Meenakshi Shedde: Can Indians handle nudity?

A still from the film Nude

Ravi Jadhav's film Nude (Chitra), in Marathi, was released all-India and worldwide on Friday - with English subtitles everywhere, according to the producers. It is a bold and important film, with a tortuous history of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) dropping the film (along with Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's S Durga), from IFFI's Indian Panorama last year.

Nude deals with artistic freedom of expression, and S Durga with how unsafe a woman is in today's India. The MIB's repression of these films speaks volumes, and only vindicates the key concerns addressed in Nude. The Censor Board later gave Nude an A certificate without cuts. The film opens the New York Indian Film Festival: the international cut includes four scenes of frontal nudity that are not in the Indian version.

Ravi Jadhav is that rare Indian artist: a multiple National Award-winning filmmaker, who is yet one of the most successful directors in Marathi cinema. His films reflect an enduring obsession with gender issues and breaching their boundaries. They range from the arthouse Natarang and Bal Gandharva (both on crossdressers), to the delightful, romantic box office hit Time Pass; Balak Palak, on sex education for youngsters, and the sophisticated short film Mitraa, on a lesbian relationship in pre-independence India. Nude, on nudity in art, is a valuable addition to this work. Significantly, the film is produced by Zee Studios and a woman producer, Athaansh's Meghana Jadhav.

Jadhav couches the issue of freedom of expression as a mother-son story. Fleeing an abusive marriage, Yamuna (Kalyanee Mulay) moves with her son Lahanya (Madan Deodhar) to her aunt Chandrakka's (Chhaya Kadam) in a Mumbai slum. Desperate for a job, Chandrakka fixes her one at the JJ School of Art alongside her own: a sweeper on the outside and secretly, a nude model in the art school. Her initial humiliation in undressing before strangers changes as she understands that using the body for art education is similar to anatomy classes for medical education. When Lahanya wants to study art, she shunts him to Aurangabad, to avoid being caught out.

Later, thanks to a misunderstanding, he (mistakenly) denounces her for becoming a sex worker, with tragic consequences. The climax is a stinging one, that lingers long. Nude is a feminist film about a woman fighting patriarchy, and claiming autonomy over her own body. Jadhav also addresses censorship in art through a vandalising protest, and Mallik (Naseeruddin Shah), a stand-in for MF Husain, who says, "Clothes cover only the body; I seek the soul," but is hounded out of the country for painting nudes.

Kalyanee Mulay and Chhaya Kadam are both strong actresses. Sachin Kundalkar and Ravi Jadhav's screenplay, Amalendu Chaudhary's cinematography, and Cyli Khare and Vidya Rao's beautiful songs are assets. Chaudhary is evocative, discreetly shooting a film on nudity without frontal nudity. Unfortunately, the film falls between two stools: its arthouse theme sits uneasily with its broad, mainstream approach. Much of the acting is high pitched, with loud, sentimental music, and avoidable scenes (Yamuna's husband spits paan on her face; her son gets an erection in a public gallery on seeing her nude painting). Yet, Nude appears the work of a daring filmmaker,
determined to address the masses on a vital subject, despite a right-wing regime. Don't miss this important film.

Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshishedde@gmail.com.

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