Page 39 - Seniors Toady March 2020

Once Upon A Time | Films
Woman power
on screen
March is celebrated as Women’s Month, so here’s a look at one of the finest female
bonding films made in Bollywood. By Deepa Gahlot
Mrityudand (1997)
“Pati ho, parmeshwar ban ne ki koshish mat
karo” (You are a husband, don’t try to be God).
With that one line uttered with contempt, a
woman shows her husband his place. In the
feudal culture of Bihar where the concept of
women’s rights is alien, Ketki dares to demand
change.
Prakash Jha grew up in Bihar and understood
the caste and gender structure, the politics, the
corruption and the unbridled machismo. It is a
strongly patriarchal culture, yet the protagonist
of Mrityudand (1997) is a woman, Ketki, played
by Madhuri Dixit.
The film begins with the brutal murder of
a young widow and her mother, accused of
witchcraft, but in reality it’s a plot to grab their
land. There is a farcical investigation, at which
the killers are not identified. The next few scenes
establish the main players in the complex drama
that plays out. The head of the landowning
family, Subhash Singh (Pyare Mohan Sahay) is
old and ineffectual; the local politician (Harish
Patel) is in cahoots with a corrupt contractor
Tirpat Singh (Mohan Joshi); Abhay Singh
39
(Mohan Agashe), the older son of the landlord,
has an eye on the powerful position of the village
monastery and Rambaran Mahto (Om Puri), a
low caste man who controls his community and
hence, the labour force. For old time’s sake is also
helps Subhash Singh with discreet loans.
Seething cauldron
Into this seething cauldron of amorality, comes
in Ketki, an educated young woman, married
to Vinay (Ayub Khan), the youngest son of
the landowning family on the slide. In spite of
financial problems, Vinay and Ketki are happy
for a while, then Abhay Singh plots the murder
of the head of the monastery and annexes the
position himself, abandoning his childless wife
Chandravati (Shabana Azmi). He is an evil man,
who lets his submissive wife be blamed for
barrenness, though he is the impotent one. She
takes to her bed with shock and gives the keys of
the household to a reluctant Ketki.
Tirpat gets Vinay into debt, and under his
influence, the sweet natured Vinay becomes just
like the rest of the men, coming home drunk,
mistreating Ketki. She is not one to suffer silently,
SENIORS TODAY | Issue #9 | March 15, 2020