Shyam Benegal's Bhumika Was A Powerful Feminist Film Ahead Of Its Times

I shudder to think what my worldview would be like without the late master filmmaker Shyam Benegal. His films were my genesis to the constant evolving lens to life. His works made me ponder on the comfort of advantages versus the discomfort of disadvantages in society. 

He truly celebrated female achievements and his films were socially conscious narratives on the marginalised, unheard voices of India. So naturally, I loved watching his recordings on the social fabric of a changing India. 

One of his films, that I watched over and over again was Bhumika which means “the role”; played by the late Smita Patil where identity and female agency is constantly evolving with the changes around the protagonist’s life. It made me uncomfortable and also realise how difficult this subject is, to portray as an art form. The dichotomy of being a woman who self-asserts her identity without making her look selfish and self-absorbed. 

Bhumika - Feminist Telling Ahead Of Its Times

Bhumika was an inspiration from the life of the bohemian Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar. In the film one travels with Hansa’s torment and the personal difficulties in her life, which included marital problems, addiction to alcohol, humiliation at multiple levels and also rape at the hands of a magistrate, when she sought help to get out of a troubled relationship. Her marriage ended in a separation with her daughter being kept away from her.

Shyam Babu’s Bhumika sensitively explores the heart-wrenching quest of a woman’s independence and the struggle between societal expectations and the reality of her personal turmoil.

Bhumika makes one question the heavy weight of choice that women carry forever between personal freedom and identity.

Smita Patil, was smouldering, feisty and delivered a career-defining performance as a woman torn between her roles as an artiste, wife, and mother. 

Bhumika was made in 1977. A film way ahead of its time, where it explores the totally tattered life, of the protagonist who is a female and the obvious theme of underlined exploitation, physical and emotional abuse. Which is further fuelled by her self-sabotaging obstinacy. 

Usha in Bhumika (Smita Patil) is an impoverished woman whose struggle for survival starts from a very tender age, which eventually becomes a quest for her to change her identity, and this comes at a very high price. It is the stoical ability to handle the conflicts that life throws at her and the dilemmas she needs to overcome that was her challenge and the catharsis. 

Bhumika is relevant even now as social recognition and search for a new identity for most women isn’t an easy place to navigate. Therefore this tale stays true to its core values and meanings that women have to constantly deal with, in reference to her identity within the family and the community at large. 

Bhumika also boldly explores Usha’s libido and understanding of herself with her lover, in the intense intellectual conversations that she has with him. The dilemma of acknowledging the primal desire in human beings and the conventional role of being a woman with morals determines the respect she would get from the outside world and the inner view of “Who Am I” ? Is thrown to the viewer in this masterpiece non-linear film by Shyam Babu. 

He made many more beautiful films like Mandi, Zubeida, Mammo, Sardari Begum, Ankur and the list goes on. His work will continue to be praised and appreciated by film lovers across the world and art connoisseurs who celebrate the much-needed probe of the social fabric that only true artists can create and understand. 

Mohua Chinappa is an author, poet and runs two podcasts, The Mohua Show and The Literature Lounge. She is also member of an award-winning London based non-profit think tank called Bridge India. Views expressed by the author are their own.