For those who have read Mohan Rakesh's powerful short story 'Uski Roti', Mani Kaul's film will not be a letdown. Though I could not make myself like 'Satah se Uthata Admi' and 'Siddheshwari', the originality of Mani's visual vocabulary is something even the most disappointed would acknowledge. For someone who had a pre-existing imagination of the dusty road, the harsh sun, numerous flies, and mud houses, having read Rakesh's vivid story, Mani's film is astoundingly fulfilling. I am not sure what Rakesh himself thought of the film, but I feel he had a reason to be proud. The film is an eccentric, pathbreaking, but sincere adaptation. Sadly, I don't think Mani's method worked in all his subsequent films, even though 'Naukar ki Kameez' worked out exceptionally well. Uski Roti, the film, is something else. Even today, after all the Bresson and Godard, its visceral texture manages to captivate you. Wonder what those who saw it in theatres, back then in 1969, felt. The film, however, also makes you wonder why not many films adapted the treasure of Hindi Literature.
I also felt Mohan Rakesh haunts the film, his absence looms over its entire length. The odd mix of sadness, anger, fear, resistance, and surrender, that his story holds in perfect tension, Mani has filled into his images. I wish to read Uski Roti again.
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