Deham
| Deham | |
|---|---|
the film poster
|
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| Directed by | Govind Nihalani |
| Written by | Govind Nihalani(screenplay) Manjula Padmanabhan (play) |
| Starring | Kitu Gidwani, Joy Sengupta, Alyy Khan, Surekha Sikri and Julie Ames |
| Music by | Roy Venkatraman |
| Cinematography | Govind Nihalani |
| Edited by | Deepa Bhatia |
|
Release date
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2001 |
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Running time
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120 min |
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
Deham (The Body) is a 2001 film directed by Govind Nihalani based on playwright Manjula Padmanabhan's play Harvest. It has Kitu Gidwani, Joy Sengupta, Alyy Khan, Surekha Sikri and Julie Ames in lead roles. One of the few English films made in India, its a futuristic story depicting the organ sale from relatively poorer countries to the rich. Nihalani himself called it a "serious social sci-fi film".Deham won the prestigious Netpac (Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema) award for the Best Asian Film at the 25th Goteborg Film Festival, 2002, in Sweden.
It's 2022. Om Prakash, a jobless young man lives with his wife Jaya, mother and younger brother Jeetu in a one-room tenement in Mumbai. He falls for a multinational company's offer to provide his family a life of luxury for the rest of their lives in exchange for body organs for wealthy foreigner clients. The family's life changes as he signs the contract. They lose their privacy as company watches their every move. As part of the contract Om has to pose as a bachelor and Jaya, his wife, is forced to call herself his sister. But Jeetu, who works as a gigolo, a male prostitute, refuses to permit himself to be controlled and walks out of home. After few months as Om, Jaya and his mother, are growing accustomed to their new life, Jeetu comes back, battered and beaten. As Jaya nurses him the time for the organ transplants comes. The company officials come and take away Jeetu instead of Om for the transplants. Jaya, who has been putting up with it all for long, finally, refuses to become a party to the contract and chooses freedom instead.
Govind Nihalani's strong credentials as one of the finest directors of Indian cinema apart, the reviews were mostly unfavourable. "Unforgivably bludgeoning Manjula Padmanabhan's cleverly-crafted play with poor FX and miserly production values, Nihalani stumbles," Pramila N. Phatarphekar wrote in Outlook calling the film's vision "impaired".
"..you cannot help but feel sorry for a plot that has been mutilated carelessly," wrote Priya Ganapati, reviewing the film for Rediff, adding, "What makes it an utter disaster is its combination of a terrible screenplay, stilted acting, poor dialogues and more important, an inability to infuse soul or imagination to a plot that in its very premise demands an abundance of it."
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