Film:Mittal vs Mittal
Director: Karan Razdan
Actors: Rohit Roy, Rituparna Sengupta
Rating: *
Itâs a room full of disturbed wives. A woman lawyer (Suchitra Krishnamoorthi) takes class. Each battered hen is meant to spell out her problems. One of them canât make hers public. She whispers instead into a volunteerâs ears, which is kind of pointless, given the volunteer announces to everyone thereafter: The husband sodomises her; uses instruments; even urinates in her mouth.â Ugh.
Another woman (Sengupta) in the same room is daughter-in-law of a certain industrialist Laxmi Mittal. Her husband (Roy) has been raping her incessantly since they got married: a sight weâre constantly made privy to, each night, as he attacks her in bed. Her mother, hearing the daughter complain, worries she may be frigid instead.
How the couple met, or later got married, appears an equal mystery. The rich brat, starting out as friend, had in fact forcibly felt up the girl before marriage as well: âYour morality is all fudged up, babe. Youâve come all the way for overnight stay with me.â He molests her, disappears for months, lands up again, asking to marry her. Everyone jubilantly agrees. Heâs from the âMittal khandaanâ (dynasty). The girlâs family loves him, because he thinks their home is full of âart and culture.â Yo!}
She moves in to a second-rate hotel lobby for a bedroom: of the Mittal khandaan! She sits at home during day, following discussions on abusive relationships on a funny news programme called RKB show. The hilarious anchor RKB (a show you've got to catch on a channel called Sahara Samay) notices ironies (with a silent ârâ), and throws around statistics like â700 per cent more rapes are taking place (sic) in this country now.â The night is reserved again for the wifeâs own.
This movie is basically B-grade version of a common emotional pornography. In Hollywood the genre is termed the âfem jepâ (females in jeopardy). This is where audiences get off on feminine marriage ordeals, rape, battering, domestic violence. The viewer feels goodness in the heart than guilt, given the images are overtly meant to repulse you, not titillate. The disgust is made public. The delight remains secret. If only all this were filmed better, the movie wouldâve actually found enough repressed takers.
{{/usCountry}}This movie is basically B-grade version of a common emotional pornography. In Hollywood the genre is termed the âfem jepâ (females in jeopardy). This is where audiences get off on feminine marriage ordeals, rape, battering, domestic violence. The viewer feels goodness in the heart than guilt, given the images are overtly meant to repulse you, not titillate. The disgust is made public. The delight remains secret. If only all this were filmed better, the movie wouldâve actually found enough repressed takers.
{{/usCountry}}âShayad isliye (Thatâs probably why),â suggests a line in this film: âPoore Mahabharat mein, Draupadi ke vastra haran ka chapter logon ko sabse interesting lagta hai (People find the Mahabharat chapter on the attempted rape of Draupadi the most interesting).â
I donât know who're these people, who find that Mahabharat chapter the most interesting.
I know the makers of this film. I know legalising genuine pornography in this country will find them a more legit job in the business. About time we did.