Sadgati
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title |
सदगति Sadgati |
| Country of production | India |
| original language | Hindi |
| Publishing year | 1981 |
| length | 52 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Satyajit Ray |
| script | Satyajit Ray |
| production | Doordarshan , Government of India |
| music | Satyajit Ray |
| camera | Soumendu Roy |
| cut | Dulal Dutta |
| occupation | |
| |
Sadgati ( Hindi : सदगति , sadgati ) is a medium-length Indian feature film directed by Satyajit Ray from 1981. It was produced for the state television Doordarshan .
action
Dukhi is a Chamar, he works with animal skins and belongs to the lowest caste , the untouchables . He cuts grass in order to present the local priest, the Brahmin Ghashiram, and to induce him to determine a favorable wedding date for his daughter Dhania. Dukhi would do anything for it. He feels weak that day, but his wife tries in vain to dissuade him from his plan. Dukhi sets off with a measly bundle of grass on his head.
Ghashiram promises that Dukhi's wish will be fulfilled if he works for him. His first job is to sweep the porch, and then immediately after he has to carry rice sacks from one shed to another. Finally, when Ghashiram goes to a religious ceremony to comfort a young man whose wife has died, Dukhi is asked to use a blunt ax to split a piece of wood that is as solid as a stone. Although he has not eaten in the whole day, he does not dare to refuse to do this work. Ghashiram's wife had refused to give the poor man anything to eat.
An old man from the lower caste of the Gond observes Dukhi and advises him to at least ask for food from the Brahmin, but Dukhi cannot bring himself to do it. The Brahman's wife had already thrown the charcoal for lighting his tobacco at his feet like a head of cattle. Dukhi's reaction to the humiliation was only the mumbled sentence: "If we weren't so ignorant, we wouldn't suffer as we do." He no longer dares to ask for food. Nevertheless, he works in vain on the block of wood with renewed strength. The ax, thrown away in desperation, barely misses the head of a passing Brahmin. Dukhi's submissive apology doesn't stop him from warning others about Dukhi. Dukhi retires under a banyan tree in the midday heat and falls asleep. After lunch and lunch, Ghashiram comes out of the house and finds the wood still unsplit and Dukhi sleeping under the tree. He insults him and drives him back to work. Ghashiram's young son watches Dukhi's tireless struggle with the wood. He witnesses Dukhi's death from exhaustion.
Ghashiram and his wife are startled by their son's news and are looking for a way to get rid of the body and cover up the incident. However, the caste rules forbid them to touch the body of the shudra. Dukhi's caste members refuse to do the work; the other Brahmins do not want to take any more water from the nearby well while the corpse lies there. Dukhi's wife, Jhuria, rushes to hear the news and collapses next to her dead husband. Ghashiram ignores their complaints and their pounding on his door in the onset of monsoon rains.
At dawn Ghashiram removes the body himself before the police come to ask unpleasant questions. With the help of a stick, he attaches a dhoti to Dukhi's ankle without touching it, and pulls it away with great effort. He drags the dead body to a heap of skulls and animal carcasses to “rest”.
Ghashiram tells himself that the untouchables never existed. He circles the block of wood with the ax stuck in it, sprinkles it with sacred water and mumbles Sanskrit shlokas for religious cleansing.
background
Ray wrote the script based on a story by Premchand from 1931. The dialogues, written by him in English, were translated into Hindi by Amrit Rai , Premchand's son and author himself.
Ashoke Bose was the production designer .
literature
- Section on Sadgati in Andrew Robinson: Satyajit Ray - The Inner Eye , Revised Edition 2004, pp. 257-262
- Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , New Delhi 1999, p. 451
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Sadgati in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Photos etc.
- Sadgati (Deliverance) ( Memento from August 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )