Parched (Hindi; 2016)India is said to be a land of contradictions. On one hand, they talk about the might of the feminine power, that the Goddess guarding Earth is Booma Devi, Mother Nature, a matriarchal force. Then they say Shiva is nothing without the power of his better half, that Shiva is nothing without Shakthi and there is no force like the union of Male and Female power, the elixir of life, the essence of life, ShivaShakthi!
Then there is Dussehra which is celebrated as the victory of the good feminine powers over the evil masculine power, the celebrates the killing of demon Mahishasur by Goddess Durga. Dussehra celebration spreads the message of the balance of the world put to order by the positive female energy.
They can talk and write volumes and volumes, in their works of literature, about the greatness of the ladies of the yesteryear and their timeless feat. They donned military garbs to lead kingdoms. They fought for social justice. They wrote great poems in the Purana era and even discussed philosophy. But look at them now, or least in the fringe societies of modern India. They are second class citizens, sometimes persona-non-grata.
The movie highlights the struggles of four female characters in different standings in society. First, there is a lady, Rani, who was widowed young with a marriageable son. Physically abused in her short-lived marriage, she lives as an outcast in her Rajasthan desert village society. Her son, Gulab, is a useless good-for-nothing uneducated loafer who loiters around his worthless pals visiting prostitutes, smoking, getting drunk, heckling others and upholding their rights in a patriarchal society. Gulab's new wife is ridiculed and abused for her cropped hair. Then there is Lajjo, Rani's friend, who is married to an alcoholic and abusive husband, who is ostracised for her inability to bring an heir to the family when all the while the husband knows that he is the one who is firing blanks. The fourth character is Bijli, an exotic dancer who part-times as the village prostitute. Even though she is praised to high heavens and ogled by all men in the village in their stuporous states including the seemingly virtous Elders who claim to upholding morality in the village and youngsters alike, she is shunned by the villagers in civil society.
The multiple award-winning film brings through the journey of the frustrations of the four female characters and their empowerment in a society which scorns literacy amongst the fairer sex. Even though the men are held on the pedestal, their contributions have outlived their usefulness. With the changing of the economic order, the ladies prove their mettle to earn, even more than their male counterpart. This, is a bone of contention amongst members of the male-dominated society.
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