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An ode to spirit of liberation

KOLKATA, SEPT. 28 . Despite a predictable ending and the characteristic rhetoric of a Films Division venture, a powerful documentary by woman rights activist and film-maker Ananya Chatterjee upholding women's empowerment in the panchayati raj system, seeks to break a few celluloid stereotypes.

For one, the maker of `Dwitiya Paksha' (The Second Innings) has done away with the conventional `uncaring husband' cameo by replacing it with a loving yet good-for-nothing aristocrat who does not come in the way of his wife's evolution from the meek daughter-in-law of the household to the leader of the panchayat.

The film, which was commercially released here last week, is about a poor girl married into a family of panchayat politicians and sucked into the core of power by default because of the 73rd amendment to the Constitution that reserves one-third of seats for women in rural bodies.

Shyama, the dark and unwanted daughter of a peasant married to an elderly widower, is catapulted into leadership when her father-in-law puts her in his chair of panchayat pradhan following the reservation, but he continues to pull the strings from behind.

And yet, the illiterate and docile Shyama gets wiser by the day realising that all is not well in the corruption-riddled system. At the end of five years, when her father-in-law is readying to get back the seat, she is determined to contest for the second time.

``The film is an ode to all women who have not remained mere proxies to the menfolk instrumental in introducing them to power, but instead have evolved as torch bearers for millions of rural women of this country,'' says Chatterjee.

Though without technical finesse, the film, propelled by the powerful acting of its lead star debutante Meghna Haldar, tells the real tale of hundreds of women panchayat pradhans who have chosen to stay in power ever after their seats were de-reserved.

Eulogising the reservation, which has paved the way for one million women to come to power in rural India, `Dwitiya Paksha' also weaves stories of relationships within the family -- that of a husband who supports his wife in her ascent to power and in retaining it, of a daughter who shares her dreams and aspirations with a step-mother just a few years older to her. ``In hundreds of villages across the country, male relatives allowed women to come to power since they could not contest the seats for themselves after the amendment. But it was never meant to be absolute power.

"...But to their amazement, at the end of their five-year terms, these women had metamorphosed into thinkers and visionaries gathering popular support for their sensitive handling of issues,'' Chatterjee said.

This spirit of liberation, she said, had inspired her to take up the subject for her documentary.

Chatterjee, who shot to fame after acclaimed film-maker Rituparno Ghosh made `Dahan' based on her real life experience of trying to get justice for a victim of molestation, said she would continue to make women-centric movies as women's issues churned her from within. -- PTI

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An ode to spirit of liberation

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