Rudaali is a 1993 Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 film directed by the feminist Indian director Kalpana Lajmi, based on the short story written by famous Bengali

Bengali people

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

 litterateur Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer.- Biography :Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, to literary parents in a Hindu Brahmin family. Her father Manish Ghatak was a well known poet and novelist of the Kallol era, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa...

.

Cultural background

The title is a reference to a custom in certain areas of Rajasthan where women of a lower caste are hired as professional mourners upon the death of upper-caste males. These women are referred to as a 'rudaali' (roo-dah-lee), literally translated as 'female weeper' or 'weeping woman.' Their job is to publicly express grief of family members who are not permitted to display emotion due to social status.

Plot

The film is set in a small village in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It tells the story of a woman named Shanichari, who was abandoned by her mother shortly after her father's death. Bad fortune follows as she marries an alcoholic, who leaves her with little hope of a brighter future for herself and her mentally retarded son.

Throughout Shanichari's lifetime of misfortune she has never cried. This creates great difficulty once she is called to become a rudaali until Bhinkni, an experienced mourner, enters her life. Shanichari and the local landlord's son fall in love with each other, but Shanichari is reluctant to ask the rich lover for money as she does not want to lower her love even for the sake of getting out of poverty and misery.

Awards and honors

Dimple Kapadia

Dimple Kapadia

Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia is an Indian film actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 16, playing the title role in Raj Kapoor's teen romance Bobby . In that same year she married Indian actor Rajesh Khanna, and retired from acting. Kapadia returned to films in 1984 after her separation...

 won a National Film Award for her role of Shanichari in the film. The film also features Raakhee, Raj Babbar

Raj Babbar

Raj Babbar is a Hindi & Punjabi film actor since 1977 and the current Member of Parliament from Firozabad which he won by defeating Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav & daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav. This is his fourth term as MP, in previous terms he was the part of Samajwadi...

 and Amjad Khan

Amjad Khan

Amjad Khan was an acclaimed Indian actor and director. He worked in over 130 films in his film career spanning nearly twenty years. He enjoyed popularity for his villainous roles in Hindi films the most famous being the unforgettable Gabbar Singh in 1975 classic Sholay...

 in one of his last films. Khan died before the film's release, and the film is dedicated to him in the beginning credits. Samir Chanda

Samir Chanda

Samir Chanda was an Indian art director and production designer across Indian cinema, including Hindi, Bengali and Tamil, most known for his work in films like Dil Se , Guru , Omkara , Rang De Basanti , and Raavan .He also directed a Bengali film, Ek Nadir Galpo starring Mithun...

 won National Film Award for Best Art Direction

National Film Award for Best Art Direction

The National Film Award for Best Art Direction winners:...

. Simple Kapadia

Simple Kapadia

Simple Kapadia was a Bollywood actress and costume designer.Simple Kapadia began her career when she was 18 years old. She made her acting debut in 1977 in the film...

 won the National Film Award for Best Costume Design.

Soundtrack

The film has music by Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam. His songs,written and sung mainly in Assamese by the legend himself, are infused with humanity and universalism, and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notable being Bengali ,Hindi and...

, a legendary folk musician and a mass singer. Songs like 'Dil Hoom Hoom kare' and 'Jhuti muti Mitwa' are considered one of the finest examples of Hindi film incorporating Hindustani musical tradition in Bollywood.