Stepping On Blurred Lines of Reality and Fiction: Anubhav Sinha's Gulaab Gang (2014)

          When I was 11 years old and living in Singapore, my good friend Manoganya introduced me to Jim Henson's fantastical movie, The Labyrinth (1986), starring the popular singer of the 80s David Bowie and with him was the young Jennifer Connelley who recently was part of The Winter's Tale (2014) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). While the entire movie is cute and unforgettable with muppet-like characters, it is the journey of Sarah who is in search of her brother, Toby, who has been stolen by Jareth (David Bowie), the king of the goblins. Towards the end of the film, Jareth is frustrated with the cat-and-mouse chase with Sarah. He blames Sarah for being the cause of the conflict as she had been the one who had initially been frustrated with her brother and had asked Jareth to take the baby away. While he continues to psychologically manipulate and play with Sarah's mind trying to gnaw at her weaknesses, Sarah realizes that she has always had the power within her to overpower and overcome his tactics that are attempts to weaken her strong and resilient spirit. At the end of the scene, Sarah cries, "you have no power over me!" 
            Sarah had the power all along to combat such negativity and control from Jareth. The film ends with Jareth falling into the abyss and Sarah rescuing her younger brother. Why is this story important to understanding the mission of Gulaab Gang (2014) or Nishtha Jain's documentary Gulaabi Gang (2014), one might ask? This anecdote reveals the power struggle that continues to exist between the subjectivity of the marginalized peoples and oppressive systems that attempt to control them and overpower them through verbal and physical tactics. Sarah breaks the psychological control by empowering herself and not allowing Jareth's meaningless words to overpower her own subjectivity. 

          As a disclaimer though, I do want to say two very crucial points that I wish to reiterate whenever I write about violence, patriarchy, and bio-politics. First and foremost, I want to emphasize the idea that not every man is a Jareth in the Indian context. Surprisingly, I have encountered more men who are sympathetic and empathetic to the cause and are against any or all types of oppression. They are gracious and are filled with respect for all marginalized communities and genders. Secondly, I want to reiterate that I am not a "feminist." My political concerns span across gender, caste, class, religion, and other realms and my ultimate goal is to understand why India is the way that it is, how can we improve its conditions and lives of the oppressed and marginalized communities, and what does being an "Indian" mean for women like me who have lived outside of India for majority of their lives but continue to live, breathe, and intellectualize India daily and everyday. 
           Although unfortunately recent news reports have said that Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer Gulaab Gang (2014) bombed the box office, I would suggest that the film is still a must watch. Perhaps, even should be watched alongside Nishtha Jain's documentary on the Gulaab Gang (2014) that took five years to make. Both these films have been the avenues that have placed Sampat Pal Devi and her Gulaab Gang on the international map. The members live in the rural parts of Uttar Pradesh, a region known to have an oppressive and misogynistic culture and sometimes physically fight for their rights against the issues of dowry, domestic abuse, and political corruption.

 I am reminded here of an interview I was watching on Bollywood Boulevard the other day when Dixit said that the film focuses on the lives of women who live in the 75% India - the poor India - and how they overcome various systems of oppression. Unfortunately I have been unsuccessful in locating the clip online, Dixit has realized the struggle that India as a nation is facing. There are two "Indias" that co-exist - The "Old" India and the "New" India. The former that is kept alive by centuries old traditions, while the new one striving to be cosmopolitan and modern in the 21st century. Both worlds trying to reconcile their differences and attempting to find a "middle ground" if one exists. At the heart of this struggle, recent films and documentary such as Gulaab Gang (2014) have emerged to strongly argue that "No, India is not dangerous for women. Here are examples of women who do fight back verbally or physically and repeat Sarah's words to their oppressors - YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!" 
                  While I will not divulge Anubhav Sinha's Gulaab Gang (2014), I will urge those who are indeed concerned with the cause to at least watch the movie once (and then watch Nishtha Jain's documentary). Both these renditions of the real Gulaab Gang offer us the realities that we sometimes overlook and erase from our cosmopolitan memories. The women who live in rural areas do not have access to education, are privy to child marriages (even Sampat Pal herself), and are readily abused or even have acid thrown on them if they refuse advances. Gulaab Gang was formed to protect women from such oppression and dedicated to the cause. Had both Sinha and Jain worked together or even released the two films side-by-side, we as audiences could have seen that the intention both filmmakers had was the same - to show that women in India were fighting back by uniting and literally taking arms to fight oppression. Instead, there are countless articles that show that both sides are immersed in a controversy days before the release of Sinha's film. Perhaps, their controversy serves a reminder that there is a need - a desperate need - for a united India. Without unity, there is no space for progress of any kind if people are too busy trying to find differences in one another. Although one film was a commercial enterprise set to release on the eve of International Woman's day, the other was a labour of love that took five years to make and was an attempt to capture the reality of the Gulaab Gang through Jain's perspective. I do have to say though that Chawla's performance as the corrupt, shrewd, and power-hungry performance should not be missed! 

            The other issue that I found alarming was that the film did not do well at the box office was because there was no male lead in the film. Why is this an issue when no one questions Hollywood films such as Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady (2011), which was a biopic on Margaret Thatcher? The silver screen was dominated by Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla who are both strong and empowered women in their lives and are working to promote the causes that support the empowerment of young women and girls through their means. There is no reason why this film should not work. Perhaps, people are turned off by violence but do not the same people watch films that are action-based and maybe even more violent that the realities illustrated in Sinha's film or Jain's documentary. I believe that this is a realities that many people are aware of and witness in their daily lives and thus have been desensitized to them. Many also perhaps do not want to watch the horrific realities that exist in the poor India where conditions remain the same as they might have been two hundred years ago and it is a reminder that India still needs to work to bring change in the lives of the poor and forgotten! 

Images & Sources: hindustantimes.com, india.blog.nytimes.com, nytimes.com, firstpost.com, and gallery.oneindia.in

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose.