Kamla Ki Maut (1989) User Reviews

A realistic portrayal of premarital relationships in Indian society

[sandeepcnath · 9/10 · 23 April 2020]

Kamla jumps from the apartment complex to her death as her boyfriend left her and she's one month pregnant. This shocks her neighbouring family of a father mother and two young daughters and it makes the daughters introspect their current relationships and parents their past ones.

Usually when dealing with premarital relationships either movies tend to be moralistic and put the blame on women or they get to ultra feminist mode.

This movie does none of that, and ends with a positive note.

I'll be recommending this movie to anyone above 15 as I believe that the movie is really good and the message is so strong and useful for young adults and teenagers.

Great concept, unevenly executed.

[trisha_gupta · 8/10 · 14 March 2006]

Kamla - a young woman in a chawl in Bombay - commits suicide. Turns out she was pregnant, and had problems with a boyfriend who was reluctant to marry her. The event throws everyone around into turmoil. The film focuses on the thoughts and memories of four members of one family in the chawl - Pankaj Kapur, his wife, and his two daughters (one slightly older and one a bit younger than the dead Kamla).

Promising plot and cast, but an uneven script and often ham-handed direction make this a disappointment. It's somewhat redeemed by Pankaj Kapur and Supriya Pathak's superb performances in the final flashback sequence, when Kapur remembers his mis-spent youth. Kapur is brilliantly subtle, as always. But the film is worth a watch just for the effortless fluidity of Supriya Pathak's portrayal. (I so wish someone would write roles for actresses like her which give them something to DO - Ram Gopal Varma cast her perfectly as Amitabh's wife in Sarkar, but she had to make do with some ten minutes of screen time. What a waste of talent.)

Also look out for Irfan Khan (of Maqbool fame) - who appears as elder daughter Roopa Ganguly's convincingly 'out-for-what-he-can-get' boyfriend - and Ashutosh Gowariker (dir. Lagaan, Swades) , who is the potential love interest for the younger daughter... fun to get a glimpse of the 'past lives' of two people who are now important figures in the Hindi film world.