Review
By ANIL RATURI
Last weekend, I saw a Garhwali film, titled “Bathow: Subero Gham-2”, which is being screened at a PVR theatre in Doon. It is a sequel to a previous film by the same name. I was pleasantly surprised by the artistic and technical quality of the film. The modern film studios of today can create any location for the film makers. Seduced by this convenience, most of the films these days are being made in studios. However, most of this film has been shot in the difficult though beautiful remote mountainous locations of Uttarakhand. The film’s spectacular visuals are a tribute to the beauty of Devbhoomi and a testimony to the hard work put in by the Director. The viewer gets an authentic experience of the Garhwal villages.
The veteran Bollywood and Regional Cinema actress, Urmi Negi, convincingly plays the role of a Garhwali woman and the main protagonist of the film.
The movie is a work of art that poignantly depicts the life and predicament of a hill woman’s arduous life. The cut back and flash back narrative technique adopted by the film successfully evokes a natural pathos in the audience! Apart from sensitively portraying an engrossing human story, the film also brings to the fore some very important contemporary social issues that are relevant to the hill society of Uttarakhand. Such as the challenges faced by the people due to inadequate educational and health infrastructure, unemployment, alcoholism,
abuse of women and the socio-economic circumstances compelling the unskilled youth to migrate to the urban centres of the country. This, in turn, often leads to their exploitation at the hands of unethical employers in big cities.
In Garhwali, ‘Bathow’ means a storm. The trend of large scale migration of people from the hills to the plains leaving behind abandoned ghost villages in Garhwal has been symbolically depicted as an unhappy storm–“Batho” in the film. Despite the adversity depicted in the narrative, the film ends on an optimistic note when a new morning sunrise (“Subero Gham” in Garhwali) promises a better future!
Another remarkable feature of the film is its music and songs. Both the cultural icons of Uttarakhand, Narendra Singh Negi and Pritam Bharatwan, have composed and melodiously sung the film’s songs.
Apart from giving a brilliant acting performance, Urmi Negi has also Written, Produced and Directed this beautiful film!
The film has made a commendable effort to propagate the cause of Garhwali Cinema, in particular, and Regional Cinema in general. It deserves to be seen by one and all!