Reviews & Ratings for
Umbartha (1982)

"He had the vague sense of standing on a threshold, the crossing of which would change everything." - Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

In this case, it is a "she".

Sulabha Mahajan (Smita Patil) dreams of doing something great for the society. She lives in a 'progressive' family, where her husband, Subhash (Girish Karnad) is an advocate who uses big words that reflect his education; and her mother-in-law indulges in social work from the comforts of her house itself, never once crossing the threshold. Sulabha also has a little daughter. Sulabha gets a job opportunity as Superintendent of a Women's Reformatory Home in a very remote village, Sangamwadi. Her mother-in-law and husband expect her to help her mother-in-law with the social work from home, without stepping out of the four walls, and are hence, quite upset about her decision to move to Sangamwadi. However, with her sister-in-law's support and willingness to look after her daughter, Sulabha dares to step out and move to Sangamwadi.
Umbartha lays out the bare bones of exploitation, corruption and double-standards in the Indian society. In the form of the MLA Bane, it explores the sexual exploitation of women by so-called 'respectable' people. Sulabha also goes against the will of her supervisor, and brings about several reforms. The movie also deals with lesbianism, which was (and still is) considered a subject that is completely overlooked by Indian popular culture. Sulabha tries to deal with the taboo by educating the women, and explaining to them that no matter how much they bicker and quarrel, they ultimately have no other place to go to, and that this reformatory is their home.

What happens when a woman crosses the Lakshman-rekha, or the boundaries, set for her? And who, in the first place, decides these boundaries? This pathbreaking movie brilliantly explores the different facets to Indian society. Every bit of the movie shatters preconceived notions of a comfortably calm society, and questions the then-new wave of the 'progressive ' way of life.

Smita Patil, with her eyes that speak and tears that may flow through your eyes, is not only the most fundamental unit of the film, but, in fact, is the film itself. Girish Karnad does a wonderful job in creating a niche for himself in a woman-centric movie like this. Enough said. This movie breaks and rebuilds, destroys and constructs, explores and questions, And makes its audience question, too.