| Director | Fareeda Mehta |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
Sultana (Sadiya Siddiqui), a small town prostitute, and her pimp Khudabaksh migrate to the metropolis, bringing with them their dreams and meagre belongings. Initially, she is bewildered by the crowds and pace of the city. With the help of Anwari (a madam or perhaps a witch), she learns how to find her bearings. As she further encounters the city and its inhabitants, new perspectives open up - sad, comical, ironical but always mysterious. Sultana goes about her bright and artful seductions but somehow misses her targets. Her business collapses. Desperately, Khudabaksh too tries his hands at many jobs but is unsuccessful. His faith in his camera is replaced by his belief in a holy man. Sultana finds herself bereft and turns pensive. Her loneliness and despair get objectified in her desire for the 'kali salwaar' (black trousers) that she needs to complete her black ensemble for the observance of mourning in Moharram (an Islamic lunar calendar month).
One evening, as she solicits from her balcony, she beckons a man. This man, Shankar, inverts their relationship with his wit and worldly wisdom. The downtown and back streets where Sultana's story unfolds is peopled by 'characters' of varying hues, styles and make-up. One of these is the KRISHNA whose story converges with Sultana's though they never meet. Between all these people, goods, favours and money constantly change hands; and destinies are continuously transacted. From these chance meetings, seductive glances, elliptical encounters, graceful gestures and witticisms Kali Salwaar the film unfolds. Plot, colour, identities thicken and dissolve.