Why Did She Go Away?

There’s a scene in Satyajit Ray’s 1964 film, Charulata, based on the Rabindranath Tagore story Noshto­­neer (The Broken Home), where Madhabi Muk­herjee (who plays Cha­rulata), is sitting on her bed holding a letter from her husband’s you­nger brother Amal, buries her face in it and breaks down crying, “Why did you go away?”

Cut to 2011. In a scene from contemporary Ben­gali filmmaker Agnidev Chatterjee’s Charulata 2011, Rituparna Seng­u­pta, who plays the lead, lies on her bed and runs her hands over herself imagining that it’s Amal, her husband’s cousin who lives far away in a foreign country.

Though critics would argue that drawing parallels between the understated sophistication of Ray’s masterpiece with the unabashed crudeness of the 2011 version is tantamount to comparing high art with soft porn, the point to note is that the in-your-face physicality of the current rem­ake is not unique to one director in Bengal.

Charulata, Rituparna in the 2011 version

Even period film depictions are turning up the heat. Actress Paoli Dam’s character in Elar Char Adhyay—which revolves around her character Ela finding herself asking feminist questions as the freedom movem­ent rages in the country—has the her­oine take the lead in wooing her love int­erest. “An earlier interpretation may have been much more subdued,” she points out.

A recent Bengali film with a distinct women- centric theme was Mai­nak Bhaumik’s Ami Aar Amar Girlfriends (Me and My Girlfriends). Three young women bond over coffee and conversation—and a ‘high-spirited’ trip—each reve­a­ling new facets of tod­ay’s modern woman. Director Bha­umik expl­a­ins that not making a point about women’s lib is the point of the film. “My films are mos­tly women-centric because I find the way they resp­ond to situations is much more complex and nuan­ced. I find them more interesting. In this film I wanted to steer clear of ‘making a commentary of their freedom’. It was supposed to show them as they are, having fun being women.” Bhaumik’s is just one among an interesting mix of films where ‘she’ holds her own. The eastern view is certainly more nuanced when it comes to portraying a woman as an independent person.