Ravi Jadhav’s upcoming Marathi film Nude is in the eye of a storm, thanks to the I&B Ministry’s move to pull it out of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The film revolves around the lives of women who act as nude models for artists, and in particular, a mother’s efforts to hide the truth of her profession from her son. It stars Kalyanee Mulay, Chhaya Kadam and Madan Deodhar. It was the jury's unanimous choice as the opening film of the Indian Panorama.
The trailer of Nude, which has been just released, is a collage of powerful evocative visuals that trace the journey of a woman fleeing the men of her village with her son to the big city of Mumbai. Looking for work, she lands up at the Sir JJ School of Art, where she becomes one of the many models who pose nude for the artists. A scene towards the end has the incomparable Naseeruddin Shah explaining how an artist works towards going beyond the body to depict the soul in his paintings.
Quite contrary to any hint of sensationalism or vulgarity - a good look at most of commercial Hindi cinema would perhaps help give the I&B Ministry some perspective - Nude seems to be telling a powerful human story.
Check out the trailer here:
Ravi Jadhav has, interestingly, put up a scathingly snarky post on Facebook directed at the I&B Ministry.
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