'''Damul'''


aka Bonded until Death
1984 141’(125’) col Hindi
d/p/sc Prakash Jha pc Prakash Jha Prod.
dial/st Shaiwal based on his story Kaabutra
c Rajan Kothari m Raghunath Seth
lp Manohar Singh, Sreela Majumdar, Annu
Kapoor, Deepti Naval, Pyare Mohan Sadhay,
Braj Kishore, Gopal Sharan, Om Prakash


Melodrama set in Bihar addressing poverty,
rural exploitation and the politics of
Untouchability. Madho (Manohar Singh), the
village head, uses the conventional system of
bonded labour (i.e. labourers have to sign a
paper assuming the debts of their ancestors) to
subjugate the Harijan labourer Sanjeevan
(Kapoor). Madho also runs an extortion racket
based on stealing cattle and then requiring the
owners to buy them back. Sanjeevan’s story is
intercut with Madho’s multifarious misdeeds
and the equally nefarious doings of Madho’s
rival, the politician Bachcha Singh. Madho’s
younger brother heads the gang of thugs who
enforce the headman’s will, including rigging
the elections, raping and killing the widow
Mahatmeen when she threatens to expose him
in court, framing Sanjeevan for the crime, etc.
In the end, Sanjeevan’s wife Rajuli kills Madho.
Jha’s 2nd film uses a continuously circling
camera, converting the melodrama into a
frontier tale of crime, sex and revenge, with
colourful clothes and exotic accents.

[[Film]]