Zubeidaa

About the film

Zubeidaa is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Khalid Mohammed. It stars Karisma Kapoor, Rekha, Manoj Bajpayee, Surekha Sikri, Rajit Kapoor, Lillete Dubey, Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, and Shakti Kapoor. A.R. Rahman scored the background music and soundtrack.

Zubeidaa is the concluding chapter in a trilogy that began with Mammo (1994) and continued with Sardari Begum (1996). The film is based on the life of the ill-fated actress Zubeida Begum, who married Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur and was the mother of the film's writer, Khalid Mohamed.

Plot

Zubeidaa is the story of Riyaz's search to understand his mother, who is not known to him, as he was brought up by his maternal grandmother in the absence of his mother. His mother's name was Zubeidaa, and she was the only daughter of a filmmaker named Suleman Seth. Zubeidaa acts in films secretly, but when her father finds out, he forbids her to carry on and quickly arranges her marriage to his friend's son, Dr. Mehboob Alam, who becomes a Gharjamai. Things seem happy for her when she gives birth to Riyaz. However, a disagreement arises between Suleman and Mehboob's father, and Mehboob divorces Zubeidaa a few days after she gives birth.

Heartbroken Zubeidaa then meets Maharaja Vijayendra Singh of Fatehpur. Vijayendra is already married to Maharani Mandira Devi and is the father of two children. Nevertheless, he falls in love with Zubeidaa, and they get married, but there is continuous turmoil in their relationship. Riyaz learns through Zubeidaa's journal that though she loved Vijayendra dearly, she was unable to follow the stifling customs of the palace. She was also uncomfortable because of her brother-in-law Uday Singh's sexual advances towards her and his demands of her to have an extramarital affair with him.

Riyaz travels to Fatehpur and asks many people about his mother. However, all except Mandira, whom Zubeidaa called "Mandy Didi," either deny that his mother ever existed or say that she was a horrible woman who seduced their king and caused his death in a plane crash.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released in 2000 and features eight tracks, all composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Lata Mangeshkar collaborated with the musician again for a couple of tracks. Other singers, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Alka Yagnik walked away with all accolades for their renditions in their respective tracks.

Reception

Suman Tarafdar of Filmfare described the film as "very much a classy Benegal film, with new explorations of the human relationships in their multi-layered frameworks" and praised Kapoor "for having come up with such an assured performance". In her review for The Tribune, Aradhika Sekhon stated that the film is “a milestone as far as women-oriented movies are concerned,” and that Kapoor “surpassed herself as the passionate, defiant, wilful and troubled Zubeidaa, the truly modern woman.“ Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu found it to be "among the better offerings of Benegal," and was positive of Kapoor and Rekha's performances, but termed Bajpayee's performance as "not-so-convincing."

Awards

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi

Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Karisma Kapoor

Key details