"Do you think it is okay for a woman to have an extra-marital affair because men seem to have that liberty?" the heroine, who is the main character of this movie, asks her uncle and her man friend from the neighborhood! They are having this informal theoretical conversation over cups of chai !
"Of course!" says the 'modern' young man from across the street who visits them occasionally and does them some favors like procuring books for her uncle from the city.Surprisingly, she disagrees "It would be lot safer for the woman to remain loyal to her husband!" she says.
That basically is the summary of the story because that is what she will have to go thru when she is forced to have an arranged marriage a little later in the movie! As the movie progresses, we see the heroine (played by Shabana Azmi), fall in love with that young man! However, later she is forced to marry someone else per the ancient traditions of Bengal. The conflict is between her serious mother who is very religious and is upset that the girl spends so much time near men (uncle and the neighbor) against the ancient traditions of the culture. But the old lady has to tolerate the liberal attitude because of the support the heroine gets from her uncle, the mother's brother! We see the ancient world of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Vedas collide against the liberal world of Thomas Hardy and Tolstoy!
We see the young herione stand up against insulting behavior of her in-laws. Her husband is very understanding and very patient with her. He tries to calm her down when she gets upset with the overbearing mother-in-law . A coincidence happens when her boyfriend from her village visits her husband's home and asks her to elope with him! Her mother-in-law overhears the conversation and falsely accuses her of having an illicit relationship! The heroine gets enraged and joins her boyfriend to return to her mother! However, as she waits for the train she has second thoughts about leaving her sincere and hardworking husband. Her husband shows up at the train station just at the right time and requests her to return home with him! The heroine is overcome with emotions when she sees the kindness of her husband in still accepting her as his wife in spite of knowing about her affair with her boyfriend. She bows down to him and in the end and we see her boyfriend leave on the train all alone!
"Of course!" says the 'modern' young man from across the street who visits them occasionally and does them some favors like procuring books for her uncle from the city.Surprisingly, she disagrees "It would be lot safer for the woman to remain loyal to her husband!" she says.
That basically is the summary of the story because that is what she will have to go thru when she is forced to have an arranged marriage a little later in the movie! As the movie progresses, we see the heroine (played by Shabana Azmi), fall in love with that young man! However, later she is forced to marry someone else per the ancient traditions of Bengal. The conflict is between her serious mother who is very religious and is upset that the girl spends so much time near men (uncle and the neighbor) against the ancient traditions of the culture. But the old lady has to tolerate the liberal attitude because of the support the heroine gets from her uncle, the mother's brother! We see the ancient world of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Vedas collide against the liberal world of Thomas Hardy and Tolstoy!
We see the young herione stand up against insulting behavior of her in-laws. Her husband is very understanding and very patient with her. He tries to calm her down when she gets upset with the overbearing mother-in-law . A coincidence happens when her boyfriend from her village visits her husband's home and asks her to elope with him! Her mother-in-law overhears the conversation and falsely accuses her of having an illicit relationship! The heroine gets enraged and joins her boyfriend to return to her mother! However, as she waits for the train she has second thoughts about leaving her sincere and hardworking husband. Her husband shows up at the train station just at the right time and requests her to return home with him! The heroine is overcome with emotions when she sees the kindness of her husband in still accepting her as his wife in spite of knowing about her affair with her boyfriend. She bows down to him and in the end and we see her boyfriend leave on the train all alone!
Sarat Chandra Chatterjee wrote this story set in Bengal more than a 100 years ago. The story explores the transition of old India into the so-called modern world! Many of Sarat's books have been adapted for the Bollywood screen!
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