. Conversations at the Edge (CATE)

The Servant’s Shirt (Nankar Ki Kameez)

Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | April 24, 2003

Thursday, April 24, 2003, 8pm

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Mani Kaul in person!

Artist-in-Residence Mani Kaul’s third program in our spring Conversations at the Edge series is his deeply compassionate exploration of social issues confronting ordinary Indians, The Servant’s Shirt.  In a small Indian town in the early 1960’s, a young, lower caste couple – Santu and his wife Bahu – struggle with a leaking roof and occupational challenges and frustration.  Through an experimental narrative form, the film touches on sickness, social intercourse, poverty and class struggle as Kaul successfully portrays the claustrophobic and rigid hierarchical structure that dominates the small town in which the protagonists live.  The Servant’s Shirt is an affecting study on the idea of creativity and individual freedom, an ongoing theme in Kaul’s work. 1999, Mani Kaul, India, 104 min, 35mm.