provoked

Just saw 'Provoked' - directed by Jagmohan Mundra on Max..
Aishwarya Rai portrays the tole of Kiranjit Ahluwalia in this movie based on domestic violence.

The movie has a simple and straight forward narrative ,lacks a tight screenplay and is based on the true life story of Kiranjit,A woman based in the UK who unable to tolerate physical and verbal abuse meted upon her, by her husband kills him in a daze ,after they were married for ten years.
the movie is based on a book written by Kiranjit-the circle of light...

The movie shakes you up and takes a look at the darker side of marrying an NRI,being helpless in a foreign land,repeatedly being abused,the pain and endless fights .Ash has made the pain and fear of Kiran's character come to life. She displays innocence while she is being married to Deepak Ahluwalia(played byNaveen Andrews )and later her inhibitions and confused state of mind leave you feeling sorry for her.The scenes where Deepak abuses are menacing and did scare me. Kiran's life in prison is a discovery and it generates happiness when you get to see a woman being happier in prison than she was when out of it ..

The scenes which made a tear trickle down my eyes are The scene where Kiran gets to meet her children finally after an agonising wait in the prison and Kiran making to the court room for the second trial ,kiran dons up a suit,shedding her behenji image ,these two scenes totally stood out for me from the movie ...

The movie wakes you up to a dark reality-domestic violence..

We have heard of several stories among friends and relatives of x divorcing y and accusing him of physical abuse or z committing suicide but kiran chose to kill her husband ,which she does in a confused but tormented state of mind.This is a harsh truth to accept for any law though she was in an abusive relationship for a period of ten years. The truth about domestic violence is that it can exist in any strata of society.

While gender equality maybe unheard of in a lower income ,daily wage worker family where the husband ends up drinking every night and bashing up his wife,the elite who speak of equality at champagne flowing,camera dazzling fund-raisers/charity dinners are themselves subject to repeated abuse-maybe of a different kind,say verbally or financially.the most recent example that comes to mind is that of Rahul Mahajan and shweta.Tabloids report Shweta filed for divorce after being in an abusive relation for over a year.didn't she have the power/position to walk out from the relation earlier ? why did she have to tolerate it all this while? It speaks volumes of how this is not a minuscule problem...sigh...


while cases of dowry are still being reported regularly in the papers,women staying close to their parents geographically still have a chance to open up and share the pain .but for women staying abroad,the situation looks grim.Support groups do exist but do all women have access to them?

it is believed that the number of NRI's marrying just for the sake of a domestic help has increased significantly in the past year,esp from the Middle East..

In this age of mass media penetrating every inch and corner,it is impossible to not hear a woman's wails but what will you say to a woman who like kiran refuses to speak up.
In the movie,when kiran is pregnant,Deepak pushes her in a fit of rage and she comes tumbling down the steps.When they go to meet a doctor,the doc gets suspicious and asks Kiran if she would want to tell her something but kiran never opens up,maybe because there is a fog of fear surrounding her entire life .......the movie made me feel sad for the thousands of NRI wives who marry with a twinkle in their eyes,little knowing what the future holds for them ...

Go watch Provoked and if you ever see a friend/relative just needing to speak up,do take a moment out and listen to them..you never know the dark truth hiding behind those innocent eyes......

Ending this post here .i am very depressed now thinking of the sorry state of women today....

Gender equality be damned,at least women deserve to be treated humanely ....

Listen up men else doomsday shall arrive soon ...


PS: everyone's asking me why am I writing only about movies,hmm,I admit I am a movie freak but most of the times when i watch a movie,it triggers off reel vs real ,ideas begin to click in my mind which are reflected in my posts. so :-)