Marriage and the female body

[Guest guest]

WHAT LIES BENEATH

Marriage and the female body

Kaushik Ganguly's second Bengali film, `Shunya o Buke,' revolves

around a man who feels cheated when his bride ends up "flat-chested."

Ranjita Biswas speaks to the writer-director about this fascinating

theme that he has chosen to explore in his latest film.

 

A reticent painter and a young woman from a sheltered and privileged

background meet, symbolically, at the temples of Khajuraho, amidst

the graphic representations of love-making from 10th century India.

The two young people are attracted to each other. What follows is the

formula Indian-film love story— opposition from rich parents whose

only daughter wants to marry a struggling artist and the girl leaving

her family to marry him.

 

But on the first night of their marriage, the story of the recently

released Bengali film `Shunya o Buke' (Empty Canvas) takes an

unconventional turn. The artist, who is fascinated by the human form,

is shocked to find his bride `flat chested'. He rejects her, calls

her a cheat, and openly regrets that he did not check her out prior

to the wedding. So, without consummating the marriage, the couple

separates. It is another matter that the woman in the film marries a

common friend later and leads a happy life with her husband and a

daughter.

 

 

Aesthetics apart, writer-director Kaushik Ganguly's second feature

film, `Shunya o Buke,' which is based on his own story, `Abaksha,' is

unusual indeed. It dwells on an aspect that is seldom, if at all,

explored in the visual media in the country. "I wanted to focus on

this hypocrisy of so-called urbane men who talk about intellectual

compatibility with women partners, but in reality they only look at

the body of the woman, not her mind," says Ganguly.

 

In the film the wife, Tista, (played by Ganguly's wife, Churni)

implores before the break-up, "But I am still the woman you said was

your soul-mate. I can't help it if I don't have well-developed

breasts. God has made me like this. I wanted to tell you, but... I

thought you'd understand." But the husband shoots back: "Then why do

you wear a padded bra yourself?"

 

The male psyche

 

Here lies another dichotomy, Ganguly appears to point out. The idea

of a woman with full breasts, as a symbol of feminine beauty, has

been ingrained in the male psyche for so long that it is difficult

for most men to look beyond it. But this cultural indoctrination has

influenced women no less. Being full breasted is important for many

women to fit into the socially accepted image and to be self-

confident.

 

Members of an organisation that supports women with breast cancer,

Hitaishini in Kolkata, often come across women patients for whom the

trauma of mastectomy is more psychological than physical. "They ask:

will my husband still care for me after the operation?" reveals

Vijoya Mukherjee, the NGO's founder-president.

 

Ganguly agrees that the image of the woman's beauty vis-à-vis her

breasts is not easy to shake off, but he wants to challenge the

perception that treats a woman's body as a sex object. "The

commodification of the woman's body has made them (breasts)

instruments of enticement.

 

Women's feature service

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun122005/finearts10425620056

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