Abstract:

Deepa Mehta is a filmmaker, based out of Canada, who is best known for her films The

Elements Trilogy, a trio of films that address some important socio-cultural, political and

religious issues in India. The films Fire, Earth and Water are about female sexuality, the

atrocities committed against women during the Partition, and the restrictive lives of widows

in the sacred city of Varanasi, respectively. These films attempt to shed light on lives of

‘normal’ citizens of the country who have to deal with the oppressive norms of patriarchy and

religious hypocrisy as a part of their daily routine. This paper aims to understand, through

these films, how women were and, in some cases, still are treated unjustly and inhumanely.

The study aims to observe how inequality is prevalent in our society in the forms of

discrimination on the basis of sex, religious hypocrisy, as well as subordination through the

formation of societal norms like caste and class that were portrayed in the selected films

(Caldwell, 2013). Additionally, the reactions that these films garnered have also been

analyzed in order to understand the impact of the trilogy, on the Indian audience, as well as

internationally. The response to these films, especially Fire and Water, was quite violent to

the point that Water’s shooting had to be put off for 8 years before it could be resumed. By

going through an array of interviews and articles, the paper will try to understand the impact

of this explosive reaction on the filmmaker and the films as well. The cultural and narrative

analysis of these films is the main source of information along with some pre-existing

research in the forms of books, academic papers, articles, essays, news reports and

transcribed interviews.

Keywords: Deepa Mehta, Contextual Analysis, Narrative Analysis, Religious Hypocrisy,

Female Subordination, Patriarchy, Taboo,

Chapter 1 - Introduction: Commented [TS1]: Cite properly or do better paraphrasing

India is a beautiful country; it is home to diverse religions, languages, festivals, people and

cultures. Though its richness in diversity is what makes it unique, there is a flip side to it –

India is deeply rooted in patriarchy in terms of its religious mindsets, customs and traditional

practices. According to Uma Chakravarti, in her paper Conceptualizing Brahmanical

Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Class, Caste and State:

The general subordination of women assumed a particularly severe form in

India through the powerful instrument of religious traditions which have shaped

social practices. A marked feature of Hindu society is its legal sanction for an

extreme expression of social stratification in which women and the lower castes

have been subjected to humiliating conditions of existence. Caste hierarchy and

gender hierarchy are the organizing principles of the brahmanical social order…

(Chakravarti, 1993)

Literature and Cinema have been mirrors to society ever since they have been introduced, and

not only do they have the ability to reflect the society’s best and worst, they also have the power

to influence and bring about significant change in the minds of their audiences. As quoted by

Richa Sharma, “Cinema projects role models and endures stereotypical spirits while at the same

time, interrogating or projecting them ambivalently” (Sharma, 2017)

The works being studied in this paper mainly deal with issues of gender disparity and female

subordination and what happens when national and religious arguments are brought into the

mix. Despite the fact that these films are set in India, the content and messages of these films

is such that women all over the world would be able to relate. Deepa Mehta is known as a

“transnational filmmaker”, she makes films that may revolve around characters belonging to
a particular region, usually India, but her message is received, recognized and relevant to

women beyond the borders of the nation, all over the globe, according to Manju Jaidka in her

book A Critical Study of Deepa Mehta’s Fire, Earth and Water. As she says, “Although

(Mehta’s films) focus on Indian Women and their oppressive social system, the perspective is

ecofeminist in that it transcends specific locations and draws attention to the mystic

connection between women and nature, pleading for a fine balance in the cosmic scheme of

things.” Through her films Mehta is able to reveal faces of India that were hidden earlier.

(Jaidka, 2011)

As recorded in Jaidka’s book, throughout Indian history and upon the reading of, and about

the scriptures, one can say that sexual desire or sex in general is something that is meant to be

kept behind closed doors. It is ironic that such values and mindsets are held by those who live

in the country that produced the Kamasutra. As for sexuality and desire in women? There is

no point in even pretending to acknowledge its existence, according to Indian society. “The

Rig Veda does not speak of the Shakti cult, the concept of the superwoman manifested in

Goddess Durga, Kali or Parvati; an ideal woman is a Goddess beyond sexual cravings but if

she is gripped by passion she is nothing short of a monster”, Jaidka says.

Even in today’s times, its women like Sita, from the Ramayana, who followed her husband

into exile; Draupadi, from the Mahabharata, who accepted becoming a wife to the five

Pandavas without question; Gandhari, who supposedly blindfolded herself for life because

her husband was blind and she felt that she didn’t deserve to see if he couldn’t; Savitri, who

argued with the God of Death, Yamraj in order to bring her husband back to life and even

Mirabai, the poet-saint who gave up worldly pleasures and dedicated her life to Lord Krishna,

who are idealized and looked up to. In short, the whole point is that in India, the traditional
though is that women are the weaker sex who have to abide by the rules set by the system,

they are lesser than men and the only things that brings any meaning into their lives are men;

whether it be as a husband (in order to provide them with the purpose of fulfilling wifely

duties and producing a male heir), a father (for marrying into a good family and not

burdening the father with her responsibility) or a son (to birth an heir). beliefs like these are

deeply ingrained into Indian society and lead to women dealing with injustice like domestic

violence, an incorrigible ’son’-fixation, dowry deaths, female foeticide and infanticides.

(Jaidka, 2011)

With the development of technology and globalization, access to the world has become

easier, physically and virtually, and that has helped bring about a change in the way women

are treated and the way heterosexual relationships have started operating; women aren’t

treated like slaves anymore, at least not a large majority of them. Women are now being

given opportunities to pursue higher education and are being payed salaries that they are able

to live on comfortably. While they are still not treated as equal to men in all aspects, we are

getting there slowly. This change has also brought about intense doubt with regards to the

credibility of the archaic beliefs that the orthodox hold about how the society is supposed to

operate; the younger generation has started to question the long-followed traditions and the

awareness that women are equal to men has started spreading. This paradigm shift requires an

introspection within ourselves and a re-evaluation of all our beliefs and ideals. Deepa Mehta,

despite making films based on the women in India, understands the issues related to feminism

and the beliefs that the West holds about the feminist movement. She is able to beautifully

merge the concepts of the West with the reality of the Indian culture in her work. (Jaidka,

2011).
This work aims to bring forward the issues that Deepa Mehta, a filmmaker with the thirst to

question and fight against the conservative norms and powers that work to subjugate women

in India, has used as inspiration in her work. She re-writes history by showing us the story

from her perspective instead of the stereotypical male perspective of things where the female

is a side character instead of the protagonist. This puts the spotlight on issues that were

previously brushed under the carpet; it focuses on how women are affected by the social and

political expectations on their shoulders and how the idea of women’s sexuality is exploited

and used as a tool for oppressing them in this patriarchal scenario. This paper takes a look at

Deepa Mehta’s trilogy Fire, 1947 Earth and Water and the arguments these films raise in

order to understand the how women of Mother India are subjected to a life of less; less

freedom, fewer choices, and next to no rights.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review Commented [TS2]: Add more content.
1)Transnational cinema
2) Newspaper articles and real life info that validates the
content of the film and shows if or not these practices are
still prevalent
“Deepa Mehta has been seen as one of the representative directors of South-Asian diaspora”, 3) Water nominated for an Oscar. What it means to be a
part of the Canadian film industry and what is a Canadian
film?
says Avinash Jodha, in his article Packaging India: The Fabric of Deepa Mehta’s Cinematic 4) Why some films were in English and some in Hindi.

Art, “She has carved out a niche for herself in the media as one of the flag bearers of freedom

of expression…(She) is quite specific about her agenda as a filmmaker, particularly in the

context of her trilogy on India.”

Her father was a film distributor in Amritsar and Mehta and her brother (photojournalist Dilip

Mehta) would often watch films while their father worked. It was their father who taught

them how to work all the equipment and gave them exposure into the world of films. Deepa

Mehta is an Indo-Canadian filmmaker born in Amritsar on the 15th of September, 1949. Soon

after the 1947 Partition was announced, Mehta’s father was forced to move from Lahore to

Amritsar. In an interview, this is what she had to say about the Partition:

My father and his brothers were brought up in Lahore and they faced

tremendous difficulties. They had to leave their family home. They never saw

their friends again and my father never saw his Muslim friends again. I grew up

hearing about all the horror stories of partition, as did a lot of people who were

from the Punjab, the area most affected. In fact, if you ask anybody from the

Punjab today, and we are talking about third generation, what does 1947 mean

to you, they will never say the independence of India. They all say the partition

of India. Every family member has some horror story to tell. It was a Holocaust. Commented [TS3]: cite
She moved to Canada in 1973, after getting married to documentary filmmaker Paul

Saltzman. They set up their own production house, called Sunrise Films, along with her

brother Dilip soon after the move. (Mehta, 2017)

All throughout recorded history, it has been noticed that women are especially targeted

during political unrest. Their bodies are exploited and they become nothing more than

objects, their sexuality being exploited and being turned into their biggest vulnerabilities;

reduced to being a vessel that is subjected to all the rage and violence around them. And this

isn’t something limited to the national borders on India; there are records of this phenomenon

taking place all over the world. Deepa Mehta is one of the few filmmakers who has

understood and portrayed the devastating events of 1947 through the perspective of the

women instead of the women. Mehta’s films put women in different setting; violent

moments, domestic, middle-class monotony, and also situations with unforgiving socio-

political and religious pressures. (Jaidka, 2011)

In an interview with Mehta in 2006 by Richard Phillips, she was asked what she wished to

achieve with her films and she said:

To wipe out two thousand years of imposed training is difficult and obviously

won’t just happen with a film. Fire, Earth and Water were essentially about the

conflict between the desire for independence and freedom and religious

tradition, or at least the most backward forms of these traditions. If I’ve made

some progress in that direction then I’m satisfied. Commented [TS4]: PARAPHRASE
And in yet another interview with Phillips in 1999, she had expressed her views on why not

many made films that ‘accurately’ depict India:

Obviously, I am not including everybody in this generalization, there are many

exceptions, but there are several conceptions that prevail in the west about India.

There is firstly the spiritual India—a place where you go and find nirvana.

Secondly, there is the conception that India is entirely poverty stricken, with a

permanent kind of begging bowl attitude. There is the India of Maharajas,

princes and queens, and the India that comes from nostalgia for the Raj. And

there is always the prevailing pressure that people should feel superior to some

other place: look how bad India is with all the beggars, aren't we lucky to be

better off.

It is uncomfortable and difficult for some filmmakers to produce works that

destroy these perceptions. India brings specifically fixed images in many

western minds, and the minute you start de-exoticising that, you have you deal

with Indians as real people, and there is a pressure not to do that.

Finally, there are many dark political questions about partition that the British

establishment doesn't want brought to light. When you know the real history of

partition and the responsibility that lands in the laps of the British, obviously

you understand why it is a very uncomfortable subject for them. Commented [TS5]: PARAPHRASE

Mehta first received recognition for her films Sam and Me (1990) and Camilla (1994).

However, her most popular work, one that she is now widely known for, is The Elements

Trilogy consisting of the films Fire (1996), 1947 Earth (1998) and Water (2005). The latter

was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mehta has received
the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Order of

Ontario and Queen’s Jubilee Medal. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for

“challenging cultural traditions and bringing stories of oppression, injustice and violence to the

fore”, as documented by The Canadian Encyclopedia. Commented [TS6]: cite. Link in notes app

TALK ABOUT TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA

The trilogy is set in India, its past and present. Delhi, Lahore and a city which in all aspects

was Varanasi, but had to be re-named due to reasons that will later be elaborated. There are no

non-Indian characters in the films, except for the British soldier in 1947 Earth. Each film is set

in a different setting and time; Water in the late 30s, Earth in the 40s and Fire is set in a modern

setting in the New Delhi of the 80s-90s. So technically, Mehta is moving backwards in time

with each film as if trying to look for roots, causes and explanations. (Jain, 2017)

It was the release of the first instalment of her trilogy, Fire, that gave her the reputation of the

controversial filmmaker that she is known for today. The release of Fire brought on the wrath

on Indian conservatives and politicians. The film started a much-needed conversation about

female sexuality and took it further by also adding in themes of overt homosexuality. (Jaidka,

2011)

It definitely did not come as a surprise to anyone that this film caused an uproar among Hindu

fundamentalists and conservatives. The patriarchal, predominantly male mindset of the country

tends to shy away from acknowledging such overt displays of female sexuality. Soon after the

release, the films had to be taken down because of the violent response they garnered from the

public. Many even thought of it as a way to poison their women’s minds and the ‘contamination
of the sacred Indian womanhood’. The Shiv-Sena’s Bal Thackeray authoritatively asserted that

homosexuality was not Hindu, and therefore not Indian. According to Jai Bhagwan Goel, the

portrayal of such ideas on screen is futile because “What does (one) gain by showing

lesbianism? As is it the institution of marriage is breaking down. This will make it worse”. The Commented [TS7]: cite. Jaidka book has citation. Mention
that it was a part of the book in a footnote.
film, very obviously, caused a revolution by bringing to light the hypocrisy of the patriarchal

Indian society and how the women are left with barely any rights to make their own decisions,

and how oppressed they are by the men in their lives. (Jaidka, 2011)

The second installment in this series was known as 1947 Earth. It was based on the novel Ice-

Candy Man by author Bapsi Sidhwa. The story is essentially a re-telling of the historical events

of the Partition with a shift of focus to the horrors that the women of the country went through.

The adaptation of the book into the film by Deepa Mehta kept with the theme of giving a voice

to the women and narrates a story of ramifications: that of political turmoil on relationships

among friends, that of hatred and violence and its effect on local communities and families.

Mehta, again, uses her film to start an extremely important conversation about issues that had

been, till then, buried. The torture, rape and mutilation that the women were put through is

shown through the eyes of a character called Shanta. Lenny, the little girl, and Shanta, her

maid, are the voices of the film. Their story is that of the loss of innocence and ruthless

exploitation.

The final film in the trilogy is called Water. This story focuses on females who have lost their

husbands. The film is set during the time Gandhi was heading the fight for freedom and British

Raj. This story revolves around widows and their helplessness in the face of religious

hypocrisy. Widows didn’t have much of a choice on how to live life after their husbands died;

AS MENTIONED IN THE FILM They could either choose to give up their lives as well and
burn with their husbands on the funeral pyre in a ritual known as Sati, they could choose to

marry their husbands’ brother and lead a married life or they could live a banished life, where

they would have to give up all pleasures and live a life of abstinence to ‘atone for their sins’

that caused their husbands to die. They would have to give up the idea of beauty and shave all

their hair, give up wearing colorful clothing, jewelry or any kind of sringar, which is the act or

adorning oneself; they would need to give up wearing shoes and only wear white sarees; they

would get simple food only once a day and live in seclusion. (Jaidka, 2011) This story is told

through the eyes of an innocent little girl who is sent off to live with widows when her old

husband dies. This tale explores the hardships, prejudices and restrictions that widows have to

deal with.

One can easily understand the extent of hypocrisy in Indian society by looking into the events

that took place when the film was first being shot. Even before the shooting began a horde of

protestors evidently trashed the sets on the banks of Ganga in Varanasi. The shooting had to

be put off for five years before they were able to secretly shoot it in a secret location in Sri

Lanka under the guise of shooting a different film.

This chapter was a brief introduction of the trilogy that gave us some insight into the films,

the thought behind them, the perspectives and their reception by the masses. Moving on, we

will now be looking at each film separately, in order to understand the obvious as well as

underlying themes, motifs and symbols in them. We will also identify various prejudices and

stereotypes, socio-political issues and religious restrictions placed on women as seen in these

films, along with the ways in which the trilogy challenges these ideas. Finally, we will also

be looking at how these films impacted the Indian populace as well as the diaspora.
Research Design: Commented [TS8]: Mention as sub section under chapter 2
in list of contents
The films will be analyzed using narrative and contextual study methods. The impact and

reaction of the audience - Indian and diaspora - will also be looked at. The study will be

backed up by pre-existing research in the form of books, articles, research papers, transcribed

interviews, online newspaper clippings and other relevant sources available. In order to

understand the rest of the study properly, it is imperative to establish what the methods of

study entail. According to University of North Carolina’s The Writing Centre, Contextual

Analysis is analysis of the film as part of a broader context, including Culture, Time period,

Location etc. of the film’s creation. It asks questions like What might the film say about the

culture that created it? What were/are the social and political concerns of the time period? Or,

like researching the author of a novel, you might consider the director, producer, and other

people vital to the making of the film. What is the place of this film in the director’s career?

Does it align with his usual style of directing, or does it move in a new direction? Other

examples of contextual approaches might be analyzing the film in terms of a civil rights or

feminist movement (The Writing Centre, 2016).

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods tells us that Narrative analysis

is a genre of analytic frames whereby researchers interpret stories that are told within the

context of research and/or are shared in everyday life. Scholars who conduct this type of

analysis make diverse interpretations and conclusions by focusing on different elements.

These elements include, but are not limited to, how the story is structured, what functions the

story serves, what is the substance of the story, and how the story is performed (Allen, 2017).

Other than these methods, the other main resources (but not the only) of information are the

books by Manju Jaidka and Jasbir Jain titled A Critical Study of Deepa Mehta’s Trilogy:
Fire, Earth and Water and Films, Literature and Culture: Deepa Mehta’s Elements Trilogy,

respectively. Jain’s book is an amalgamation of articles and essays by various scholars and

experts on the subject while Jaidka critically examines the films and the negative reactions

they garnered, while giving her own expert opinions on the matter.
Chapter 3: Fire – Politics of Sexuality

Summary

Themes, Motifs, Symbols and Characters

Analysis

The first installation of the trilogy, Fire, released in 1996, is a story full of ‘infidelity,

conspiracy, clandestine lesbianism and celibacy’ (Dey, 2014). The story itself isn’t Commented [TS9]: cite

extraordinary; it is the fact that it is set in India, infused with the Hindu culture and at the

same time shows characters trying to break out of the confines that the culture places on

them, is what makes the film resonate. Homosexuality is such a taboo topic in India that

people prefer to believe that it doesn’t exist at all. And then to construct a film around the

idea of lesbianism in a family that seems so normal, highlights the existence and presence of

it, and that it something that many cannot accept.

Fire revolves around the day-to-day life of a seemingly happy, middle-class family that

consists of two brothers, Ashok (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and Jatin (Javed Jafferi);

their wives, Radha (Shabana Azmi) and Sita (Nandita Das); Biji, the brothers’ mother, and

Mundu, the man servant who is also Biji’s caretaker. At first glance the family seems to be

like any normally functioning household with Radha playing the role of the Badi Bahu (elder

daughter-in-law) and taking care of the main tasks of the household and taking care of Biji, as

she cannot care for herself after having suffered from a stroke which left her unable to speak

or walk. She would only be able to communicate by ringing a bell, which she kept handy at

all times. The family runs a restaurant and a DVD rental store together and all seems well.

But a few minutes into the film, things start to unravel, and out come the problems: Ashok

has taken a vow of celibacy after finding out that Radha is barren, Jatin has married Sita, but
he is in love with a Chinese girl called Julie, who didn’t want to get tied down by marriage

and he continues to have an affair with her after marriage despite the fact that Sita has also

found out about it. On top of this, Jatin sells porn videos in his rental store, secretly and

Mundo is notorious for he watches porn in front of the mute Biji and gets off to it, when he is

alone with her and is supposed to be taking care of her. The unhappiness in their marriages

encourage the women to bond and eventually they indulge in a romantic relationship with

each other.

One day Mundu is caught in the act by Radha and she goes and tells Ashok, encouraging him

to kick Mundu out of the house for his behavior, but instead Ashok forgives him, excusing

his behavior because he is a man. In the meantime, Mundu has been noticing the blossoming

relationship between Radha and Sita, and he is jealous, for he has feelings for Radha and

wants her for himself. As a means of taking revenge for exposing him, he drags Ashok to

witness the women in the middle of the act of having sex. Ashok has a very predictable

reaction of disgust and horror. He is also ashamed because witnessing the act caused his

desire to awaken after years of suppression.

“There is no word for what we are, how we feel for each other”, Sita tells Radha (Fire, 1996)

and they both make the decision to leave behind their unhappy lives and create a future

together. Before she leaves everything behind he conscience encourages her to speak to

Ashok and explain everything to him but he throws it back in her face by expressing his

bigoted opinions about how her relationship with Sita was sinful and it would only lead to

ruin. She stands up to him and claims that she had felt dead for years but Sita made her feel

alive and she would not give her up for anything. Ashok commands her to apologize and

forget everything but when she refuses, he shoves her and her sari catches fire. Ashok makes
no move to save her and instead watches her as he rescues Biji. Despite everything, Radha

makes it out alive and leaves Ashok for Sita.

FIRE IS NOT A LESBIAN FILM. MAKE IT CLEAR.

Chapter 4: 1947 Earth – Politics of Nation and War

The Partition of India is an integral part of the country’s history and it played, and continues

to play, a major role in shaping India’s varied cultures, values, institutions and attitudes. It

was this monumental event that Deepa Mehta based her next film on.

1947 Earth is a film adaptation of author Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel The Ice-Candy Man (as it

was known in India. It was published under the title Cracking India abroad). The novel tells a

story partly about the love affair between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, during a

particularly politically tumultuous time in Indian history.

When Deepa Mehta translates the written word of the novel to its audio-visual representation

on the screen, she chooses to abide, partially, by Bollywood’s style and introduces song and

dance into the film. In the words of Manju Jaidka:

…It retells a ‘hyphenated’ story from a twice-hyphenated perspective. Sidhwa

is a Pakistani-American and Mehta is an Indian based out of Canada. Yet

Mehta’s cine version seems to overlap Sidhwa’s as both focus on a female

version of history and both show how the ‘will of men’…subjugated Muslim,

Sikh and Hindu women during Partition, resulting in a profound inequity in

gender relations. (Jaidka, 2011)

1947 Earth centers around a group of friends who belong to different religious backgrounds

and have to go through the horrors of the Partition and how their friendship is ripped apart as

a result of the violence and aggression between their religious communities. The main
characters are Shanta (played by Nandita Das), who works in a Parsi household as the Aaya

(nanny/caretaker) of a little girl called Lenny Sethna who is physically disabled because she

suffers from Polio and needs a brace in order to walk. The story revolves around the two

Muslim men, Dil Navaz (Aamir Khan) and Hassan (Rahul Khanna) who vie for the beautiful

Shanta’s attention.

Summary

Themes, Motifs, Symbols and Characters

Analysis
Chapter 5: Water – Politics of Religion

In Hinduism, water is sacred. It is believed to have magical cleansing powers, especially the

water from the holy rivers of the country. Hinduism considers purity and avoidance of

spiritual and well as physical pollution, very important. The Ganga river is seen as the most

sacred of rivers; its waters are used in pujas and yagnas. Many also believe that a sip of water

from the river on the death bed assures entry into heaven!

The final film of the trilogy, Water, is based on the lives of women whose husbands have

died and how the society now treats them inhumanely. The film is presented through the eyes

of Chuhiya, an 8-year-old child (similar to Lenny in Earth), who is happy, and fun loving. In

the middle of the night she is awoken by her father and told that her husband (whom she

doesn’t even remember getting married to) is dead. After, we see the heartbreaking scene

when Chuhiya’s father drops her off at the widow’s ashram and she realizes that he is leaving

her there for good.

At the ashram she finds herself among many women:

First, she comes across Madhumati, the ‘boss’ of the home, whom everyone else listens to.

She rules the ashram and expects everyone to agree with everything she says, literally! She is

rude and domineering and Chuhiya dislikes her immediately. Then we meet Shakuntala, the

silent but strong woman, who shows motherly tendencies towards the little girl right from the

start, when she makes the other widows leave her alone and proceeds to rub turmeric paste on

her head to ‘cool her temper down’. Next, we meet Kunti, who asks to be called Bua.

Chuhiya and Bua bond over the memories of all the food and sweets they ate at their

weddings. Bua, too, got married and widowed as a child. Bua is stuck in the past, forever
reminiscing the simpler times when the food at her wedding made her so happy, and how

while after being widowed she was barred from eating such delicacies anymore, she longed

to eat a laddoo again. Finally, we have Kalyani. A young and beautiful widow whom

Chuhiya befriends. Everyone in the household treats her differently; she gets to stay in her

own, private room while everyone else has to share a space, she is given the privilege of

letting her hair grow out and often receives special gifts as well. All of this is because

Madhumati uses her to earn money for the upkeep of the ashram; she sends her out with

Gulabi, a hijra who serves Madhumati and brings her news from the ‘outside world’ and also

feeds her drug addiction, and they cross the river to the large bungalows where Kalyani is

made to spend nights with rich, old ‘seths’ or landlords in exchange for gifts and money.

Kalyani, by chance, comes across Narayan, a law student who recently returned home. He

was one of many who got swayed by Gandhi’s philosophies and became a nationalist. He

was instantly enamored by Kalyani to the point that he would sit outside the ashram and wait

to get a glimpse of her. The two soon fell in love and decided to get married. When

Madhumati found out, she was against it as their ‘income’ depended on her. As a punishment

Madhumati cut off Kalyani’s hair, and locked her in her room. Shakuntala soon set her free

and she ran to meet Narayan who wanted to introduce her to his parents. But when Kalyani

found out that Narayan’s father was one of the landlords she was sent to, she could no longer

agree to marry him. And since she did not want to go back to the ashram and resume her

miserable routine again, she, in despair, ended her life by drowning herself in the river.

But unexpectedly, the film did not end here. Rather, it took an even darker turn. Since

Madhumati no longer had someone to bring in cash for her and all the widows in the ashram

were either too old, or not pretty enough, she sent Chuhiya with Gulabi, in the absence of
Shankuntala, under the pretense that Gulabi would take her home after they went to a friend’s

place to ‘play’. It is a horrifying scene when the little girl is sent into the landlord’s chambers

and she enters innocently and announces that ‘she is here to play’ before it cuts to the

landlord who is sitting on a canopy bed, sipping alcohol, looking at her leeringly.

The second Shakuntala finds out she runs to the river, begging the men at the banks who row

the boats to take her to the other side. But by then Gulabi has reached this end of the shore

with a comatose Chuhiya who at seeing an enraged Shakuntala approaching them, flees.

Shakuntala picks up the unresponsive girl from the boat and cleans her up before cradling her

and sitting by the river for the night. In the morning, news spreads that Gandhi’s train will be

stopping at the station for 5 minutes and that he would be greeting the people. Shakuntala

decides to go see him, and when he leaving, decides to rescue Chuhiya from this life by

handing her over to Narayan who is also on the train.

Themes, Motifs, Symbols and Characters

Analysis