Fri, 31 May 2024
Share
Change Font Sizes:
Having watched ‘Bulbul’ a film directed by Anvita Dutt Guptan, I thought ‘ Boksi Ko Ghar’ would be a poor copy of it. ‘Bulbul’ is based on a fictional story highlighting gender violence under the pre-independence feudal era set in West Bengal, India, around the 1940s. But to my surprise ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ directed by Sulakshya Bharati, a male director, also depicting gender violence is a combination of past, present and future phenomena of women’s plight under patriarchy, making the film realistic.
Indeed, the movie is based on collections of real events. The movie set in a rural setting depicts how a growing talented girl child aged 8 (Juni) is snatched from a school desk to be raped under the lap of sex hungry adult husband aged 24, three times her age on the very first night. She becomes a widow at a young age after her husband dies falling into a ravine. She is thrown out of home only to be raped by her father-in-law when she is undergoing a ritual mourning period. She is instead labelled a ‘Boksi’ (witch). The journey to becoming witch starts with embracing a Pipal tree as her home.
With this background, the movie starts with a young urban woman researcher visiting this village to study the phenomena of Boksi. The deeper she tries to unravel these phenomena the more she is feared by the feudal structure in the village, ultimately asking her to leave the village. She sticks to her gun continuing to meet Boksi.
The last scene shows Boksi being pelted to death and the researcher being whisked away to replace her in the Pipal tree stigmatised as Boksi (witch). The movie ends with a powerful plea in the form of a song and group dance asking,’ Bujhina maile bujhai deu kasaile?’ (I do not understand, who will explain this?).
Juni as a young girl of eight is played by Shupala Sapkota. Shupala can bring the combination of the innocence of a child and the sense of forced adulthood of a child bride sensitively inviting sadness and sympathy from the audience.
Juni’s adult role played by Keki is the most challenging one which she has undertaken boldly and successfully. Being a female protagonist movie which is rare in a male-dominated film world and that too as a Boksi, the symbol of fear, uncertainty and mysticism, the popularity and sustainability of the film were certainly under question. Particularly in today’s Nepali political situation filled with uncertainty and fear it is generating and on top of it, Hindu mysticism is rising its hood, one would think ‘Boksi Ko Ghar’ would bring more fear, frown and frailty in people’s mindset. And Keki was not only the main actor but a producer too. However, the movie has not only generated income, people are still flocking to enjoy it.
In the movie, Juni is a symbol of contradiction: evil and deity, brightness and darkness, red and white, inside and outside, bound and decorated and conformity and resistance. All these traits she has conveyed with her bold body language.
The role of mother and mother-in-law has been poignantly played depicting how vulnerable they are in the face of cultural obligation and gender violence. While Juni’s mother has no choice but to succumb to what her husband decides for Juni, at the other end Juni’s mother-in-law is forced to believe her adulterer husband who alleges that he has been victim of the spell of sorcery, his widowed daughter-in-law forcing him to rape. To cover up this crime, she calls upon a shaman to declare her a Boksi. Ultimately, she is sent to live under the Pipal tree.
How violence is institutionalised within four walls is well depicted in the movie. Any uncomfortable question is immediately put down by no other but the mother who will not hesitate to hit against the mouth of her child. Equally, it is worth noting how adult Juni is being kicked and beaten by her mother-in-law when she discovers her husband raping her widowed daughter-in-law. The film depicts how patriarchy is reinforced additionally by women themselves.
Similarly, the role of a young researcher played by Swetchha Raut is no less important. Personally, the movie synched very well with my own character. When I was working in a remote village in Bardiya district doing my research on Badi women around the 1980s, I had thought of myself in the same position as Swetchha. Back then I had observed how the forces of poverty, lack of education, health, employment and road network bred a dark mystic mindset. Indeed, I was scared when the researcher is labelled Boksi in this movie!
The cultural identity of the married Khas Hindu woman has been well depicted with red Sindur, Tika, Saree, bangles and Tilahari with plaited hair as against the identity of a widowed woman as white draped with scattered and disordered hair.
At the end, a song with a group dance signals the climax of the movie throwing all sorts of questions, contradictions and confusions within the patriarchal society. Indeed, the instrument of feudalism is so powerful that it continues to haunt today’s modern educated urban women too.
The box office in urban caters in Nepal is doing well but the real challenge is how this film will fare and care in Madhes and far-flung remote rural mountainous region where this phenomenon is still rampant.
Kudos to gender-sensitive men, be it director Sulakshya Bharati or the composer of the song ’Bujhina maile bujhai deu kasaile?’ Prakash Saput, both have been very successful in reaching the hearts of all men and women.
(The author, a former minister, can be reached at [email protected])