of seven. It deals with larger issues of

communalism Communalism may refer to: * Communalism (Bookchin), a theory of government in which autonomous communities form confederations * , a historical method that follows the development of communities * Communalism (South Asia), violence across ethnic ...

and

caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

through four inter-related stories. The film was screened at

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

and

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival ( ar, مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year sin ...

Cast

as Jassu Kaka *

as Sumitra *

as Rammo *

as Sarpanch (Thakur Bir Singh) *

as Lachmi *

Ravi Jhankal Ravi Jhankal is an Indian television, stage and film actor, most known for working in Shyam Benegal's films, including ''Welcome to Sajjanpur'' (2008) and ''Well Done Abba'' (2010) and for the role of P. V. Narasimha Rao in ''Pradhanmantri (TV S ...

as Joravar * Savita Bajaj as Chintho Singh *

Virendra Saxena Virendra Saxena (born 23 November 1951) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi theatre, film, and television. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Saxena is known for his character roles as well as his unique voice. He has acted in ...

as Sukku Baba *

Rajendra Gupta Rajendra Gupta (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and director who is known for his television roles of Adina Beg Khan Sahib e Azam in 2010 series of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Pandit Jagannath in the 1990s Doorda ...

as Lakhan Singh * Vijay Kashyap as Phattu *

Lalit Tiwari Lalit Tiwari is an Indian film and television actor. His best-known television roles are that of Sanjaya in the series '' Mahabharat'' (1988–1990), and the one in the historical television series '' Bharat Ek Khoj - The Discovery of India'' ...

as Jeetu Thakur *

Pavan Malhotra Pavan Malhotra (born 2 July 1958) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and television alongside Punjabi and few Telugu films. He has played lead roles in Buddhadeb Dasgupta's National Film Award-winning '' Bagh Bahadur'' and Saeed Akht ...

as Dhannu * Anang Desai as Pratap Singh * Babita Bhardwaj as Ganga * Pradeep Bhatnagar as Vaid * Rekha Kanda as Vidya * Madhvi Kaushik as Mrs. Jeetu * Usha Nagar as Dhannu's mom * Zahida Parveen as Santosh

Awards

* Aravindhan award for best debut director.

References

External links

*
Tarpan (streaming Online)
''Cinemas of India (NFDC)'' 1994 films Indian drama films 1990s Hindi-language films Films about the caste system in India Films set in Rajasthan Films set in the 1940s 1994 directorial debut films 1994 drama films Hindi-language drama films {{1990s-Hindi-film-stub