A veiled glance?

Laapataa Ladies (Missing Ladies; Hindi; 2024)

Director: Kiran Rao

At first glance, I thought it would be an Indian culture-bashing offering—one that ridicules some out-of-date traditional practices and tries to showcase how ridiculous India really is. Perhaps it would also include a couple of corrupt policemen on the side to drive home the point. I was wrong. It turned out to be a simple story about women empowerment, told in a simple manner and mainly using new faces, minus the glitz and razzmatazz typically associated with Bollywood.

It starts with two newly wedded couples travelling in the same train compartment. As per practice in the conservative societies of the Hindi heartland, brides are expected to wear full veils to show chastity. The funny thing is that both brides donned the same saree colour and had about the same body constitution. Hence, in the dead of the night, in the confusion of almost missing the train station, Deepak alights the train sleepily with the wrong bride, Jaya. Deepak's wife, Phool, gets down a few stations later with the other groom.

Both couples soon realise they have the wrong girl. Phool refuses to leave the railway station till her husband comes looking for her. The long arm of the law takes a long time to rectify the confusion. The interim period shows us that Jaya really has something up her sleeves or, rather, under her ghunghat (veil). Phool undergoes a baptism of fire to realise she is more than a helping hand to her new family and that she can stand on her own feet.

After much confusion caused by Phool's ignorance and Jaya's conniving ways, Phool and Deepak reunite. Jaya's dream comes true. Happy ending.

The practice of brides and married women wearing a ghunghat (traditional veil) tickled my mind. Many societies view it as a portrayal of chastity. In reality, it is nothing like that. 

In ancient India, during the times of Muslim invaders, the Muslim victors would often go on a victory lap, rewarding themselves. As per their religious scriptures, the Muslim soldiers are entitled to keep the captured women as sex slaves. Imagine Hindu women running away from their invaders, chasing them on horseback. Wearing a veil must be a sure way to hide their Hinduness, hence escape captivity. I think, over time, the veil became a saving grace and soon got imbibed as a daily wear. Soon, it was imposed on women to safeguard themselves and be viewed as a sign of purity. Temple-going ladies, too, follow this practice to show reverence. To prove my point, we do not see this, i.e. ladies scarfing their heads in temples, in lands not conquered by Muslims like Tamil Nadu. Food for thought.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.