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ज़ुबेदा (2001)

If you are a lover of Shyam Benegal’s emotionally crafted cinema then Zubaida is made for you. As depicted in most of Benegal’s movies, his characters are flawed and possess shades of grey that make them interesting. Zubaida, played by Karishma Kapoor is no exception. She is portrayed like a flawed princess who is betoned with childilike yet rebellious streak. Highly aspirational and free spirited Zubaida, in every phase of her life faces restrictions imposed by the patriarchal society and traditional customary practices which make her desire for freedom and love more strong leading to a fatal end.
Karishma Kapoor steals the show through her expressive performance, daring disposition and adamant wilfulness. Sometimes she garners sympathy from the viewer like when she wants to become an actress but her dreams are crushed by her muslim hardliner father portrayed by Ambrish Puri who himself is a filmmaker. His father portrays the epitome of patriarchy when he forcibly makes Zubaida marry a groom of his choice( just to strengthen the business relations) where this marriage finally leads to divorce ( when the groom reluctantly leaves her and their son Rizu to move to Pakistan abiding by his father’s wishes).But since Zubaida herself is a character of many shades and emotions so she is the last one to accept the ill-fate and gets lured by the Maharaja of Fatehpur- Vijayendra Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) who marries her and takes her off to his royal palace where Zubaida meets his first wife Mandira Devi and their two childrens. This is where the emotional termoil is accentuated where Zubaida has a relationship of affection and jealousy with Mandira ( portrayed by Rekha as a demure, mature and mysteriously pacifying lady).Zubaida feels outcasted not just by the inter- caste and religion marriage but also by the conjugal love of Maharaja with his first wife and out of her insecurity takes an eerily mysterious step that makes the viewer ponder upon the climax where the Maharaja and Zubaida meet in afterlife as according to her philosophy of re-union.
The movie is in an investigative journalism format where the anecdotes of the life of Zubaida are uncovered by his adult son Riyaz played by Rajit Kapoor who meets every single person who have known his mother personally and professionally.
What is to die for in the movie is A.R Rehman’s music, Lata Mangeshkar’s voice and Jawed Akhta’s lyrics. Songs like ‘Kho Gaye Hein’ setting in a deep and melancholic tone in all sad scenes while a lively dash of ‘Banjara dance version’ in song ‘Mei Albeli’ complemented by stunningly expressive performance of Karishma Kapoor is extremely soul-stirring.
The characteristically traditional and historical nuances can be seen well in the movie where the plot touches the mores and milieu of post independence period, status of Muslims in dominantly Hindu society and takeover of power by democratic system.
Overall, the movie is high on emotions and less on actions or physical stunts that dominate today’s mainstream.