The Ends Contrasting The Beginnings!

The Change Within Her...

Ever started any film again right after it has ended? That is the moment of realization that the character that has just been witnessed has undergone a great deal of transformation. There is no character without any transformation. Change happens gradually throughout the story. The way people grow through various situations and experiences is similar to how characters are brought to life by adding problems, struggles, and various other issues to their lives. It's now time to talk about the transformational aspects of the characters that have been discussed until now.

Rumi begins as a character who does not look so far beyond the present moment—the one who does not think too much about her future. On a thought-processing level, she travels from being a girl who makes impulsive and irrational decisions irrespective of the consequences to being a woman who understands the meaning and need of a long-term relationship from a futuristic point of view.

Rumi Bagga, (Taapsee Pannu) Vicky Sandhu (Vicky Kaushal) and Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan)

Manmarziyaan

Rumi Bagga’s journey is also signified through her costumes, which mostly include blue, yellow, and pink colors, and even some of the vibrant colors that define her personality. Every color has meaning attached to it as to how one feels after seeing those colors. It is obvious for everyone to feel every color differently. Blue is the color of coldness, passivity, faith, and harmony (only some are mentioned for reference purposes). Whereas yellow is associated with joy and insanity and pink represents femininity, All of these are seen in different stages of her mentality as the colors of her costume throughout the films. It begins where Rumi is wearing yellow and ends where she is seen wearing blue.

Ruth Edscer (Kalki Koechlin) That Girl in Yellow Boots

Ruth Edscer’s journey begins as that of a foreigner who lands in Mumbai with a letter with the purpose of searching for her father. She is wandering around with the hope of finding someone to love, but by the end of the film, she comes across the terrifying truth about her father. This brings her to the point where she no longer needs or trusts anyone. She was never affected this much by the cruelty she has gone through the way she was affected by confronting her father’s reality. Her curiosity to build a connection with her father and her will to trust anyone again shatters brutally. While working at the massage parlor, she is seen to be providing ‘happy endings’ to the clients. She always had a positive outlook with reference to her father, based on the letter he had sent to her, which contained his words filled with ‘his love for Ruth’. Ruth had expected a happy ending for her story, and apparently she had to face a tragic end to her searching journey, which she never really deserved. She broke apart after knowing that her father regularly visited the massage parlor to get a ‘happy ending’ from Ruth. It turns out to be her father who impregnated his own daughter Emily, due to which she committed suicide, and later he claims that he loves Ruth physically. All her efforts became nothing within a moment. The world around her was already cruel to her, and her father left a lasting wound on her, which made her go numb once and for all.

Chanda/Leni (Kalki Koechlin) Dev D

Chanda/Leni was childish initially. Of course, she was in school in Delhi, and during the school days, her MMS video leaked. Due to this, she and her family leave the country, as her father is extremely humiliated after this incident. Her father commits suicide, and her family holds her responsible for the same. She then returns to India, and then she starts working in a brothel. Apparently, the reason for her destruction is her profession, and there she does kinky roleplay by practicing various accents. In the meantime, she studies during the day and learns to love herself the way she is. This brings about a boost in her maturity. From a childish girlfriend back then to a mature girlfriend of Dev is her journey. Although her character changes in other emotional and mental aspects too, her evolution as a lover highlights her transformation.

Paro, (Mahie Gill) Dev (Abhay Deol) and Bhuvan (Asim Sharma)

Dev D

Paro loved Dev. Dev too loved her, but he doubted her character; hence, he dumped her. The self-esteem of the girl who once loved him ever since childhood wakes up, and then she leaves Dev. Thus, Paro goes from being a lover to choosing self-respect rather than facing any sort of humiliation from her boyfriend. She pays him back by refusing to have sex with him when she visits to meet Dev after her marriage.

Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) and Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

Gangs of Wasseypur

After marrying Faizal Khan, Mohsina loses all of the bossy attitude that she used to have towards him before getting married. She did not allow him to have sex with her until they got married. After marriage, Faizal becomes the dominant half of their relationship, which was earlier the role of Mohsina. Also, she was the only lady who used to be actively involved in the meetings and their business too; no other lady is seen to be present there except Mohsina Hamid. But still, even after Faizal was murdered, she fled to Mumbai and did not opt for taking revenge for his murder. This brings about a stop to further enmity.

Durga (Reema Sen) Gangs of Wasseypur

Durga goes from being a lover to a murderer. Her relationship with the male protagonists intertwines with the larger themes of power, politics and revenge. Although she did not commit the murder herself, she had a very large and important part in it. She goes as far as killing out of jealousy. She travels from a very scheming Durga to a tough, murderous Durga.

Nagma Khatoon (Richa Chadda) Gangs of Wasseypur

Nagma's character evolves from a young bride to a matriarch who actively participates in family decisions. When Nagma Khatoon arrived, newly married to Sardar Khan, she did not want Sardar to take revenge. But finally, when her husband and older son get murdered, she wants Faizal to take revenge for the loss they have been through. In the meantime, she plays a number of roles, like wife, mother, widow, and mother-in-law. At every stage of these roles, she underwent a great deal of mental, emotional, and physical transformation. Her appearance seems to change at every stage of her life. Earlier, when she was newly married, she used to wear a saree with a sweater and two braids. Then, in her mid-20s to 30s, she wore an arm-length sleeve blouse and a vibrant synthetic saree with a single braid. During her mid-40s to 50s, she wore a full-sleeve blouse and a cotton saree that was less printed and more simple, as she was a widow during that time. This reflects the society's perception/mentality of 'women without men'. Later, in her 50s, she was killed by Pathaan.

All of the characters mentioned above have various social and economic aspects attached to them. Their demography plays an important role in them being the way they are. Being bold is common among all of them, but their intensity and way of expressing their boldness differ according to their time and space dimensions. When looked at closely, all of them are either low, middle, or upper middle class. The places where they live hold geographical importance. Mumbai represents Ruth’s internal chaos. Dhanbad has been the land of bloody revenge and weapons for rivals avenging past incidents.

Even when the films hold the importance of women's roles unconventionally, it is not negligible that women have been objectified and their sexuality has been a driving force for the narratives. They hold their agency at their own pace. Thus, undoubtedly, these films have a modern take on portraying the sensual and sexual aspects of both men and women. Sex have been treated in each of these films vividly. (Dev D, Gangs of Wasseypur I and II, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Manmarziyaan) All films explore the themes of love and lust in some or the other manner. Sex as an expression of lust is common in all these films. Love, curiosity, betrayal and benefit are the variable forms of sexual desires portrayed in the above films.

There are different aspects which forms a part of analysis other than the titles of each blog post:

There is a scene where Ruth keeps her boyfriend tied so that he could get rid of drug addiction. She knows that her boyfriend lives with her but does not love her. Still she happens to care for him out of generosity. Film happens to mention Osho. So apparently, Osho always spoke of and supported the concept of love, but not at the cost of one’s individuality and freedom. After all, what’s love if you aren’t free. Here it is seen the contradiction between this quote and the actions of Ruth.

In Dev D and Manmarziyaan, twin characters are shown in the movie whenever the protagonists are going through dual mentality. The metaphor has been aesthetically conveyed by showing the twin characters around the protagonists whenever they are in a perplexed situation or having dual thoughts at the moment. This is mostly expressed through dance and music by Anurag Kashyap. The duality is also expressed through various terms, like Pyaar (Love) and Fyaar (Lust). Rumi clears out the difference between 'J' and 'Y' in Jonex and Yonex sports brand.
In Manmarziyaan, the last scenes show Rumi and Robbie walking back to home after signing the annulment. That conversation is so beautifully phrased where Rumi answers to the questions which Robbie asked earlier to get known to her. There it comes to information that Robbie too had a past as chaotic as Rumi and Vicky. He too had jumped across terraces to meet his then girlfriend Kanika. He also shares about the car accident due to which his friend's let gets permanently injured, although he came out all safe. So, after knowing about Robbie the fact comes up which says that any person tends to forgive easily if they too had been through the mistakes. They understand the guilt that comes with unforgiven mistakes. After this conversation, they both agree upon giving their marriage one more chance by embracing each other's flaws.
Anurag Kashyap's films are loaded with a bunch of songs. They carry forward the story and possess highly relatable lyrics as per the need of the stories. The songs in his films require a separate piece of analysis and will make sure to post content relating to the same in further posts.
In Manmarziyaan and Dev D, one more similarity is that Vicky-Rumi and Dev-Paro, they are seen going inside the sugarcane fields to explore their sexual desires. Apparently, both of these films have been shot in Punjab. Perhaps this resemblance showcases the youth couples and their usual hangout in the fields of Punjab. There are some shots which have colorful lighting in both Manmarziyaan and Dev D.