Woman!!!

Have you ever loved a woman?

Like every other year, 8^th of March will be celebrated by ‘Archie’s, Hallmark, et al as Women’s Day again this year. Right through the week all of us will be reminded to honour, respect, remember and appreciate the women in our lives. The men will get a dressing down and the women will be hailed. Arch feminists will hum the “who needs men?” tune… and we women will start believing that we can rule the world. This euphoria will last only for a week. Come the 9^th of March and we will go back to our old selves. And the question now arises, who are these old selves? We are all mothers, wives, lovers, sisters, daughters, friends, teachers, mentors (we like to believe that we are all that and more rolled into one.) But are we “WOMEN” in the true sense of the word? Do we really see ourselves as individuals who are in fact the embodiment of Nature, earth and love?

Some of the films released hitherto, have tried to illustrate the same theme albeit with the usual Hindi movie mish mash. But a few do stand out because of the strength of their central characters, theme and narration. One of such recent ones is Matrubhoomi (2005) by Prakash Jha. The title which means Motherland is the biggest paradox that the movie could have. The tagline, ‘A nation without women’ explains the hard hitting theme. The movie explores the ugly impact of female foeticide. Matrubhoomi’s main protagonist, Kalki (Tulip Joshi) is the heroine in every sense of the word. The movie starts with scenes which have dreadful sexual implications. The storyline is clearly set in a village where the gender ratio has been thrown totally off balance by many ‘male heir’ hungry families, where girls are hard to find, where lust has reached desperation and so has replaced respect, honour or love.

Kalki is is wedded to five brothers in an upper caste household because they cannot find one bride each, in exchange for money. (A high handed take on the Pandavas- Draupadi tale). She is just an object of desire for each of the brothers who take turns to abuse her each night. The youngest brother, seems different, he teaches her to read, be herself and most importantly to love. It is this love which brings hope and laughter in her life. Kalki’s fate is jinxed when she is caught in a caste war and then subjected to further rape and abuse by the villagers in the barn where she is tied like an animal. Towards the end, she becomes pregnant and during the same time, her entire family and village are destroyed because of the caste wars.

All through her trauma, she seems in abject subjugation of her fate. Her attempts to flee are all in vain. But what moves you are the circumstances that she is subjected to. She seems to accept the atrocities like a fatalist. The strength and resolve of the character hits you only in the last scene. Amidst all the strife, Kalki gives birth to a girl child. The movie ends with the sound of the small child crying and Kalki smiling. That smile is the most poignant of all. It personifies, freedom, love and above all, triumph. Kalki who till now was mute when it came to expression of her feelings, speaks through that tender smile. She teaches us what Janis Joplin told us, "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

Matrubhoomi told a tale which could easily be a real one in some of the rural interiors of the country. But there are quite a few examples where filmmakers have tried to explore the woman’s psyche and delicately weave a tale about her needs and wants. If Deepa Mehta’s ‘Fire’ spoke about intimacy between two women arising out of dissatisfaction or neglect by their respective partners, her “Water” made forays of a different kind. It is a movie by a woman about some women who reconcile, question and rebel for their identities. It is about an ashram for widows. Set in an era when superstition,  religious fallacies and ritualistic behavior was rife, the movie captures the sisterhood of the three main protagonists. It is a riveting story told expressively through the angry embers in Shakuntala’s (Seema Biswas) eyes and the innocent mischief of Chuiya (Sarala- A Sri Lankan child actor). But “Water” can be easily dismissed as a story that does n’t happen any more, although if we look carefully, we’ll easily find parallels all around us.

Portrayal of women and their needs seems to be changing in mainstream cinema too. “Dor” by Nagesh Kukunoor is one of the recent flicks, which tells the sensitive tale of two women from diverse backgrounds thrown together by circumstances. It talks about the tenacity of Zeenat (Gul Panaag) and the acceptance of suffering of Meera (Ayesha Takia). Each in her own way fighting and pining for lost love.

Sometimes, relatively average movies have some really memorable lines, characters or scenes. We have Sushmita Sen in Samay as the single mother, policewoman holding her head high in the all male bastion or Kareena Kapoor as the fighter princess who leads an army against the mighty king in Asoka. Bipasha Basu played the slick executive in Corporate, but the movie maker played on her feminity to give the movie a twist in the tale. Her emotions overtake ambition to bring about her downfall. Refreshing though was Shilpa Shetty’s fight for her rights as the HIV patient in Phir Milenge. Shobhana in Mitr, as the woman seeking herself or Konkona Sen in Page 3 as the reporter trying to rise above the filth in society were impressive. Madhuri Dixit in Pratibandh, Raveena in Satta have thankfully come out of the mould to play real characters rather than mere cardboard cutouts. Cinema surely seems to be coming of age, as more women filmmakers are entering the arena and bringing along their sensitivity to the stories.

If the movies have initiated this trend of mirroring our real strength, love, beauty and power on us, can’t we unite in the cause to admire and love ourselves more? Lets then make this 8^th of March a special one by vowing to transform our “old selves” into the lovely women that we truly are.

Have a great year ahead!!!

P.S: For all the men in our lives, we love to reciprocate your love and support that you’ve given us till now…. Thanks for realizing that we should be loved not understood.

Without you, what would we do? …………. How would we pass our time?