Everything has a price; body, soul and land.

Begum Jaan (2017)

It seems that fire has a purifying quality. Rather than facing the wrath of the society and being their burden, death by immolation seems dignified. The flame has the innate essence of martyring someone. We saw in the tale of Padmavati, and we see it in the fictitious character named Begum Jaan.

Radcliffe's line did not only cause misery to the little people of both nations. It apparently went right through the palace owned by a self-made brothel madam, Begum Jaan. She thought she had everything under control when she rescued a few women out of misery, train them into the flesh trade to give them a footing in life. The local powers were kept happy by servicing their officials, and she got the protection of a soon to defunct royalty.

All that changed with the Partition. Overzealous in carrying out their civic duty, two of officials from both sides of the divide, Pakistan and India go to great lengths beyond their call of duty to evict the Madam from her little palace.

Widowed young at the banks from the Ganges and ostracised by society for her widowhood, Begum found her way to the courtesan courts. With the blessing and wealth from her vocation, she built her own trade. She believes that she owes nothing to society. Likewise, to her, people are all the same. They say one thing when there are in the company of their own kind, but the lights go off, race, religion and caste goes out of the window. Lust takes over, and nothing really matters after that.

The film is filled with much crude dialogue and disturbing scenes. One wrong message that the film seems to convey is that as if the rapist would be turned off if a young girl or a postmenopausal lady disrobes herself. Rape is about control and power. Lust is secondary. All the occupants of the brothel in the film seem to be loggerheads at each other and an axe to grind amongst themselves. With this background, I wonder what actually keep them together. Whatever happened to the code 'honour among thieves'?

The movie tries to tackle too many issues. Partition, feminism, the cruelty of the society to members of the female species, the blind obedience to orders from above and attachment to their home is all too much to cover in two hours.

Quote: Everything has a price; body, soul and land.

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