EXILE IN THE FOREST
Bhima!
Where is Bhima?
I'm looking for Bhima!
Where is he?
Bhima!
I'm looking for Bhima.
I'm looking for Bhima. Where is he?
I am Bhima!
What do you want?
I was told I would find you in the forest,
and that you are the strongest man in the world.
It's true!
You must fight for me.
Against whom?
Against an old man,
a proud and ferocious old man. Against Bhishma!
Bhishma?
Impossible. I love and respect him.
No one would risk himself against him.
He can only die if he wishes for death.
He's invincible.
Who are you?
I am Amba. Because of Bhishma...
...long ago, the world rejected me.
You are really Amba?
It was more than forty years ago.
Hate keeps me young.
I only live to kill Bhishma.
I swore it,
but all the men to whom I turn, even you Bhima...
...you all tell me he can't be killed.
Nonetheless, I will kill him.
To find the moment that ends his life,
I have all eternity.
Rest. Free yourself from this wish to kill.
Why do you always propose peace, forgiveness?
Amba, don't only search in this world,
pray to the demigods, call upon invisible forces.
For forty years I've been searching everywhere.
No force can outwit death.
Except death itself.
Who spoke?
Who said "Except death itself"?
How can death outwit death?
Explain. Don't leave me in this void.
Amba, would you like to eat?
I only eat what the wind brings.
I never sleep.
All my life I walk and question.
I need nothing.
Someone is laughing at us.
What are you saying?
A magician makes us blind, he's torturing us.
What magician?
We had a kingdom...
...or did I dream it?
I was dragged in front of all the men, clothed in a single robe...
...stained in my own blood.
The sight of a woman made men laugh.
My husbands were there.
I needed their aid, and Duryodhana is still alive!
I despise your strength.
I have another question.
You are just, you only speak words of truth.
How did you allow the game take hold of you?
How did you agree to play to lose everything?
Your brothers, your wife...
Yudhishthira, I don't understand.
Sometimes I tell myself that a man is nothing!
He has his nature imposed upon him. Nothing comes from himself.
All that we do, all that we think, is just a game,
just moving shadows. Yes, I suspect a magician. Destiny is vicious...
...and he plays tricks with us. Even the Creator takes sides.
I condemn him.
I have the same questions as you, Draupadi.
Why is this act rewarded and this one not? No one can answer.
It's the secret of all time.
But whether there is a reward or not,
with all my strength I do what I must do.
That is my Dharma.
Without this obligation, nothing would be stable anymore
and the world would lose its honour in darkness.
I have more than love for you.
I have respect,
since the very first day.
But something in your heart eludes me and sucks my strength.
...A man who doesn't know why he's alive? Where is his will?
What hope sustains him? Happiness is for a man who acts!
And if silence were necessary for the harmony of the world?
Silence...
Solitude...
Thought.
Rise! Take up your weapons! Don't leave us in this wilderness!
Yudhishthira...
Yudhishthira, we all want what is good. That's natural.
Money, for example, wealth...
...all the abundance of the earth. That's good...
...that's excellent.
And love, that's delicious.
Sometimes, it's divine.
But I say, my brother,
there's nothing like love. It's honey.
It's a bliss. Love well made can lead to wisdom.
You, you know Dharma better than anyone.
But wealth? You will hold out a begging bowl
and enjoy wealth? And love?
You will sit alone in a bush and enjoy love?
Get up! You must protect the earth! That's the truth!
Yudhishthira, you can't answer lies with silence.
Our kingdom, and our power, are in the hands of a thief.
Yudhishthira, rise!
I have promised to spend thirteen years in exile,
and I will keep my promise.
At the end of thirteen years, if Duryodhana refuses to give us back our kingdom...
...and he will refuse...
...then I will be as resolute as you are.
One day, Draupadi,
wolves and birds will laugh while eating our enemies' flesh,
the flesh of those who laughed when they saw you played for and lost.
One day,
in twelve years, when the time is ripe.
But not before.
Bhima...
- Why do you embrace me? - Because I'm going. Nakula, Sahadeva...
My arms are idle, my will grows weaker every day.
- I can't wait here any longer. - Where are you going?
Somewhere in the north there are weapons.
I'm going to find them, as those we have will not be sufficient.
Where are these weapons?
Humans do not know them.
They are buried deep in the mountains.
They say that to obtain them you must forget everything,
even your body, even your life. I'm ready.
I'm going because ever since childhood I've been marked for war,
and I know now that one day this war will come and I will lead it.
I know it. I won't miss out my life.
How long before seeing you?
I don't know. I've said all I know.
I will be back.
Duryodhana!
Yes. What?
My dreams are poisoning me.
I have seen Yudhishthira and his brothers
clutching winged demons and swarming towards us.
Bhima had red teeth.
Blood streamed from his mouth and he cried:
"You dragged my wife by the hair!
"I will tear open your belly, I will eat your guts!"
Calm down.
Give me your hands.
Our enemies are growing stronger.
We must attack them now. We must destroy them!
Otherwise, very soon it will be too late.
Dushassana, my brother, their exile protects them.
The game they lost protects them.
I'm bound by its rules.
Yes, but the Pandavas are stamping the rules into dust.
They are preparing for a war.
You must preserve your empire.
You must kill them.
Announce a hunt.
You can say they died in an accident. I will help you.
I hear breathing. Who is that?
Your sons. I'm with Dushassana.
Up so early?
We're preparing a hunt.
What prey?
- Stag, fowl... - Boar.
I know your voices. What's disturbing you?
- A bad night. - Yes.
We wonder through the palace from room to room.
Even sleep's been banished.
All the time I think of them.
Out there, miserable, wretched, ravaged by fever, pining for the past...
I think of nothing else.
I spend all my nights with them.
I see them in the dark, close to me like shadows, but strong.
Stronger and stronger.
Exile strengthens them, I know it.
Friends and allies are gathering
and stoking arms. All they speak of is my death.
My son, your reign is a good reign.
Don't let your anguish destroy it.
If my reign is a good reign, where is your sleep?
Power is brief. Yes, I'm disturbed,
anguished.
He's right.
You have given him your power because you can't rule the world in the dark.
Well, if your son is your king, let him rule.
Trust him, and stop pacing through the palace all night long.
His heart is blind, and he attracts disaster.
If danger is approaching the Pandavas in the forest,
warn them, send them a secret message.
No, I can't betray my son. No, not that!
Hidimbi, my sister, I think I'm dreaming.
Yes! I smell human flesh!
Look!
Bring me their corpses. Hurry!
When we have eaten, we'll dance in the moonlight!
Who are you...
...you I see?
Bhima. And who are you, you I don't see?
My name is Hidimbi.
This forest is my kingdom.
- You are a Rakshasi? - Yes.
- Show yourself! - No! I don't want to!
Why?
I'm not what humans like.
I'm black and hairy, and I stink!
- I want to see you! - No, wait!
First I must give myself the face and the body of a gorgeous woman.
You can do that?
Look!
- You find me beautiful? - Like the night.
Then tell me where you come from,
splendid young man.
Tell me how you live, what you do.
I watch.
This forest is ruled by a terrifying Rakshasa,
my brother, who sent me to take your life.
But at the sight of you love grasped my soul.
You bewitched me. I love you, I can't kill you.
Love me as I love you and be my husband.
I fly in the air, I do what I please. I will save you.
I can't be your husband. I already have a wife.
- Where is she? - There.
But she's sleeping beside another man!
- Who is he? - He's my brother.
He's also her husband.
She has two husbands?
She has five.
Five? And you refuse to make me your second wife?
What's this riddle? I don't understand!
I hear him! He's running towards us! Quick!
All of you, jump on my back!
I'll carry you far from here!
You don't know him, he's wild!
Hidimbi, I've absolutely no fear of your brother.
Don't look down on me because I'm just a man!
Hidimbi, it's disgusting!
You look like a woman, you vile, depraved pervert!
I'm going to kill you,
- and all these slugs as well! - Stop!
Before killing this woman, fight with me,
with me alone!
Lift him off the ground!
Squeeze the wind out of him!
I'm going to restore this wood to happiness!
Is he dead?
Yes, his monster heart is still.
Listen to me.
I know that love is a woman's affliction,
and the time has come for me to suffer.
I've chosen your brother, Bhima.
If he rejects me, I'll die.
Call me a poor idiot, but grant me this man.
You have other husbands. Give me this one, I want him!
If you give him to me, I'll do everything for you.
I'll protect you all my life.
Yes.
Enjoy my brother Bhima from sunrise to sunset.
As long as there's light in the sky, he's yours.
But don't forget to bring him back with the dark.
- Are you still afraid of me? - I've never been afraid.
- What can you still refuse me? - Nothing.
The sun is rising.
Carry me away.
I'll stay with you until we are given a son.
So, transfigured by joy,
Hidimbi became a woman of almost incredible beauty.
She got hold of Bhima,
she swept him up into the air
and everywhere.
On mountain peaks, on sky-blue beaches,
in the secret layers of gazelles
on the shores of forgotten lakes,
everywhere, she gave him her love.
We had a son.
An enormous son called Ghatotkatcha.
Here he is.
It's him?
He's our son?
Yes. Isn't he beautiful?
Already so big? So black?
Oh, he's a magnificent boy. He has red eyes.
He doesn't seem to know how to walk!
But he's only just been born...
But he'll be very strong, a great magician.
I can already feel his power.
Son, son, come into my arms!
- My father! - Yes, it's me. Come!
My father...
- Come, son! Yes! - Father...
- Come, ah ah! - Father!
Yes, come, come!
Ghatotkatcha, my son, stay with us!
- I can't. - Why?
I live in another world
and I must go back with my mother.
But if one day you need me,
I'll hear your call.
I'll be there, by your side.
Hidimbi, wait...
- No, don't look at me! I'm leaving! - Hidimbi! Hidimbi!
I was told that I'd find the king of kings in the desert,
the supreme ruler. Could it be you?
Where is Arjuna?
Where is he?
He's on a journey.
Wasn't he bound to spend twelve years in exile?
Why has he broken his word?
Where is he travelling?
With whom?
He's travelling alone.
No word has been broken.
Is he looking for allies? Answer me!
Put down that weapon Dushassana! Obey!
No crime should corrupt this poem.
- Yes. - Vyasa!
It's a joy to see you again. Thank you.
Vyasa,
have you condemned us to spend the rest of our days here?
To watch our lives have their way in this desert?
No. Go!
Profit from exile to see and listen.
Walk. Pause beside wise men.
Question savages and madmen,
and listen to stories. It's always pleasant,
and sometimes it improves you.
Duryodhana, go back to the city.
Today's hunt has not been very good.
Dushassana!
Do me a favour:
As you go back through the forest, be very careful.
Keep your throat well away from tigers and wolves.
Stay alive.
Save your blood for me.
If you can stop crimes,
you could prevent the war!
There are some acts a word can check.
Others, nothing can stop.
- Who is there? - Kunti.
What do you want?
Uncover your eyes, Gandhari.
Your son has launched a hunt against my sons.
Not satisfied by their exile,
he wants their death.
He's defending his kingdom.
Take off your veil.
Come out of your dark hiding place.
To each one his darkness, Kunti.
I am used to the night.
You never looked at the earth, the palace...
nor the colours of the sky. That, I understand.
But how can you live without ever seeing your sons?
A spark of courage;
that's all you need.
Look around you. See things as they are.
I'm going to tear off your veil.
Don't touch me.
You don't like me, Gandhari.
My first son was born before yours. And you haven't forgotten.
I suffered for long time, it's true.
I even asked myself what fathers would have given you your sons.
But I don't think of it anymore.
Listen to me, Kunti.
Your children are united, and they are strong enough to protect themselves.
It is for mine that I fear the worst.
The rage in Duryodhana's heart makes a weakling of him.
He is a blind man�s son. He lives blindly.
He's bringing death upon himself. I see it clearly.
You must help me to keep him alive.
Even if you hate him,
even if the earth fears him,
he's my son.
Did you see them?
Yes. Arjuna has left his brothers.
I know.
My spies saw him heading north. Alone.
What's he doing?
He's looking for weapons.
Sacred weapons.
Where is he? I must know exactly.
You can see him.
Concentrate your thoughts on him, be calm.
Pronounce the necessary words.
Evoke him.
Don't touch that boar.
Who are you?
I hunt in these vast mountains.
This boar is mine. Why did you shoot it down?
This boar is mine. I hit it first.
No, it was I who hit it, before you.
What brings you here alone?
Don't come near this boar.
I'll lift the boar onto my shoulders. It is mine!
If your hand touches the skin of this animal,
- you won't escape alive. - You can't frighten me!
The earth here knows my step.
You shot at the boar and you missed it.
Don't put your clumsiness onto others.
I'm taking my boar.
Again.
Again! More!
Use up all your arrows...
You can't touch me.
You can do nothing to me. I master you.
Look.
I lift you in my arms!
I block your lungs!
I draw out your life.
Shiva. You! The most subtle of beings!
Blue-necked Shiva,
with your third eye!
I came to these mountains drawn by longing to see you.
I fought without recognising you.
I am confused. Forgive me.
You are forgiven. I'm pleased to meet you.
Ask me a favour, whatever you wish.
What I wish...
...is an absolute weapon that you possess.
- Pasupata? - Yes.
- It can destroy the world. - I know.
You can launch it with your bow, but also with your eye...
...your word, your thought.
It's a weapon you can't recall,
it's without limit, without mercy.
I know that too!
You could never dispose of it, nor give it back.
I need this weapon.
I'll give it to you.
Pasupata!
The mountains quiver when they hear that name...
...the trees, the wind... the whole earth shakes.
Arjuna will never dare use it.
He doesn't know how.
Karma, you are mistaken.
Listen to what happened to me. Listen carefully.
When Shiva disappeared,
I heard a tumult in the sky, like a hundred thousand claps of thunder
and an immense chariot appeared, scattering the clouds.
Who are you in the form of Arjuna?
An apparition?
A phantom?
The voice of the driver said to me: Mount!
My heart beat wildly.
I climbed onto the immense chariot.
Drawn by a prodigious force,
it bore me to the regions of light which the earth calls the stars.
Yes, Karna...
I saw thousands of fiery spheres,
making music in endless space.
I saw bodies glowing with their own light.
I passed beyond the world of men,
I arrived at Amavarati,
the city that no one may describe,
where Indra my father lives.
He took me on his knee. Yes, Karna...
He caressed me with a hand burned black with tracks of thunder,
and for five years with him
I deepened my understanding of the use
of this weapon.
You don't exist.
I don't believe you.
I will find you again.
Karna, you too must acquire Pasupata.
We will have it.
It is night.
Yes.
You still dread the night?
I don't like it.
I like the sun, when it wraps me in its warmth.
Every evening, when shadows lengthen I feel cold,
I look behind me, I sleep badly.
But when the first rays
touch me, my strength returns intact.
Arjuna!
Who are you?
There is a strong wind.
Why hasn't it put out your lamp?
My name is Urvasi.
What do you want from me?
You are alone here,
in the ice and wind,
without a woman to give you her warmth.
Look,
I circled my eyes with shadow,
and my arms with gold,
I scented my skin,
I drank a little wine and I came rapidly through the garden.
Are you a creature of the sky?
An Apsara?
Don't come near me. I am a man.
We Apsaras are free to choose,
we are not tied to a single man.
What I offer you is neither frightening nor dangerous.
It is only love.
I'm too far from the earth,
I've forgotten pleasure's shape,
even her scent.
Love is the same in all the worlds.
Go away Urvasi. We cannot love each other.
I came to you. Don't reject me.
- I love you. - I love you too.
I respect you like a mother. I bow to you.
Treat me as your son.
Look at my skin,
it is seething with fury!
Treat you as my son?
Remember my words:
because you have insulted a woman who came to love you,
you will live like a woman.
You too, amongst women, will be despised
and you will be deprived of your virility.
For many months,
you have lived in these forests,
silent and willing.
I want to grant you a favour.
I don't know the colour of your eyes,
I don't know your name,
I don't know the sound of your voice,
but I tell you you deserve a reward,
and I have many well hidden secrets.
What is your wish?
Pasupata.
What?
Give me the secret of Pasupata.
Who are you?
- I'm your servant. - Liar!
You want a weapon,
that means you are a warrior!
You belong to that arrogant cast that I detest, the Ksatriyas!
Why do you detest the Ksatriyas?
There is nothing to explain! I hate them.
I fought twenty-one generations of Ksatriyas with my axe.
I came down from heaven to destroy them!
I'm not of that cast, I'm a simple man.
- That's the truth? - I'm called the driver's son.
I swear it.
Here. I'm a man of my word.
The formula is written here. Learn it by heart.
Quick! Hurry,
the formula will fade away.
Finished.
It's only a scrub of bark.
You remember what was on it?
When you utter those words,
a creature will come down from the sky
and will give you the weapon that you wish.
Now I will sleep a little.
I'm more than a thousand years old and I'm beginning to grow tired.
Where does this blood come from?
Is this your doing?
A worm brought a hole in my thigh while you slept,
a tiny worm. Forgive me.
Why didn't you yell?
I didn't want to wake you.
You have tricked me.
Only a Ksatriya could display such idiotic courage!
Any intelligent man would have yelled.
You are a Ksatriya!
You lied to worm out my secret,
but listen to me, whoever you are!
At the last minute, listen to me carefully,
the secret will slip from your memory.
You will forget it entirely, and that will be the moment of your death!
Go! Go!
No!
Don't drink! Answer my question before you drink!
We must drink!
The sons of Madri are dead.
Answer my question!
Answer me!
Show yourself!
- Show yourself! - Speak!
- Answer my question! - Show yourself!
Don't excite yourself for nothing. First answer my question.
I'm devoured by thirst!
Who has killed my brothers?
Don't drink! First answer my questions!
Who stroke them down?
There's no trace of blows,
I don't understand.
First answer my questions,
then I'll let you drink.
Who are you?
- I don't see you. - Answer!
Are you in the air?
Are you in the water?
I am neither fish nor bird. I've struck down your brother
because they wanted to drink without answering my questions.
Examine me.
What is quicker than the wind?
Thought.
What can cover the earth?
Darkness.
Who are more numerous, the living or the dead?
The living, because the dead are no longer.
Give me an example of space.
My two hands, as one.
An example of grief.
Ignorance.
Of poison.
Desire.
An example of defeat.
Victory.
Which came first, day or night?
Day, but...
it was only a day ahead.
What is the cause of the world?
Love.
What is your opposite?
Myself.
What is madness?
Our forgotten way.
And revolt? Why do men revolt?
To find beauty, either in life or in death.
And what for each of us is inevitable?
Happiness.
And what is the greatest wonder?
Each day, death strikes
and we live as though we were immortal.
This is the greatest wonder.
Then the voice from the lake said:
May all your brothers come back to life!
Who are you?
I am Dharma, your father.
I am constancy, rightness, the order of the world.
You've taken the form of a lake?
I am all forms.
Yudhishthira, I am very satisfied.
Choose a favour.
Our stay in the woods is coming to an end.
We must now spend a thirteenth year
unseen, unrecognised.
Tell me what our disguise should be.
Choose the disguise of your most secret desire.
Where can we hide?
For the thirteenth year you must hide
so skilfully that no one would recognise you,
not even me. Now you can drink.
Vyasa,
why are you inventing this poem?
So as to engrave Dharma in the hearts of men.
Is that possible?
It will be long and difficult, and will be even dangerous, but the earth
is listening to my poem.
It's wondering: will he find the way to help me?
Where are we going now?
I don't know yet.
Are you really the author of this poem?
Do you doubt it?
At times you hesitate.
I've composed everything, but nothing is written down
and yes, there are moments when my thoughts escape me.
And Krishna? Did you invent him as well?
Vyasa, which of us has invented the other?
Krishna!
Greetings. What are you looking for in this land?
Vyasa, I was looking for you.
I'm a little cold.
Who are you?
People say Vishnu has come down to save the world,
and some say he has taken your shape. Is it true?
What do you say, Vyasa?
You are narrating me, haven't you already traced out my path?
No path is traced completely, as well you know.
You are in life and you live.
The days of my youth passed joyfully,
and I tasted many wonders.
Now your hairs go grey.
Deep in myself I see a black lake.
Often, in the dark, I hear calling and cries of pain
I hear them too.
And what do you do?
At night I sleep, and in the morning I wake.
I wait.
But you must know what has been prepared!
One of you must know!
Where are we?
This is the court of king Virata.
The five Pandavas and their wife have been here for many months,
hiding, disguised. Look...
Discreetly. That Brahmin there is Yudhishthira.
He's playing dice?
I've won.
Yes.
In the course of his journeys he learnt the science of dice,
and now he can never lose.
Oh, it's Bhima!
He's now a cook. They call him the prince of pots.
The master of four thousand sauces.
Over there is Nakula,
here with the musicians, Sahadeva.