The Decisions that Refused to Bow Before Destiny.
The men in several movies have often controlled the story, and
the women were only used to make the screen look nice or fancy. But while
watching this set of films (Dev
d, Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 and Part 2, That Girl in Yellow Boots, and
Manmarziyaan), the female characters did not just stroll around the
screen. They have been made to appear purposefully with an intent to not just
act but bring about a driving force in the narratives too. The perspectives of
the lead female characters seem to be considered. We even witness the ‘female
gaze’ in some of the above-mentioned films. A path-breaking narrative is one in
which the story contains unconventional aspects and new perspective dimensions,
and these films are of such kind. Different time periods and spaces bring about
variations in how the characters react or respond to certain situations. Their
actions reflect their decisions, and how they have impacted the story is what
this post is about.
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| Nagma Khatoon (Richa Chaddha) Gangs of Wasseypur |
Among all the characters (Paro, Chanda, Nagma, Durga, Mohsina, Ruth, and Rumi), Nagma, mother of four sons, seems to be a very normal woman, but she has a sense of dominance. She considers herself very responsible and takes decisions accordingly. When Nagma learns that Sardar Khan has a keep, she chooses to look after her children on her own. She bursts out at Sardar, but she does not give up her responsibilities towards her family. Choosing her family was her decision, which came out of her maturity over time.
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Durga (Reema Sen) and Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) Gangs of Wasseypur |
Whereas Durga is emotionally inclined to some extent. The outcome of her decisions seems to come out of spite and jealousy. However, there can be parallelisms drawn and stark contrasts are found even between them. Unlike Nagma, who becomes a ‘baccha janane waali masine’ to Sardar Khan, Durga didn’t want that for herself. Upon this, Sardar Khan says, "arey ye toh hamara pyaar hai." Basically, women have been bestowed with the responsibility of giving birth. Many women are aware or sticked to the fact that they do not want to undergo pregnancy. Still society/family pressurizes them to give birth to the heir in the name of 'motherhood'. Durga is aware that she do not want to reproduce, bur Sardar consoles Durga to look at her pregnancy as a by product of his love. She didn’t want to be another Nagma in Sardar’s life whom he abandoned, as she couldn’t quench his thirst for ‘tharak’. Nagma not only loved Sardar Khan but always remained loyal to him. When her children brought home the charity Ramadhir Singh had bestowed them with, she threw it away and thrashed the older boy out of her own angst, despair, and helplessness. Durga seems less mature when compared to Nagma, and probably that is the reason that she stays angry and majorly emotionally driven.
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Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) and Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) Gangs of Wasseypur |
Mohsina, a
big fan of Amitabh
Bachchan, has made a variety of decisions throughout her presence
on screen. Earlier, she agreed to marry a man who was the complete opposite of
her choice. Later on, she refused to have sex with her husband when their
family was grieving over Shama
Parveen’s death. She owns her sexuality and firmly says no,
irrespective of how her husband Faizal
would react to it.
I felt that Paro,
Chanda, Ruth, and Rumi
are somewhat of similar maturity, as their age ranges between 20 and 28. Among
them, Paro feels
a bit like a villager but is as advanced as Chanda,
Ruth, and Rumi.
When it is seen that she decides to leave Dev when he accuses her
of infidelity, Her boldness makes her choose her self-respect over justifying
her part of the story to Dev.
Paro has wised
up since this instance. She refuses to go through vulnerability and decides to
move on.
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| Rumi Bagga (Taapsee Pannu) and Vicky (Vicky Kaushal) Manmarziyaan |
Rumi is an orphan who lives with her uncle and aunt. She is very bold and outgoing due to the
freedom she is allowed by her family. She is an inside-out person and does only
what she feels like doing. Not only that, but she is a woman of her words and
does not turn her back on the assurances made. She agrees that she uses the
reason for her being an orphan for manipulative purposes whenever she runs out
of words. Her orphanhood influences her decisions. She decides to marry Robbie when Vicky fails to show up
at her home to ask her family about their marriage. This one decision changes
the lives of herself, Vicky,
and Robbie all
at once.
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Ruth
Edscer (Kalki Koechlin) That Girl in Yellow Boots |
Ruth is very emotional as compared to all the above characters. Her major decision is the whole narrative. While being repeatedly hammered by her mother that she must stop searching for her father, she didn't pay heed to it; instead, she refuted her mother for trying to stop her from meeting her father. Being in a foreign land, she faces a great deal of difficulties and insecurities. Still she chooses to stay glued to the decision she made to keep searching for her father, no matter what. Apparently, every decision she made throughout the film turned out to affect her emotionally at an unimaginable level of disturbance.
Paro is no exception to this. After being thrashed out of Dev's life, she decided to move on and gets married where her parents ask her to. She loved Dev wholeheartedly. Paro carried the mattress on a cycle to explore sexual desires with Dev and he dumped Paro right when she was making out with him. Dev learns about her friend with benefits and breaks up with her. She sort of takes the revenge of her unfulfilled desires, by refusing to have sex with him when she visits her. She clears all the mess in the room, makes him take a bath and washes his dirty clothes. Paro let him come close to her and stepped back when he asked for it.
Women set within different geographies, times, and spaces will eventually have differences in the ways they think and react to the situations put forth. Exploring vividly written and presented characters lets us dive deeper into the many dimensions conveyed through their portrayal in the films.
During Nagma's first pregnancy, she runs straight in a brothel with a weapon in her hand to bring Sardar Khan back to home. Nagma seems boldly vocal against her husband when doing so. This is maybe because she has been raised in such a place and environment where any sort of threatening is as normal as breathing.
Sardar: ee haramzadi bolti hai ki ye Nagma hai...
Nagma: oo boli vo Nagma hai, tumko Nagma dikhai dene lagi? Chutiya samajhte ho hamko?
In Punjab, it is very common that girls/women and a local guys have affairs/relationships, but when it comes to marriage, arrange marriage to be precise, the parents often opt for NRI grooms. Rumi represents this situation when Vicky (Vicky Kaushal) dumps her and she agrees to marry Robbie,(Abhishek Bachchan) who is NRI. Hockey is prominently played in Punjab region and players from Punjab have made commendable recognition in the field of Hockey. One of them is...dhyaan kitthe Dhyaanchand (the songs in Anurag Kashyap's films surely need a separate analysis of its own). The story, sound fits well majorly due to the geography of Punjab.
Ruth's journey has a slow pace but her internal conflict is chaotic. Mumbai mirrors Ruth in That Girl in Yellow Boots. At some point, her traveling through walking, taxis, local trains, buses and auto rickshaw starts to feel like Ruth is going on traveling, but reaching nowhere. This might have been a matter of foreshadowing. Ruth embarks on her journey to him search for her father. She was warned by her mother and one woman that do not look for him, or just do not meet. She still searches for him and when Ruth confronts the truth about her father, she is all shattered. Ruth's father was the one who impregnated her sister Emily. This was the reason that she committed suicide. So while she confronted her father, it looked like Ruth came such a long way for this brutal disappointment...'all of this for nothing....?'
(Images are sourced from Google.)
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