डोर
As an engaging film about the bonds between in women in which the women
are sharply drawn and neither archtypical nor sterotypical, Dor (thread) reminds
me a little of some of Shyam Benegal's films. But it is sweeter and gentler than
Benegal's gritty tales, and that sweetness endures long after the film
is over.
Though Zeenat (Gul Panag) and Meera (Ayesha Takia) live half a nation apart and have never met, their lives are destined to intertwine. Zeenat's husband Amir (Rushad Rana) and Meera's, Shankar (Anirudh Jaykar), both join a crew of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, leaving their wives behind. One night, in a heated argument, Amir (perhaps accidentally) kills Shankar. Amir is convicted of murder, and under Saudi law, will be executed unless Shankar's widow Meera signs papers pardoning him. And so Zeenat, desperate to save Amir, treks across hundreds of miles of Rajasthani desert to find Meera. Spurned by Shankar's family, Zeenat befriends the melancholy Meera directly. But the bond that forms between them is shattered when Meera learns the true motive behind Zeenat's warmth.
Dor is a lovely, delicate, engaging film, and is most unusual in its presentation of the transformative power of friendship between women. Meera, prior to Shankar's death, is so young and full of life that seeing her broken under the strictures of traditional Rajasthani widowhood is heartbreaking; where before she sang and danced to film songs, afterwards, wrapped in an unadorned cotton sari, she is tentative, afraid to move or speak, even to voice her grief. Zeenat prods Meera to take control of her own destiny (to a degree) and helps reintroduce color into her life. Zeenat, in contrast, is strong and practical almost to a fault - when we first meet her she is working on a construction project, and when Amir distracts her from her work and tries to kiss her she produces a nail from between her lips. Meera teaches her an empathy for the emotions of others that she never had previously.
There are men in Dor too but the story - refreshingly - is not about them, though it does demonstrate the action-at-a-distance force that the actions of men can have on the lives of women, as Meera and Zeenat would not have been brought together at all but for Shankar and Amir's cataclysmic burst of testosterone that fateful night in Saudi Arabia. Some of the men in the film are piggish and cruel, like Meera's father and his wealthy tenant, who attempt to arrange a business transaction in which Meera is the barter. Others, though, bolster the women's strength and spirit with their love and support, like Amir and Shankar, each of whom loves his wife exactly for the woman she is and would not dream of trying to mold her into something else.
The standout among the film's men is Behroopiya (Shreyas Tapalde), an actor and a trickster who first cons Zeenat, then befriends her and helps her in her quest to find Meera, and finally falls in love with her - though his love is not the demanding kind, and he never intrudes on her marriage or her love for her husband. Behroopiya's friendship is a kind of anchor for Zeenat's passion, and the aid he provides is both practical and spiritual.
Dor is well-wrought and memorable, delicate and sweet, and achieves that rare feat of being both real and touching at the same time. It achieves a very fine balance, making its bittersweet point with a gentle touch.