Exploration of Womanhood Through Anvita Dutt’s ‘Qala’
Qala (played by Tripti Dimri) is Anvita Dutt’s second movie (after Bulbul) which explores the complex realms of womanhood majorly in a patriarchal set-up. Qala, the movie revolves around a mother-daughter relationship who come from a family of musicians. Qala, the titular character (played by Tripti Dimri) from the beginning of the movie is shown as a child who’s torment begins before birth, as she ‘absorbs’ her twin in their mother’s womb. The mother: Urmilla Manjushree (played by Swastika Mukherjee) remains painted with bitterness over the loss of her potential son. The story uncovers the multifaceted demonstration of prejudices towards Qala through both male and female figures of authority. This essay is an attempt to perceive womanhood through Qala.
Urmilla aims to train Qala to be a proficient musician like her father, who happens to have passed away even before Qala’s birth. She is burdened by her mother to carry on the legacy of her father. ‘Nam ke aage Pandit lagna chahiye, Bai nahi’, asserts Urmilla in one of the first few minutes of the movie. This is where the idea of inferiority is ingrained in Qala’s brain and as the movie progresses, this thought is only reinforced by her mother. Consequently, as a young child with a single parent, Qala idealises her mother while battling everyday to please her. Hungry for validation from a mother whose prejudices are extremely extrinsic, Qala finds herself nailed into the loop of being inadequate and deficient in her mother’s eyes. The essence of music loses its meaning for the troubled protagonist as her priority shifts to gratify her mother. She is constantly reminded of her exiguous skills through affirmations like: “Brains are zero. Looks are zero. Zero talent. The least you can do is work hard.”
The story witnesses a major twist when an extremely gifted, orphan boy Jagan ( played by Babil Khan) performs in front of the duo where Urmilla is awestruck and teary-eyed. She proceeds to give him her brooch as a token of validation. While this unfolds, Qala’s eyes follow her mother’s reactions. Qala in that moment is forgotten, abandoned and foreshadowed by a masculine figure, someone who she always failed to become. The eclipse is completed when Urmilla fosters Jagan in their house. From that point forth, Qala’s anxieties become her reality. She is systematically sidelined by her mother as Jagan occupies her spaces both physically and virtually. Jagan, appears as a ‘perfect’ character who fills Urmilla’s long hanging void for a son. Her delight on Jagan’s arrival isn’t covert as she pours her efforts and energy into training him. The ignorance towards her daughter, her aversion, the refusal of parental approval, the denied love and affection of a mother all push Qala to the brink of depression and anxiety and ultimately death. (Saini, 2023) [1]
In the first few minutes of the movie, Urmilla is seen kicking Qala out of the house into the cold because she fumbles while practising. The scene perfectly dovetails with the entry of Jagan into their lives and home. Anvita Dutt cleverly couples the harsh and unforgiving weather with Urmilla: a cold hearted, unappeasable mother to Qala. This coldness swiftly melts, if not disappears when she meets Jagan. The coldness isn’t just the symbolism of Urmilla’s cruelty but also externalises Qala’s inner turmoil through the freezing snow storms. Qala, is not yet an agent and her bottled up agony is expressed through the chilly, ruthless blizzards. Urmilla’s biases are loud and clear, much like those of the society who would willingly nurture a male rather than a female. The character of Swastika Mukherjee becomes an instrument which exercises methodical marginalisation of women in a pre-independent India’s patriarchal society.
The movie juggles back and forth between Qala’s present and past. She struggles to find stability in her present because she is constantly haunted by her past. She draws a plan to sabotage Jagan through feeding him mercury, leading to an eventual loss of voice. Jagan later dies by suicide, as the purpose of his life: singing, is wrecked. The viewers witness Qala’s first transformation from a victim of parental abuse and jealousy to someone who would fight her way up. One may label Qala as an agent at this point but it also puts the viewer in a moral dilemma. Is one supposed to cheer for her? Or has she committed a moral transgression? The act is a rather violent reclamation of Qala’s territory that Jagan engulfed. In the envy and race to please her mother, Qala takes up the extreme path to success. Her transition is evident, as dark, black feathers surround her, symbolic of her shredded image of the ‘damsel in distress’.
It is also evident that Qala is after all her mother’s daughter. She observes and consequently reflects her mother’s actions. For example: she stumbles upon her mother alluring Chandan Lal Sanyal ( played by Samir Kocchar) , a reputed name in the music industry. She replicates her mother, as she experiments with her sexuality and learns to use it to her advantage. Though these actions can’t be assumed as pleasurable, they act as a ladder to achieve the ultimate goal: her mother’s validation.
‘Women are not provided with the space for homosexual engagements which for Irigaray, can be a space, for allowing female libidinal economy to exist. Instead, women are limited to the territory of heterosexuality wherein they are assigned not productive roles like men, but only reproductive roles instead’ (Anand, n.d.) [2].
This idea, originally by Luce Irigaray, a French feminist can be observed in the movie. Urmilla, plans to marry Qala off to a rich boy. She aims to vacuum Qala to the bounds of marriage, ergo submitting and servicing to the heterosexual male economy. Qala in this sense, becomes a liability, being sold off. In conversation with Qala’s future husband, Urmilla reveals her daughter’s interest in music. But, it is seen as an additional attribute, which is in stark contrast to Qala’s relationship with music. ‘No, I hate it.’, replies Qala when asked if she likes music. As discussed above, Qala’s relationship with music through the years becomes bitter and is reduced as being a vehicle of pain and anxiety. Qala’s race towards talent and success threaten the male productivity, particularly of Jagan and therefore Urmilla ensures anchoring her to the bottom.
Qala eventually finds her way up into the music industry and becomes a celebrated artist in playback singing. But, her trauma brings her back to Jagan’s death. Even in the finest moments of glory, Qala finds herself disassociating from reality and drifting to her past.
She keeps trying to reach out to her mother back in Himachal to inform her about winning the prestigious ‘Golden Vinyl’, but fails to fetch any reciprocations. As the movie reaches its end, Qala hits a breaking point, her rage, guilt, sadness, sorrows huddle up against her as she tries to run away from them. This catharsis leads up to her killing herself. At that moment, Urmilla arrives asserting to the doctor that her daughter will accompany her ‘home’ and won’t be admitted to a mental hospital, unaware of the fact that Qala had performed self-slaughter.
Qala’s death can be seen as a liberation from her life long torture. ‘Sab kuch apne andar aise daba kar rakhogi, chuppa kar rakhogi, duba kar rakhogi, toh ek din sahlab aaega.’ Majrooh (played by Varun Grover), a true confidant of Qala tells/warns her which eventually manifests into reality through the cruellest way. The ‘sahlab’, or purging, proves to be the most gut-wrenching moment in the movie.
The movie explores the intricate relationship of Qala and Urmilla as instruments in a patriarchal society where women aren’t agents but residue of heteronormative roles and obligations. Urmilla too, is a manifestation of the patriarchal ideologies which benefits those who serve it, be it men or women. The movie also checks the viewers’ moral compass and puts it on test as there are no definite binaries to the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ or blacks and whites. All characters are flawed, creating difficulty in judgement and predicament in siding with any one of them. Qala, is a movie with grey undertones rather than defined virtues. Therefore, it enables the viewer to not only view each character critically but also abandon their ideas of right and wrong in order to provide justice to the film.
References:
[1] Saini, B. (2023). The Female Mental Health in Qala: A Grim Reality. Enroute Indian History. https://enrouteindianhistory.com/the-female-mental-health-in-qala-a-grim-reality/
[2] Anand, R. (n.d.). Literary Criticism and Theory. https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000013EN/P001456/M019897/ET/1496140370Paper10%3BModule31%3BEText.pdf
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