''Umbartha'' (

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...

: Umbaraṭhā; en, The Doorstep) is a 1982 Indian

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

-language film produced by D. V. Rao and directed and coproduced by

Jabbar Patel Dr. Jabbar Patel (born 23 June 1942, Pandharpur) is a former paediatrician and a Marathi-language theatre and film director of India. His production of the play Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal, in 1973 is considered a classic in Mode ...

. The film is a story of a woman's dream to step outside her four walled home and bring change in the society.

Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just o ...

played the lead protagonist in the film for which she won ''Marathi Rajya Chitrapat Puraskar'' for Best Actress. The film was adjudged as the Best Feature Film in Marathi at the

29th National Film Awards The 29th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1981. Ceremony took place in Apr ...

for "a sincere cinematic statement on the theme of a woman seeking to establish her identity by pursuing a career, even at the risk of alienation from her family". The film is based on a Marathi novel ''Beghar'' () by Shanta Nisal and was also simultaneously made in Hindi as ''Subah'' with the same cast.

Plot

Sulabha Mahajan is a woman who dreams to step out of the four walls of the house, assume greater responsibility as a citizen and play an important role in shaping the society. She has passion to do something constructive for the abused, assaulted, neglected and traumatized womenfolk of the society she lives in. She gets a job offer as Superintendent of a Women's Reformatory Home in a remote town of Sangamwadi. The job offer raises objections from her lawyer husband Subhash and conservative mother-in-law who refuse to understand her need to move to the town and work for rehabilitation of the women. But her sister-in-law supports her by offering help in looking after her young daughter Rani. Determined Sulabha then goes ahead with her dream job. She meets various challenges in her new endeavor. She starts with bringing discipline in the Home and also discovers frauds that take place there. But she is not helped by the managing committee which is filled with selfish and careless people. She hence decides to take steps against their sanction. She starts some classes to educate willing women and also marries off one of the inmates in order to give a new start to her life. She discovers how a local MLA Bane has been regularly using the inmates of the home to satisfy his sexual needs. Two of the inmates decide to run away but are forcefully brought back to the home. They both commit suicide by burning themselves. Sulabha is then questioned by committee and newspapers for her improper control on the home. An administrative enquiry is set up against her. It is then that she decides to resign and give up all her work and return home. When she returns to her home she is happily welcomed by her sister-in-law but not so much by her daughter and mother-in-law. She then discovers that her husband Subhash has been involved with another woman in her absence. His betrayal changes her mind and she again sets off to follow her dream work.

Cast

as Sulabha Mahajan *

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...

as Advocate Subhash Mahajan * Shrikant Moghe as Dr. Mohan Mahajan (Subhash's elder brother) *

Ashalata Wabgaonkar Ashalata Wabgaonkar (2 July 1941 – 22 September 2020) commonly known as Ashalata, was an Indian actress. Originally tracing her roots to Goa's Palolem village in Canacona ''taluka'' (or 'sub-district'), she was associated with the Mumbai-base ...

as Maya Mahajan (Mohan's wife) * Kusum Kulkarni as Mrs. Mahajan (Sulabha's mother-in-law) * Pournima Ganu (Manohar) as Rani * Radha Karnad as young Rani *

Satish Alekar Satish Vasant Alekar (born 30 January 1949) is a Marathi playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune, and most known for his plays ''Mahanirvan'' (1974), ''Mahapoor'' (1975), ''Atirekee'' (1990), ''Pi ...

as Walimbe (principal) * Mukund Chitale as Gate-man * Surekha Divakar as Farida * Daya Dongre as Chairman Sheela Samson *

Ravi Patwardhan Ravi Patwardhan (6 September 1937 – 5 December 2020) was an Indian actor who appeared in Marathi-language and Hindi-language movies and TV serials and theater plays. He started his acting career in Marathi theatre, then pivoted to movies, and ...

as MLA Bane * Vijay Joshi as Peon * Jayamala Kale as Sugandha * Sandhya Kale as Heera, Clerk / Typist * Swaroopa Khopkar as Utpala Joshi * Manorama Wagle as Warden of Reformatory Home

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by

Hridaynath Mangeshkar Hridaynath Mangeshkar (Marathi pronunciation: �ɾud̪əjnaːt̪ʰ məŋɡeːʃkəɾ is an Indian music director. He is the only son of musician Deenanath Mangeshkar and younger brother of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. He is popularly know ...

on lyrics written by

Vasant Bapat Vishwanath Vaman Bapat, also known as Vasant Bapat (Devanagari: वसंत बापट) (July 25, 1922 – September 17, 2002), was a Marathi people, Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India. He was born on July 25, 1922 in Karad in Satara distri ...

and

Suresh Bhat Suresh Bhat ( mr, सुरेश भट; 15 April 1932 – 14 March 2003) was a Marathi poet from the state of Maharashtra, India. Life Suresh Bhat converted to Buddhism with the help of Bhante Surai Sasai. Because of Buddhism was the religi ...

. All songs are sung by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

, except "Ganjalya Othas Majhya" which is sung by

Ravindra Sathe Ravindra Sathe is an Indian playback singer in Marathi film industry. He was the original cast and crew member of famous Marathi theatre Ghashiram Kotwal. Career He started his career as sound recordist in Doordarshan. He has many performances ...

Awards

* 1982 –

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of severa ...

* 1982 –

Maharashtra State Film Awards Maharashtra State Film Awards, one of the prestigious awards of Marathi cinema, are awarded by the Government of Maharashtra to Marathi language films and artists. They were first awarded in 1963. Winners 2000 This year's award ceremony took plac ...

– Best Film * 1982 –

– Best Director –

* 1982 –

– Best Actress –

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Marathi Films about women in India Indian LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films Women in prison films Indian prison films Films with screenplays by Vijay Tendulkar Best Marathi Feature Film National Film Award winners 1980s Marathi-language films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by Jabbar Patel