Marriages flavour of the season for silver screen

Marriage? ���It���s only for persons with low IQ!��� ��� states Bhaskor Banerjee a.k.a. Amitabh Bachchan in Piku. But a glance at other films playing in the multiplex shows that marriage is exercising the head and heart of Bengali filmmakers today.
Starting with Tagore���s Jogajog, they go on to his life���s polestar, Kadambari. Then move on to Bela Sheshe that brings Swatilekha Sengupta and Soumitra Chatterjee together after Ghare Bairey, and finish with Bitnoon, cast in the Pati Patni Aur Woh mould of vintage Sanjeev Kumar.A broad spectrum of equations, certainly, but why this sudden burst of interest or concern over relationships? Are we trying to determine its pitfalls or rediscover its strength at a time when 498 and Marital Rape are screaming from headlines?
Sekhar Das has chosen ���Relationships��� as the English title for Jogajog. Because ���connections (literal word for jogajog) are temporary, relationships are forever,��� says the director. It���s this permanence of relationships that Tagore celebrates in his creations. Which explains why the tagline for Kadambari reads: ���Tomarei koriachhi jibaner dhruba tara��� Thou shall be the polestar of my life.���
Jogajog, though transposed from 1932 to 1982, still tells the story of Kumudini, raised in her aristocratic brother���s culturally rich household, then married to an upstart Madhusudan Ghoshal. Sekhar didn���t have to labour hard: ���Tagore, with an intellectual clairvoyance that looked way past his times, has portrayed the reality I capture in the film, through his dialogues!��� And thanks to some magnificent performances, Bratya Basu etches a materialist autocrat who thinks everything, including relationships, can be purchased. It is left to the upright Kumudini (Shubhalagna), a feminist steeped in the spiritual core of Bharat Mata, to stand up to his idiosyncrasy, infirmity, infidelity, but with such logic that he must transform.
The message is loud and clear: Marriage, to succeed, must be between equals ��� not just social or economic but intellectual equals. And yes, once a child arrives, the individuals must forget their differences, for the child is the nation of tomorrow. ���Marriage is a serious commitment to society, to life, to soul, to universe,��� Sekhar realizes, having connected with Tagore���s philosophy since he started scripting it 15 years ago.
It���s precisely because Jyotirindranath did not give his body and soul to the marriage that Kadambari consumed opium.
���She���d married into a remarkable family,��� Suman Ghosh points out. Not just the men, the women too were ahead of times. True, Jnanadanandini got her ICS husband���s full support; but sister Swarna Kumari too was authoring novels. ���Kadambari tried to measure up to their level but circumstances came in the way. And she couldn���t bow to ���Pati Parameshwar��� and accept his waywardness.��� Her suicide was her protest, and her way of liberating herself from a failed marriage.
Bela Sheshe dissects a yesteryear���s marriage in the light of relationships today, when it���s a mere contract that dissolves in court. Indeed, Nandita Roy and Shiboprasad Mukherjee spring a surprise on the viewers when Soumitra announces to his son, three daughters and their spouses that he wants to divorce his wife of 49 years. ���Silver separation?!��� they shriek, ���but why?��� Because, through the decades, Marriage has become mere Habit. ���She doesn���t love me, she doesn���t touch me, she only serves me,��� he enunciates.
Wife Swatilekha calls the bluff. ���Yes, it���s a habit. Yes, I meticulously care for his creature comforts, cook for the family, nurture the grandkids. But I do that because they���re extensions of my husband. I love them because I love my husband.��� It���s a philosophy we grew up with, taking for granted the faith and trust that marked our parents��� relationship, says Nandita. And yes, ���I was inspired to script Bela Sheshe because of the soaring number of broken marriages around us.���
Today spouses are buddies rather than partners forever, ���and perhaps respect for the spouse declines when cuss words become terms of endearment.��� Divorces and second marriages have grown in direct proportion to financial independence, but can money fill the emotional vacuum in a broken home? ���Don���t throw the baby out with the bathwater,��� cautions Bela Sheshe.
Bitnoon exploits extramarital affairs in today���s urban marriages. ���These are between individuals who���re not forced to marry but chose to,��� say Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha. These persons, being human, might stray ���but while we���re tolerant towards differences at workplace, we���re not willing to tolerate any lapse at home!��� Often the wife herself gets so busy raising kids that she ceases to be a companion. And, wait, ���in modern society, involvement outside marriage need not be a male prerogative but both partners.���
Surely then, we must rediscover, reanalyze and reposition marriage?