Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa was the story of a period when males ruled and women were only consorts.

 

Shyam Benegal, the winner of 15 National Awards, is best known for films such as Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), and Mandi (1983), among others. But to his younger audience, he is best known as the filmmaker who created several excellent films such as Zubeidaa (2001), Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008), and Well Done Abba (2010). Shyam Benegal's films serve as a cinema school for everyone interested in learning and appreciating the profession. Mr Benegal's extensive career and honors demonstrate that, while commercial filmmaking generates significant box office revenue, films like these are kept for posterity. His sophisticated approach, precise eye, and unique method of conveying a story attracts the audience for the subject itself, rather than the frills that create of packaging a film.

Zubeida Begum was an Indian cinema actress who only played roles based on her own life. She was born in Bombay to a middle-class Muslim family that included her father, Shri Kasembhai Mehta, a businessman, and mother, Faiza Bai, a singer. There are only images of her and no recorded songs of hers from the movies she appeared in, thus the "actress" part is debatable, but either those films are lost or she took part in movies but her roles were so little that they cannot be traced. In any case, she must have played a role in the early 1940s Indian cinema industry, either in the chorus or, as shown in the film, lip-syncing to a song in a movie.

Her father was a strict man who forbade her acting. And got her married to a suitable man; the marriage was miserable, and she gave birth to a son named Khalid Mohammed. The divorce occurred sometime after the Partition.Then Maharaja Hanwant Singh Rathore, King of Jodhpur, came into her life. The two were madly in love and intended to marry; she was 22-24 and he was 25-27 around 1947-1949, when they may have first met; the timeline is a little murky. However, there was opposition based on religion and class divides. She was an actress, divorced, and a Muslim. Everything society opposed, particularly because Hanwant Singh Rathore was royalty and Hindu.

He was also married to Maharani Krishna Kumari, whom he had married in 1943 when they were both quite young: she was a 16-year-old child bride, and he was 20. They had a baby son and two daughters. It was customary to have planned marriages, especially for royalty. In 1947, he succeeded his father as King of Jodhpur. He had already been married twice, including a brief affair with a 19-year-old Scottish nurse Sarah McBryde, whom he married and immediately divorced as the relationship grew tumultuous; whether this occurred while he was still a prince or when he first became Maharaja is unknown.Needless to say, it was a scandal, but only for the reasons I mentioned before, not because he would marry Zubeida and have her as his second wife and, by society's standards, Mistress. Polygamy was a long-standing tradition in both Hindu and Muslim homes, but it has been forbidden and illegal in India since 1956 for all but Muslims and Hindus residing in Goa, a few years after all of this occurred. But the legislation didn't help much, a slap on the wrist and a few frowning looks from society, because it wasn't enforced in any religion, but it's certainly not prevalent nowadays, and no one would openly take a second wife at this age and day.

The zubeidaa was asked to first conver to hindu and then marry the maharaja.

Manoj Bajpai, Amrish Puri, Lillette Dubey, and Rajat Kapoor all have good acting abilities. Rekha performs another excellent effort.

But the major reason to watch Zubeidaa is Karisma Kapoor's brilliant acting. As Zubeidaa, she enters into the character's skin and gives an incredible performance. Apart from Tabu, I don't think anyone could have behaved so well.


Her performance in the film's last sequence, in which she fights Manoj to take her instead of Rekha on a flight designated only for two people, is particularly impressive. Full marks for her brilliance. She is the primary reason that Zubeidaa is entertaining to watch.A R Rehman's music is another standout. "So Gaye Hain" is a haunting tune. ''Main Albeli'' and ''Piya Piya'' are also excellent.

Khalid Mohammad's script is another highlight. Needless to say, Shyam Benegal's direction is superb. He consistently brings out the best in each actor. A fantastic movie. I wish we could see more of these films.Zubeidaa's love, and the eventual relationship she has with Raja Vijendra, is doomed from the start. There is an undiscovered vein running through the film that conveys the futility of Zubeidaa's devotion. It reminds us that passions eventually burn out. But in this story, Zubeidaa burns out.

Long after Zubeidaa's death, her now-adult son Riyaz (Rajit Kapur), a young journalist, attempts to unravel his mother's mystery. He never knew his mother. Riyaz has been raised by his maternal grandmother, Fayyazi Begum.


Zubeidaa's main theme is essentially a story of fairy tale rhapsodies and pains of a young princess, her life, love, death, and eventually her figurative picture as seen through her son's eyes.