{ "id": "epyppweegz", "slug": "mrityudand", "title": "Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema", "label": "Indian films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s", "label": "Hindi films of the 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films", "label": "Romance and drama films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films", "label": "India · 1946 to 2000: Romance and drama films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films", "path": [ { "id": "geo.ind", "label": "India", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946", "label": "India · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema", "label": "Indian films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s", "label": "Hindi films of the 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s" }, { "id": "geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films", "label": "Romance and drama films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.ind.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड, Death Sentence) is a 1997 Hindi drama directed, written, and produced by Prakash Jha, starring Madhuri Dixit, Shabana Azmi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Ayub Khan, and Om Puri; three women resist patriarchy in a Bihar village.", "snippet": "Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड, Death Sentence) is a 1997 Hindi drama directed, written, and produced by Prakash Jha, starring Madhuri Dixit, Shabana Azmi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Ayub Khan, and Om Puri; three women resist patriarchy in a Bihar village.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.hindi-films-of-the-1990s.romance-and-drama-films", "markdown": "# Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड)\n\n**Mrityudand** (मृत्युदंड; \"Death Sentence\") is a 1997 Hindi-language drama film directed, produced, and written by [Prakash Jha](https://www.edgepedia.org/prakash-jha), starring [Madhuri Dixit](https://www.edgepedia.org/madhuri-dixit), Shabana Azmi, Ayub Khan, Shilpa Shirodkar, and [Om Puri](https://www.edgepedia.org/om-puri) in the principal roles.[1](https://hindiwikia.com/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%28%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%29) It was released in India on 11 July 1997.[1](https://hindiwikia.com/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%28%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%29) The film places three women at the center of its narrative and follows their resistance to patriarchal oppression in a Bihar village, against a backdrop of caste and class conflict.[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 11 July 1997, India; Hindi language drama[1](https://hindiwikia.com/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%28%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%29) |\n| Director, writer, producer | Prakash Jha, co-producing with G.S. Mayawala under Prakash Jha Productions[1](https://hindiwikia.com/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%28%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%29) • [3](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-21-january-2022-from-our-issue-dated-25th-january-1997/) |\n| Principal cast | Madhuri Dixit (Ketki), Shabana Azmi (Chandravati), Shilpa Shirodkar (Kanti), Ayub Khan (Vinay Singh), Om Puri (Rambaran), Mohan Agashe, Mohan Joshi[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics) • [4](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/mrityudand) |\n| Music and crew | Music by Anand-Milind, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, cinematography by Rajan Kothari[4](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/mrityudand) |\n| Censor and format | Certified U/A on 26 June 1997; 155 minutes on 18 reels of 35mm color film[4](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/mrityudand) |\n| Award | Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Asian Cinema, Bangkok Film Festival, 1998[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422552/awards/) |\n| Career significance | Jha calls it the turning point of his career and his deliberate entry into mainstream Hindi cinema[6](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/prakash-jha-considers-mrityudand-to-be-turning-point-of-his-career-recalls-how-madhuri-dixit-was-roped-in-9161855/lite/) • [2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and setting\n\nThe film is set in the fictional Bihari village of Bilaspur. It opens with the killing of a widow, Ganga, and her mother Tara, who are accused of witchcraft and dishonorable behavior and hunted down by a mob after the local panchayat orders the widow's murder; the local politician Durga Pandey ([Harish Patel](https://www.edgepedia.org/harish-patel)) then scrambles to round up witnesses before the Collector and police arrive.[7](https://anuradhawarrier.blogspot.com/2016/03/mrityudand-1997.html)\n\n**Three women at the center.** Jha placed three women at the heart of the narrative, a choice he has not repeated since: the exploited low-caste Kanti ([Shilpa Shirodkar](https://www.edgepedia.org/shilpa-shirodkar)); the long-suffering Chandravati ([Shabana Azmi](https://www.edgepedia.org/shabana-azmi)), branded barren by her husband's undeclared impotence; and Ketki (Madhuri Dixit), a young bride married into a thakur household whose fortunes are threatened from within and without.[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics) Ketki, an educated woman with an urban background, first resists her husband Vinay Singh's drunken demands with the line that made the film famous, \"Aap pati hain, parmeshwar banne ki koshish mat keejiye\" (You are a husband, do not try to become a god), and then becomes the pillar around whom the village's harassed women gather the strength to defy their exploitative male oppressors.[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics)\n\nThe trade paper Film Information summarized the premise as the story of three women in a backward Bihar village where male chauvinism is at its peak and women are treated as pieces of furniture, and who dare to protest and break the myth that it is the wont of women to suffer in silence.[8](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-8-july-2022-from-our-issue-dated-12th-july-1997/) One widely discussed scene has Chandravati, pregnant after an affair with the lower-caste Rambaran (Om Puri), answer her sister-in-law Ketki's alarmed question about whose child it is with a single word: \"Mera\" (Mine).[9](https://www.sociolegalreview.com/ugd/fc6957_76bddf3e19024bcdbd75c27300133ed2.pdf)\n\n## Production and casting\n\nJha wrote the screenplay expecting NFDC support, but the economics had changed. By his account, the film could no longer be made for the Rs 1.2 million (Rs 12 lakh) of his earlier pictures; it would cost Rs 2.5 million to 3 million (Rs 25 to 30 lakh) and need to earn at least Rs 4 million (Rs 40 lakh) to recover.[6](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/prakash-jha-considers-mrityudand-to-be-turning-point-of-his-career-recalls-how-madhuri-dixit-was-roped-in-9161855/lite/) He had signed [Pallavi Joshi](https://www.edgepedia.org/pallavi-joshi) for the lead, but could not raise the money. When the filmmaker [Subhash Ghai](https://www.edgepedia.org/subhash-ghai) heard the story, he suggested making the film with Madhuri Dixit and introduced Jha to her on a set where she was shooting the song \"Dhak Dhak Karne Laga\"; Jha narrated the story between breaks and Dixit agreed by the end of the day.[6](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/prakash-jha-considers-mrityudand-to-be-turning-point-of-his-career-recalls-how-madhuri-dixit-was-roped-in-9161855/lite/) Jha later said that if he had cast parallel cinema actors he would not have got any money, and that the film's publicity alone cost Rs 1.2 million (Rs 12 lakh), the entire budget of his first film Damul.[10](https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-political-filmmaker-110111300031_1.html)\n\nShooting finished in January 1997: a song picturisation on Madhuri Dixit and [Ayub Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/ayub-khan) was filmed at [Panchgani](https://www.edgepedia.org/panchgani) from 14 to 17 January, completing the entire shooting of the production.[3](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-21-january-2022-from-our-issue-dated-25th-january-1997/) The film passed censorship with a U/A certificate dated 26 June 1997.[4](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/mrityudand)\n\n## Themes\n\nJha has described the film as his response to the political and economic shifts of the 1990s in Bihar: with the 1991 economic reforms and the rise of OBC political power, spending power shifted from the privileged landed class to the backward-class contractors, from zamindar (hereditary landowner gentry; thekedar means contractor) to thekedar. Through the stories of the three women he tied that upheaval to the one group who continued to suffer across every class: women.[11](https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/entertainment/2819000-there-cant-be-stories-without-conflicts-prakash-jha-on-how-changing-socio-political-dynamics-influence-his-films) [Business Standard](https://www.edgepedia.org/business-standard) characterized the film as being about a decrepit high-caste family trying to salvage itself in the face of the rise of low-caste contractors in Bihar, and about the caste and class divides of the state.[10](https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-political-filmmaker-110111300031_1.html)\n\nThe Caravan's retrospective reading notes that the film's moral lines are drawn broadly, with the women as paragons or victims and the villain Tirpat Singh and his cronies as unmitigated evil, and that the film traces Ketaki's courage to her atypical upbringing as the adored only child of a professor; the villains blame her urban, educated background for her troublemaking.[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics) A reviewer for the blog Conversations Over Chai places the film in the late-1990s wave of mainstream films that kept masala conventions, song, dance, and star wattage, while demanding a strong script, and notes its subtext of social justice, gender equality, male dominance, and caste and class conflict.[7](https://anuradhawarrier.blogspot.com/2016/03/mrityudand-1997.html)\n\n## Reception and place in Jha's career\n\nThe film received critical acclaim and awards and did reasonably well commercially, establishing Jha's foothold in commercial cinema.[10](https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-political-filmmaker-110111300031_1.html) It won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Asian Cinema, at the 1998 Bangkok Film Festival.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422552/awards/) The trade response was more cautious: Film [Information](https://www.edgepedia.org/information) judged it a serious film with inherent class appeal, lacking regular masala such as hit music, comedy, and romance, predicted losses for most distributors, and noted that tax exemption in [Maharashtra](https://www.edgepedia.org/maharashtra) and [Madhya Pradesh](https://www.edgepedia.org/madhya-pradesh) would help to an extent; it praised the camerawork of Rajen Kothari, the background music of Raghunath Seth, and Jha's extraction of strong performances from the whole cast.[8](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-8-july-2022-from-our-issue-dated-12th-july-1997/) The Deccan Herald later wrote that the film initially did not make the commercial grade even as it was universally applauded.[12](https://www.deccanherald.com/features/fact-matter-2052574)\n\nJha himself calls the film the turning point of his career: until then he had made what he calls pure cinema, and Mrityudand was the first film in which he chose commercial elements and put them into his own sensibility. Had it not worked, he has said, he would never have been able to make another movie.[6](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/prakash-jha-considers-mrityudand-to-be-turning-point-of-his-career-recalls-how-madhuri-dixit-was-roped-in-9161855/lite/) • [13](https://competitiveness.in/ive-never-thought-great-film-maker/) The Caravan describes it as the film with which Jha made his deliberate and highly successful entry into mainstream [Hindi cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindi-cinema).[2](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics)\n\n## References\n\n1. [मृत्युदंड (फ़िल्म), Hindi Wikia](https://hindiwikia.com/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%28%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%29)\n2. [His World Of Politics, The Caravan (Trisha Gupta, 1 August 2011)](https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/his-world-politics)\n3. [FLASHBACK: From our issue dated 25th January 1997, Film Information](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-21-january-2022-from-our-issue-dated-25th-january-1997/)\n4. [Mrityudand (1997), Cinemaazi](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/mrityudand)\n5. [Prakash Jha, Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422552/awards/)\n6. [Prakash Jha considers Mrityudand to be turning point of his career, The Indian Express (ANI, 14 February 2024)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/prakash-jha-considers-mrityudand-to-be-turning-point-of-his-career-recalls-how-madhuri-dixit-was-roped-in-9161855/lite/)\n7. [Conversations Over Chai: Mrityudand (1997)](https://anuradhawarrier.blogspot.com/2016/03/mrityudand-1997.html)\n8. [FLASHBACK: From our issue dated 12th July 1997, Film Information](https://filminformation.com/featured/flashback-8-july-2022-from-our-issue-dated-12th-july-1997/)\n9. [Recording Birth, Proving Parenthood, Socio-Legal Review Vol. 15](https://www.sociolegalreview.com/ugd/fc6957_76bddf3e19024bcdbd75c27300133ed2.pdf)\n10. [The political filmmaker, Business Standard (Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, 13 November 2010)](https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-political-filmmaker-110111300031_1.html)\n11. [\"There can't be stories without conflicts\": Prakash Jha interview, Devdiscourse (ANI)](https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/entertainment/2819000-there-cant-be-stories-without-conflicts-prakash-jha-on-how-changing-socio-political-dynamics-influence-his-films)\n12. [Fact of the matter, Deccan Herald (5 March 2016)](https://www.deccanherald.com/features/fact-matter-2052574)\n13. [I've Never Thought Of Being A Great Film-Maker, Institute for Competitiveness](https://competitiveness.in/ive-never-thought-great-film-maker/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1990s › Romance and drama films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड)](https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand](https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Mrityudand (मृत्युदंड)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mrityudand. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Mrityudand is a 1997 Hindi drama directed, written, and produced by Prakash Jha, starring Madhuri Dixit, Shabana Azmi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Ayub Khan, and Om Puri; three women resist patriarchy in a Bihar village." }