Essay about Queen Elizabeth the First
I hold Shekhar Kapoor in high reagard both as a film director and a gentleman. I met him only once when he came to invite me to a private showing of Bandit Queen. The film was having trouble with the censor board because of sences of violence, gangrape and use of abusive langauge,
I saw it, thought it was a masterpiece and everything it showed fully justified as it dealt with a woman Phoolan Devi who had been vilely abused by men and wreaked her vengeance by the only means left to her-taking the law in one hand a gun in the other.
Seema Biswas played the role of the bandit queen with superb skill. I wrote about it as about the best film I had seen in may years. Then came the invitation to a screening of Elizabeth. I read a lot about its reception in England and the States.
Most critics were perplexed that an Indian should be directing a film on so English a theme. They were impressed with the way Kapoor handled it and how he had successfully introduced Bollywood (Hindi film) concepts into Anglo-British concepts of film making. Since I don't trust my own judgments on films, I took along with me a young mother them I would rely heavily on what they thought about it.
"But we like all films," said both of them. That was that. Did Elizabeth I, known as the Virgin Queen, have anything in common with the boatman's daughter Phoolan Devi who became a terror in the ravincs of the chambal? For Shekhar Kapoor the two films were celebrations of violence.
Phoolan, the ganster's moll who with the English Queen did not have to kill people with her own hands. She ordered the beheading of nobleman she found inconvenient. Phoolan had a lot of justification for what she did; Elizabeth had very little; she was simply a sadist.
Phoolan was deflowered in her teens, gangraped many times and had to service youngmen of the gang with whom she lived in the ravines. Queen Elizabeth had many suitors and admirers. Not much is known of her sex life.
According to Shekhar Kapoor, she was a lusty woman. He depicts a love scene in her bed chamber. You can't see much behind the curtains but hear a lot of moaning and screaming to know that the Virgin Queen is in the throes of a sexual climax.
Kapoor has gone to town to celebrate an orgy of gruesome killings. He starts with the burning of Protestants by a Catholic mob. There are many scenes of torture in a dungeon and heads being cut off by an axe.
They can churn the strongest stomach. I found it excessive. I can't fault him on anything else. He studied portraits of Queen Elizabeth and got her likeness in Kate Blanchett-ginger-haired and freckled. Also very animated. He has got the costumes of the period, the dances and the music as authentic as I have seen cr heard.
Nevertheless I found Elizabeth somewhat lacking in focus and a trifle boring. I was in the minority of one. As the hall emptied, I ran into a dozen secretaries of departments of Central Government waiting for their cars. I asked them what they thought of the film. Their unanimous verdict was "excellent." Now that it has won serveral Oscar nominations, the best I can do is to admit that I am a very poor judge of films.