I am a bit confused about who should I praise more after watching Sati(1989). For that realistic and assertive cinema language of Sati, I bow to Aparna Sen. For shaking me being Umi, Shabana Azmi scores full as always.

I can’t get rid of this film and the national theme it represents. Sati starts with a suttee scene in a remote village in 1828 Bengal. A palanquin carrying a young widow followed by a small crowd is passing by. Umi is peeping at them from a little far. Chanting approving Suttee led by a local Pandit (priest) is echoing in the air. Wailing Women are running behind the palanquin. When the rally ends at a pyre, the dressed-up bride is thrown into it -burnt alive to join her deceased husband in heaven! What dazed me is the poise of the scene. It can’t be real anymore.

When the reels roll Umi’s story, its feminist tone is so inevitable but I hardly felt the uneasiness when I see similar directorial from others. Umi is mute. Her horoscope is doomed with widowhood. Her mother died when she was born. Staying with her uncle, she faces harsh treatment from her aunt. But the silent beauty Umi is happy in the surrounding nature. She rejuvenates herself every time hugging a grass bed or climbing on the banyan tree by the river. I completely fell for the raw beauty and natural acting of Shabana in these shots. Could feel every action-cut from the eminent Bengali director.

Umi’s story turns heart-wrenching when she is instructed to get married to a tree. This senseless ritual is still running in India on the belief it will lift the curses. The social context is an unmarried girl after puberty in a family is a sin. Since Uma is mute and poor nobody wants her. In her marriage scene with a banyan tree, the restless and boring bride expressions from Shabana Azmi, then her mute cry when the priest forcefully hit her head on the hard core of the tree made me cry.

Can't stop here..😍