Water (2005/I)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Deepa Mehta

Writers:

Anurag Kashyap (dialogue)
Deepa Mehta (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Tradition | India | Love | Ashram

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 10 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Sarala	...	Chuyia
Buddhi Wickrama	...	Baba
Rinsly Weerarathne	...	Chuyia's Husband
Iranganie Serasinghe	...	Mother in Law (as Iranganee Serasinghe)
Hermantha Gamage	...	Barber
Ronica Sajnani	...	Kunti
Manorama	...	Madhumati (as Manorma)
Rishma Malik	...	Snehalata
Meera Biswas	...	Gyanvati
Vidula Javalgekar	...	Patiraji aka Auntie (as Dr. Vidula Javalgekar)
Seema Biswas	...	Shakuntala
Lisa Ray	...	Kalyani
Sanoja Bibile	...	Woman Bather
Dolly Ahluwalia	...	Upset Woman (as Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari)
John Abraham	...	Narayan
Waheeda Rehman	...	Bhagavati, Narayan's Mother
Daya Alwis	...	Saduram
Raghuvir Yadav	...	Gulabi
Vinay Pathak	...	Rabindra
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Sadananda
Delon Weerasinghe	...	Priest
Seema	...	Bahu-Rani
Francisca Mudannayake	...	Little Girl
Mulchand Dedhia	...	Vendor
Isuru Navodya	...	Young Patiraji
Niroshan Wijesinghe	...	Patiraji's Groom
Gerson Da Cunha	...	Seth Dwarkanath
Vasant Nath	...	Young Gandhi Follower
Mohan Jhangiani	...	Mahatma Gandhi
Zul Vilani	...	Mahatma Gandhi (voice)
Kumari Dissanayake	...	Widow
S. Thevanamma	...	Widow
Seelawathie Silva	...	Widow
Siththi Ummah	...	Widow
Fowzie Inaya	...	Widow
Mala Meenachchi	...	Widow
A.A. Premawathie	...	Widow
Nazeema Farlya	...	Widow
T. Mageswari	...	Widow
H. Pathiranage	...	Widow
S. Pooneswary	...	Widow
S. Parameshawari	...	Widow
S. Santhanam Mary	...	Widow
S. Rajeshwari	...	Widow
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Deepa Mehta	...	Special Appearance (uncredited)

Directed by
Deepa Mehta

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Anurag Kashyap		dialogue
Deepa Mehta		writer

Produced by
Mark Burton	....	executive producer
David Hamilton	....	producer
Doug Mankoff	....	executive producer
Dilip Mehta	....	associate producer
Marek Posival	....	associate producer
Ajay Virmani	....	executive producer
Claire Welland	....	line producer

Original Music by
Mychael Danna
A.R. Rahman

Cinematography by
Giles Nuttgens

Film Editing by
Colin Monie

Casting by
Uma Da Cunha

Art Direction by
Sumant Jayakrishnan

Set Decoration by
Rumana Hamied
Lal Harindranath

Costume Design by
Dolly Ahluwalia

Makeup Department
Lalith Dharmawardena	....	assistant hair stylist
Hermantha Gamage	....	daily makeup artist
Liz Gruszka	....	key makeup artist
Regan Noble	....	key hair stylist
Regan Noble	....	wig maker: Raghubir Yadav
Ravi Wickramanayake	....	hair stylist: Lisa Ray
Ranjit Wickramasinghe	....	assistant makeup artist (as Ranjith Wickremasinghe)

Production Management
Lylie Almedia	....	unit production manager (as Lylie Almeida)
W. Michael Beard	....	post-production supervisor
Gina Fowler	....	production manager
Asoka Perera	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Avani Batra	....	third assistant director
Jack Boem	....	second assistant director
Dylan Gray	....	first assistant director
Siddique Mohamed	....	third assistant director
Péter Palátsik	....	second assistant director: India
Akshay Roy	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Ranjith Anuradha	....	chief painter
Michael Appuhamy	....	carpenter
Saddika Asanka	....	carpenter
K.D. Charles	....	carpenter
K.D. Jagath Christy	....	carpenter
Hemasiri Dias	....	assistant property master
S.N.S. Samanda Dias	....	plasterer
Lal Dissanayake	....	plasterer
Lal Dissanayake	....	swing gang
Edward	....	plasterer
Rohan Fernando	....	carpenter
Ronnie Fonseka	....	carpenter
W.L.G. Fonseka	....	carpenter
W. Manjula Fonseka	....	carpenter
Gamini	....	facilities laborer
Rumana Hamied	....	set dresser
Jayan Hasitha	....	carpenter
Kingsley Joseph	....	plasterer
K.D. Justin	....	construction manager
Darshana Sampath Karunaratne	....	props assistant
P.U. Karunaratne	....	painter
Errol Kelly	....	design consultant
Sunil Kodituwakku	....	painter
Chaminda Saman Kumara	....	carpenter
W. Saman Kumara	....	carpenter
Lionel Liyanage	....	property master
A. Magulpokuna	....	carpenter
P.K. Manjula	....	facilities laborer
G.T.R. Mendis	....	carpenter
Victor Meniksagara	....	props laborer
Murli Menon	....	property master
P.D. Michael	....	set dressing carpenter
Damith Nandalal	....	stand-by props
A. Nandasiri	....	props laborer
Senaka Nawaratne	....	second assistant art director
Senaka Nawaratne	....	sketch artist
Salinda Perera	....	carpenter
W. Chamitha Perera	....	carpenter
Nihal Ponweera	....	construction buyer
R.G. Ranoj Priyantha	....	painter
Anura Priyashantha	....	carpenter
B.R.C. Rajasiri	....	swing gang
Welegedara Ranasinghe	....	assistant set decorator
Mohamed Risran	....	plasterer
Colin Rodrigo	....	carpenter
Percy Rodrigo	....	carpenter
Tuan Saiffadeen	....	facilities laborer
N. Senaratne	....	set dressing assistant
Aradhana Seth	....	design consultant
Yogender Sharma	....	set props
Roy Silva	....	carpenter
Upali Silva	....	carpenter
Siddarth Sirohi	....	third assistant art director
Roshan Susantha	....	plasterer
Anthony Thomas	....	carpenter
I.M.U. Upatissa	....	painter
J.M.D. Chamitha Wasantha	....	carpenter
Lionel Wattege	....	set dressing carpenter
L.M. Ruwan Wijenundara	....	carpenter
Sunil Wijeratne	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Sylvain Arseneault	....	sound recordist
Steve Baine	....	foley artist (as Steve Bain)
Roberta Bratti	....	supervisor of audio operations
Christian Carruthers	....	sound re-recording mixer
Elius Caruso	....	sound re-recording mixer
Pat Cassin	....	boom operator
Shreela Chakrabartty	....	location sound effects recordist
Bryan Day	....	sound recordist
Lal C. Dissanayake	....	sound recordist
John Dykstra	....	adr recordist
Mark Gingras	....	supervising sound editor
Jamie Gould	....	re-recording assistant
Gina Gyles	....	foley assistant
John Laing	....	supervising sound editor
John Loranger	....	first assistant sound editor (as John L'Oranger)
Matthew McKenzie	....	adr recordist
Aditya Modi	....	assistant sound engineer
Mike Paterson	....	sound engineer: optical track
Karunadasa Pathiratne	....	cable person
Peter Persaud	....	foley recordist
S. Sivakumar	....	sound engineer
H. Sridhar	....	sound engineer
Andrew Tay	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
R.R.B. Alphonso	....	key special effects
Gamini Mallawarachchi	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Rebecca Adams	....	production coordinator: SOHO VFX
Alan Bak	....	technical supervisor
Jeff Baker	....	technical supervisor
Tom Bak	....	senior production supervisor
Drake Conrad	....	digital colorist
Jason Giberson	....	film scanning and recording
Rick Hannigan	....	project supervisor
Felix Heeb	....	film scanning and recording
Anna Ivanova	....	digital compositor: SOHO VFX
Michael Kowalski	....	producer: Soho vfx
Wojciech Kufner	....	3D animator: Soho VFX
Matthew Lynch	....	producer: Soho VFX
Diana Madureira	....	production coordinator
Allan Magled	....	visual effects supervisor (as Alan Magled)
Paul Mantler	....	film scanning and recording
Mike Mombourquette	....	digital compositor: SOHO VFX
Chris Ross	....	digital optical effects
Keith Sellers	....	digital compositor: Soho VFX
Michael Todd Smith	....	systems administrator: SOHO VFX
Derek Sunderland	....	3D animator: Soho VFX
Mark Tureski	....	digital opticals effects

Stunts
Teddy Vidyalankara	....	stunt coordinator (as Teddy Widyalankara)

Camera and Electrical Department
Deepak Agarwal	....	chief electrician
Bob Davidson	....	gaffer: Sri Lanka
Mulchand Dedhia	....	gaffer
K.A. Dharshana	....	grip
Piyal Illeyaperuma	....	best boy grip
Melanie Jeffrey	....	second assistant camera
Surendra Kumar	....	best boy electric
Nihal Mallawarachchi	....	generator operator
Champilka Nilantha	....	third assistant camera
K.K.N. Palitha	....	electrician
Anura Perera	....	grip
Milton Philip	....	facilities electrician
Adhi Rutnam	....	electrician
Devyani Saltzman	....	still photographer
Eberhard Schedl	....	Steadicam operator
Lilia Sellami	....	first assistant camera
Kerry Smart	....	first assistant camera
I.G. Somaratne	....	electrician
L.E. Susantha Sudharshana	....	electrician
D. Van Gramberg	....	key grip (as Denham Van Gramberg)
Johnny Wersta	....	dolly grip

Casting Department
Dinesh Anchan	....	casting assistant
Kate Chantler	....	extras casting
Moly Perera	....	extras casting assistant
Nimal Wijesirl	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lucky Athauda	....	assistant costumer
Suraj Azmath	....	assistant costumer
Yusuf Khan	....	wardrobe supervisor
Hira Lol	....	dresser
Inoka Nilanthi Ruhunge	....	assistant costumer
Seema	....	wardrobe assistant
Narinder Singh	....	costume assistant
Viswa	....	tailor
Yusuf	....	costume department manager

Editorial Department
Drake Conrad	....	digital color timer
Tom Mayclim	....	negative cutter
Arthur Montreuil	....	color timer
Ricardo Olivero	....	color timer
Paul Whitehead	....	additional editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Raqueeb Alam	....	playback singer
Ulhas Bapat	....	musician: santoor (as Ulhas Bhapat)
Surjo Bhattacharya	....	playback singer
Peter Breiner	....	conductor
Kaushiki Chakraborty	....	playback singer
Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty	....	playback singer
Rakesh Chaurasia	....	musician: bansuri
Mychael Danna	....	musician: tanpura
V. Selva Ganesh	....	musician: kanjiras (as Selva Ganesh)
Ganga	....	playback singer
Elif Isikozlu	....	musician: piano
Madhu	....	musician: shehenai
Srinivas Murthy	....	orchestral sounds
G.S. Sachdev	....	musician: bass bansui/raag khamaj
Sadhana Sargam	....	playback singer
Anoushka Shankar	....	musician: sitar
Bravani Shanker	....	musician: pakawaj, manjira, tabla
Richa Sharma	....	playback singer
Rob Simonsen	....	assistant to composer
Sukhwinder Singh	....	playback singer
H. Sridhar	....	additional music editor

Transportation Department
M.Z. Ahmeer	....	transportation captain
Tyrol Anderson	....	driver
Raj Anthony	....	driver
Gamini Dabare	....	driver
Nihal Dabare	....	driver
Sunil Jayakody	....	driver
Chandimal Kodituwakku	....	transportation coordinator
Nuwan Manju	....	driver
Vujitha Peiris	....	driver
Susil Premachandra	....	driver
Sunil Premaratne	....	picture vehicle coordinator
M. Premasiri	....	driver
Anura Priyantha	....	driver
R.M.V. Ratnayake	....	safety driver
Vidura Sampath	....	driver
P.A. Ajith Shantha	....	driver

Other crew
Aruni De Silva	....	nurse
A.W. Dharmadasa	....	facilities
Pearl Dunuwila	....	production coordinator
Janice Fowlie	....	production accountant
Krishantha Gunasekera	....	cashier
Krishantha Gunasekera	....	location accountant
Lon J. Hall	....	legal counsel
Vivian Hanwell	....	assistant to producers
Sarath Jayasundara	....	production assistant
Winnifred Jong	....	script supervisor
Anurag Kashyap	....	dialogue consultant: Hindi
Anurag Kashyap	....	script consultant
Errol Kelly	....	design consultant
Anthony Lordon	....	location manager
Chaminda Meemanage	....	cashier
Deepa Mehta	....	development consultant
J.W. Mendis	....	facilities manager
Vikramaditya Motwane	....	choreographer
M. Nandadiri	....	assistant location manager
Vasant Nath	....	assistant to director
Jagath Nissanka	....	production assistant
Rienzie Perera	....	assistant location manager
S.A. Premadasa	....	facilities assistant
Suranga Ranawaka	....	crowd control
Mohamed Rizva	....	crowd control
Ranjith Rubesinghe	....	crowd control
Ruwan	....	on-set craft services
Jayasiri Samaratunga	....	facilities assistant
Michael Schaus	....	assistant to producers
Elaine Scott	....	business affairs
Nirmal Shah	....	cashier
Aruna Shantha	....	crowd control
Kingsley Umara	....	crowd control
Paul Whitehead	....	co-edited english version
Jasmine Wickremasekera	....	production secretary
Neelawathura Wijewardena	....	animal handler

Thanks
George Lucas	....	ultra thanks
A.R. Rahman	....	musical thanks

Production Companies

• Deepa Mehta Films
• Flagship International
• David Hamilton Productions
• Echo Lake Productions (I)
• Noble Nomad Pictures
• Téléfilm Canada

Distributors

• Filmcoopi Zürich (2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Films sans Frontières (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Golden Village Entertainment (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Metrodome Distribution (2007) (UK) (theatrical)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Casablanca Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Metrodome Distribution (2007) (UK) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (2005) (Canada) (all media)
• Prorom Media-Trade (2005) (Romania) (all media)
• Sony BMG Music Entertaintment (2007) (Germany)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2009) (Australia) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Soho VFX

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  dollies
• Cine-Byte Imaging  digital intermediate
• Cinetic Media  sales
• Deluxe Post-Production  sound post-production
• Kate's Casting  extras casting
• Saregama HMV  soundtrack released by: India (as Saregama India Limited)
• Urban Post Production  sound post-production
• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack released by

Also Known As:

River Moon (Canada: English title) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual situations, and for brief drug use.

Runtime:

USA:117 min | Canada:114 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:117 min

Country:

Canada | India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Australia:M | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:12 | New Zealand:M | India:U | Norway:A | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Central Province, Sri Lanka

Company:

Deepa Mehta Films

Trivia:

For the role of Chuyia, Mehta auditioned 50 girls.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene when Chuiya is first running up the steps after Kaalu, she is barefoot. When the camera switches perspectives, she has a pair of sandals on. In the next frame, she is barefoot again.

Quotes:

Bhagavati: God willing she'll reborn as a man.

Movie Connections:

References Pather Panchali (1955)

Soundtrack:

Chan Chan

Hooray, Deepa!

I saw this film on a Saturday afternoon in a theater with about 40 other people, split about 60/40, females to males. All ages although the younger viewers were mainly female. (late teens) Towards the end, as I was choking back tears and grabbing at Kleenex's, I looked around as there was total silence from the audience. It was AWED SILENCE, people! Every woman was bawling her eyes out and the men, without exception, were scrunched down into their collars, staring intently, holding back tears. This is Deepa's finest hour. She can retire now knowing she has made a worthy film. I would have voted 10 but there were a few technical glitches such as one moment were the color/lighting changed for about 3 seconds in an important scene and then snapped back. No blame to Deepa, though. I have sent several to see the film and all have raved about it, Can hardly wait to buy the DVD and see it again. The criticisms were political and should not be considered. Any film that criticizes aspects of a religion gets blasted from fundamentalists. This film is NOT a political statement. It is entertainment based on a political statement. It should not be missed. Brava!!!