Cultural/Spiritual Perspective of Water (2005)

Image: Wikimedia.org

       

      Within the Indian Bollywood movie Water (2005), there are several images of water which are used to convey a cultural and spiritual perspective. However, when I was viewing this movie, there were three different cultural/spiritual perspectives of water which stood out to me the most. These three following images of water were used as a symbolic representation that incorporated each of these two perspectives.
      The first image of water that intrigued me was the droplet of water on the green leaf during the opening scene of the movie. This water image symbolizes a cultural and spiritual rebirth. This is because the year the movie takes place is 1938 when Gandhi is doing his movement in India. It was a time of change. This was due to the social movement of change which challenged the traditional caste system of India for the ways of modern human justice. Therefore, the water on the green leaf also symbolizes the growth of the main child protagonist  Chuyia as she begins her journey into the life of widowhood after the death of her much older husband.
        The second image which I connected to cultural and spiritual perspectives was the water in the river. This was because the water in the river connects Kalyani to her love interest Narayan. This connection serves as a cultural and spiritual perspective because Kalyani and      Narayan are a representation of Radha and Krishna which are two deities  in the Hindu religion. The water is a spiritual way for them to connect with each other due to their different caste systems. Yet it is also a divider of their love because it makes Kalyani realize her and Narayan cannot be together because she was a prostitute his father slept with.
            The final image which had a cultural and spiritual perspective within Water (2005) was the water that was sprinkled from the container by a woman wearing the color of white which signifies mourning and death within Indian culture. This act of sprinkling water was done in front of the Hindu priest who was reading the Hindu Holy Texts. This shows that the water is seen as a spiritual and cultural purifier because it was sprinkled on the floor near the priest by the woman as a sign to show spiritual respect and to also purify herself within the priest's presence.
           Overall, by using the image of water as a cultural/spiritual perspective in the Indian Bollywood movie Water (2005), viewers are able to learn more about how the Indian spiritual and cultural perspectives are. They can then tie them into their own interpretations of the characters by seeing the actions and choices each the characters made within Water (2005).