Dastak
Tells the story of newly weds Hamid and Salma. They move into a rental flat next door to the local red light district. The flat had been the former home of a well known mujra and qawali singer, Shamshad. Men still come to the door in the hope of seeing Shamshad and do not seem too put out by seeing Salma despite her protestations. The couple struggle to live within the bounds of their own moral code while the earnings of prostitution seem to be flaunted around them. Hamid gets more and more angry and seemingly unable to reconcile his morality with the immorality of the world and at one point beats his wife and then rapes her making her into a 'whore' of his fantasy. The story here bears resemblance to the later 'Ek Chadar Maili Si' by the same director and seems to explore the complex world of women and sexuality as viewed by Indian men: mother, goddess, whore. This film also explores the ethos of prostitution in its reality and as a metaphor for the outside world.
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TMDB Reviews
2 weeks ago
Dastak (1970 film)
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Cinematography
Edited by
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Release date
- December 31, 1970
Running time
140 minutes
Country
India
Directorial debut of Rajinder Singh Bedi.
Review by Dr Usman Latif Khawaja
It is rare for Indian tradition to indulge itself in the taboo subject of studying sexual attitudes and examining the institution of marriage as a form of moral prostitution, but some boldly creative minds like Rajinder Singh Bedi can venture into this dark territory with a controversial and contorted theme of the sacred bond of marriage and prostitution in comparison, as the two are just as integral to human society as existence itself.
Bedi has designed a newlywed Muslim couple as his protagonists who move to Bombay and rent a house which was the previous abode of a courtesan. Their desperation for accommodation in the metropolis is such that they are unaware of that vital information which will change their existence forever.
That the virtuous wife Salma, played by Rehana Sultan, has a penchant for playing the sitar and sings Urdu poetry as a hobby, as her father is a great Muslim musical maestro, is the bizarre twist that forms the basis of this moral marital drama.
The movie is a dark satire on identity and space in Indian society, as the privacy of a home becomes a somewhat dubious territory, and Salma and Hamid find themselves caught in a bizarre trap where they are solicited by the degenerate male clientele who are attracted to t...
