Shyam Benegal’s, “Ankur “ Seeds”

by Surender

Anant Nag is Surya, mediocre  student  from Feudal Family  . He wants to go onto further studies but his father, a zamindar, forces him into a marriage with a child bride, Saroj (played by Priya Tendulkar). He is forced to look after farm fields so

Surya went  his own farm field where he begins to take control of a certain part of the land.

At his own house, there is a servant, Lakshmi (Shabana Azmi), an attractive young woman. She belongs to the untouchable caste so those of other caste never touch or eat the food that she cooks the husband of the laxmi . He is deaf and mute, She stop  his advances, showing a devotion to her husband even though Kishtaya is a drunk who spends whatever money they have on drinks and gambling.

When Kishtaya  Husband of Laxmi is caught stealing from Surya’s land, he is given a most humiliating punishment  is parded with Shoes Galand sitting on a Donkey The hair on his head is shaved off and he is put on a donkey and taken for a ride around the village., Kishtaya run  away from home and does not come back.

Anant Nag lured in laxmi’s beauty  Knowing that  she is  Lonely and insecure and deliver lines of affection and  shof off  to be very liberal ,  progressive and kind ,  he also says that he doesn’t believe in the caste system .after a long time of Anant Nag’s effort she gives in , anant Nag exploit her  laxmi physically

When Anant’s Father come to know about this relationship instead of taking any action against anyone , his father sent Ananta’s wife to stay with him ,one day laxmi realize that she has become the pregnant  from Ananta She is caught in a dilemma. Where can she go? Will Surya support her? Should she abort her child? Or should she keep it, seeing that she may never get a chance to be a mother again (she had difficulty conceiving a child with her husband

By the end of the film though, it slowly appears that Surya is no better than his father. Indeed, his associates begin to suggest that he should do the exact same thing that his father has done i.e. give away a piece of the land to his mistress to keep her quiet. It becomes clear that while Surya may have briefly loved Lakshmi, he has exploited her vulnerability and her defenseless situation.

This is why Kishitiya ’s return upsets him so much. He may be deaf and mute but he has a lot of physical strength. Surya is unsettled by the sight of Kishitiya walking across the field towards him with a stick. He assumes that Kishitiya is out to avenge him for sleeping with his wife, so he quickly gathers his henchmen to beat him mercilessly . Lakshmi quickly runs over to help her husband and from her tirade of insults, it transpires that kishtiya  had actually come over to ask for a job .

 Mercilessly Beating of the Kishtiya had rendered the heart of everyone in the village everyone was watching this beating silently  fearfully and with the ocean of anger in their heart  but  they were helpless they could not utter even a single word against  the Zamindaar Surya  crying of laxmi and accusing the surya for beating kishtiya on false pretext of attacking him

Though scene ,scenario film ends here but as a base to next scene , in next scene a child is playing with the kite  and see the surya’s house  she all of sudden  throw kite and take a stone in his hand throw towards the surya’s house  and ran away ..

In fact the story narrate that how the Naxalism emerge in the tribal areas . it also depicts proper and real reasons  of Naxalism  , that it emerge as a result of exploitation , torture  of poor people by the feudal Classes .

Shooting of film in natural location make it more realistic and make of Shabana .i;e Laxmi make it contrived , sex and pregnancy  also seems a constructed reality , though can be natural or real  but look highly prejudiced and  bias attitude towards Dalit