Madhuri Dixit

A Forgotten gem is this once upon a time hailed by critics indie art drama .... crime revenge drama, and with some
Masala elements thrown into the stew. The Subject: Local corruption, caste politics, repression of females and at
last - Female Revenge. In many ways ahead of it's time as it could be a present day Ramu type of film as Rakht
Charitra, even though not as violent as that Ram Gopal Varma flick. But Mrityudand has got some intensity for sure.
I'm very impressed with screen icon Madhuri Dixit's performance in this film, and maybe she has never been better
than here in a delightfully toned down performance. Sure, sure, she has always been otherworldly beautiful and a
undisputed queen of Bollywood for some decade, but maybe she hasn't been known for her finely tuned acting to
be honest but more for her many Masala films. So, it's very nice to see her in this little gem, challenging herself in an
indie production in a more demanding role (but unfortunately very few of indians watched this film i'm sure)

The Icon - Madhuri Dixit

Indie-Female Revenge

The theme for this film is nothing new, local corruption and murder in a countryside village and with some Masala
vibes to it. But the way this story is told feels refreshing and with an almost Shakespearean fateful doom to it,
and some really cool Female Revenge at the end - Powerful Madhuri with a gun, Madhuri with a sickle ....
Almost all men in this film are prone to violence against women and acts like drooling ape beings and there's a
point where enough is enough, when the women can't take the abuse any more and comeuppance is coming.

This film surprisingly was shown on swedish TV at the end of the 1990's and i think this was the first Bollywood
film shown on swedish TV (?) and later Devdas was shown too, but that's it i think. Sweden is very Hollywood-
ified and most swedes know nothing about Bollywood or other indian film besides the dancing and singing.
Not even the Bengali classics from Satuajit Ray are shown anymore, but i've vague memories from my childhood
that they were shown on TV. Well, anyway, a friend of mine told me about this film and i bought it on DVD and
then my interest in Bollywood film started, and when i started my DVD shop in 2001 i had a Bollywood section.
So, Mrityudand was the first Bollywood film i've seen

Shabana Azmi and a quarry

The film starts in 1996 in the village of Bilaspur in the state of Bihar with 2 unfortunate women getting chased out
of the village by an angry mob of men who murder them. An intense and nasty start that was.
Then we get to see how the woman Ketki (Madhuri Dixit) is married into a wealthy landowner family, to Vinay
Singh (Ayub Khan) and there's his auntie Chandravati (played by the amazing Shabana Azmi, one of my personal
favourites among indian actresses.
The marital bliss are just fine at the beginning between Ketki and Vinay, but there's trouble ahead ...
Vijay's uncle Abhay (Mogan Agashe) suddenly wants to be a holy man and murders the old priest for the temple
to become the new, and as a holy man he dumps his unhappy childless wife Chandravati makin her some sort of a
widow. In the village there's also a corruption fight going on over a Government road-building contract, and on
Vinay's properties there's a quarry that the local gangster boss Tirpat Singh wants to get his hands on, and as cheap
as possible. Tirpat Singh played as an over the top ultra nasty Masala film Bad Guy.
Much rape, violence, female repression and murder ensues.The ditto Masala style acting wild-eyed Abhay utters
the film title at the end - Mrityudand, The Death Penalty

The Amazing actress Shabana Azmi as Auntie Chandravati

One of the few good men that appears in the film, that's Om Puri's Rambaran, a leader of the low caste villagers
and Om Puri he's always good and one of the greatest indian character actors since decades. His fragile and tender
romance with "widow" Chandravati are one of the highlights of this film and done clinically Masala-style free.
2 fantastic and accomplished actors showing us how love on screen can be shown in a true and gripping way.

This edition starts out with a widescreen presentation BUT then cuts the corners of the screen and goes to the then
so common LB format (1.77:1 or 1.85:1?). Soundtrack in mono hindi with english subs.
As all know Eros, at this early time of the DVD medium, was an annoying company with often poor DVD editions,
with never ending commercials, blurry picture and bleeding colors. But this edition 's picture quality actually looks
quite good (besides the wrong aspect ratio) and that we can surely thank DEI for, a respected but long since gone
US company. There's no extras and no subs to the song/dance numbers. The film plays 162 minutes and not 150
that's declared on the DVD sleeve. All in all - A Great refreshingly odd indie drama with fine actors