Exploring the Brothel

Modern Indian film-makers are rarely tempted to explore the world of prostitutes and call girls. When they do venture to do so, the outcome is unpredictable — as in the case of Begum Jaan.

- Maithili Rao

Making films set in Indian brothels has never been easy. Sometimes we get a brilliant, path breaking Mandi, Shyam Benegal’s riotous satire edged with black comedy. It ranks among his best, secure of its place in Indian film history, transcending the parallel cinema demarcation that once pushed such films into an artificial niche. But the more recent Begum Jaan, in which Srijit Mukherji’s vaulting ambition weighs down an erratic narrative with so much meaning, was worth watching only for Vidya Balan’s innately commanding but often over-the top performance. It is a cautionary tale of how a promising subject can collapse under arbitrarily loaded significance. Mandi was organic, in structure and narrative. Begum Jaan, obviously borrowing aspects of Mandi, sacrifices intimacy and humour for heavy historicity and stretches it artificially to contemporary times. Thinking small and deeply results in a richly layered film, whereas an overarching search for significance comes a cropper. Therein lies a lesson for film-makers.