The State has its responsibilities too?

Janaki V vs State of Kerala (J.S.K, Malayalam, 2024)

Written & Directed: Pravin Narayanan

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23458804/

I heard about this film even before its release. Thanks to the free publicity generated by its legal entanglements, even those least interested in watching the film found themselves eagerly awaiting its launch. Sometimes, one wondered whether these legal disputes were self-inflicted. With so many films being produced in India nowadays, without such spicy elements, some movies might simply go unnoticed. There are only so many hours in a day!

The main issue the complainants had with the film was its title. It was initially called 'Janaki vs State of Kerala'. In the story, the protagonist, Janaki, is raped. Therefore, naming a rape victim after the revered goddess Sita is disgraceful, according to the plaintiff. Janaki is another name for Sita, Lord Rama's consort and an avatar of Goddess Lakshmi. To make matters worse, the officer who helps her navigate an uncooperative police system and formalities is Muslim. The legal expert who carefully examines the facts to prove her innocence is Christian.

The courts considered their plea and chose to insert a 'V' after Janaki, the character's father's name, Vidhyadharan. That move soothed everyone. So simple.

Every Hindu has a name that may be linked to the 330 million gods in Hinduism. How can a person bestow a name without invoking any of the deities?

An IT professional visits her hometown to attend a religious festival. She is sexually assaulted by an unknown individual and cannot remember the incident because she was possibly drugged. When her father tries to report it to the police, he gets caught in a stampede at the station during a separate protest related to another case involving a Bishop. The evidence is inconsistent, suggesting a possible unseen influence from above. Janaki became pregnant, likely as a result of the interaction.

The film highlights a very relevant point. Law and order services are established in the country to protect its citizens. Citizens, through the democratic process, periodically elect their preferred government to maintain peace and order. When the State fails to provide the promised adequate protection to its people, is the Law responsible for addressing or fixing the consequences of their failure? Just as the State endeavours to defend the voiceless and marginalised when they are wronged.

Towards the latter part of the film, when her case finally reaches court, Janaki is already seven months pregnant. The perpetrator is eventually identified. Through her solicitor, she demands that the State of Kerala absolve her of all mental trauma and public humiliation of being an unwed mother, all due to their incompetence. She requests that her fetus be surgically removed and placed under the care of the State from the neonatal stage until the child reaches 18. The courts agreed, which I thought was quite far-fetched. But that is poetic justice for the masses.

P.S. In my twisted mind, I wonder. Just because the rapist turned out to be a lowly loafer who is a nobody, did Janaki demand the termination of the pregnancy? If he had been the son of a millionaire or someone with deep pockets, would she have decided to keep the baby? Just thinking.

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

Nothing is important?

About Dry Grasses (Turkish, 2023)

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

According to the movie, that is what we are: the dry grasses seen paving the hillside over Eastern Turkey as the frost melts at the start of spring. They look lovely, adding a hue to the mundane colour of nature. Walking over the hill, we step over the grass as they give us a grip on the ground. We do not bother about the grass. They are insignificant. They serve a purpose to their existence, which is not apparent to us. The dry die only to be replaced by the next generation only to whither away, yet again.

Is that symbolism of human existence here on Earth? We think very highly of ourselves, that we are indispensable, that our existence means a lot, or perhaps we are God's answer to mankind's problems. We fail to understand that, like the dry grass on the hill, our presence is temporary. Like many before us, we will disappear away one day, often forgotten by annals of time. All the seemingly big problems we are embroiled in are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. All the jealousy, ill feelings, shame, power balance and intellectual mediocrity that bog down our day-to-day living will all disappear one day.

What, then, is the purpose of all these? That is the question humans have been asking since time immemorial.

This Turkish slow movie narrates just that in a convoluted way that lasts three hours, but not in a draggy way. The protagonist gets embroiled in many life indecisions, troubles, animosities, and hardships, but all appear not so crucial later in his life.

The film is set in the remote and coldest part of East Turkey in the height of winter. If the teeth-chattering cold is not bad enough, there is a lack of economic activity and disturbances from the Kurd rebels.

Samet, who considers himself a dedicated school teacher, drags himself grudgingly back to school in the thick snow. He cannot wait to return to Istanbul after completing his compulsory rural posting.

Where's the line between care and inappropriate?

He is an art teacher who takes great care of the welfare of his adolescent students, unlike the other teachers in the school who run down their students, or so he thought. In the movie, we can see that Samet is quite pally with his students, perhaps too pally and touchy sometimes, bordering on a teacher's inappropriate behaviour. 

 All that came crashing down one day when the headmaster did a classroom spot-check and discovered a love letter in one of a female student's schoolbags. Samet tries to save the day by intercepting the letter. He thought he was doing something good for the student, but instead, the student accused him and his roommate of inappropriate behaviour of the teacher.

The movie is not so much about the high psychological drama of addressing the issue of teacher burnout or paedophilia. The complaint is tackled amicably by the school. Nevertheless, Samet is devastated. He and his roommate start questioning their whole life purpose, dedication, and hardships they have endured throughout life. At the same time, Samet is introduced to a young, pretty schoolteacher. She has her sad story, surviving a terrorist's bomb blast but losing her leg. However, she is optimistic about life and lives on her own terms. Samet introduces her to his roommate, thinking he would find her fascinating. Samet starts developing feelings for the teacher when he sees them romantically linked.

The rest of the movie is about these three people resolving their issues as Samet prepares to get his transfer out of the school back to the big town.

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

Sit, Booboo, sit. Good dog!

The word 'consent' is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there are 'implied consent' and 'silence is consent', then on the other spectrum, are the murky waters of 'informed consent', as if consents are sometimes uninformed or imposed. We have also heard of 'consent under duress' which is by no means consent. In surgical practice, failure to divulge certain rare but real complications of an operation denotes carelessness and possibly negligence of the attending surgeon. As if the patient was not informed that surgery was a risky business.

Recently I heard a podcast of consent of a different kind. In fact, this edition came around way before cry babies started screaming #MeToo! The latest version of approval is 'I agreed to this but not to that..." 

A few years previously, in fact, a good full decade after a young lady (A) went separate ways with her best male friend (B), she decided to revisit the event that made them part ways. She resolved to delve head-on with her assailant (B) to try to determine when and how she put herself in a situation until she was sexually violated.

A and B had, when they were in their early twenties, a platonic relationship. They used to hang out together in each other's room together, talking about intimate things and sharing private thoughts. There was an agreed unwritten rule that lustful love and romance was not in the equation. Towards the end of their university studies, under the influence of intoxicants, they crossed their line. She was alright with the initial petting and cuddling but...

Looking back, A feels that she was wronged. She did not mind the initial part of their intimacy, but she felt assaulted after crossing certain self-made boundaries. B, being the male component of the liaison, thought, at that juncture, he needed to be the aggressor; to do what was expected of him. Perhaps, nature dictates such an arrangement. The innumerable male gametes attempting desperately to fertilise a single ovum is the testimony to this.

There is no issue at all there. Putting spark and cotton side by side and not to expect the cotton to be ignited is pure foolhardy. Of course, opposites attract. In the spring of youth and the raging of hormones fuelled by the inhibitory effects of intoxicants, the animalistic reptile brain is bound to supercede rational thinking. Rules and regulations go out of the window. Even on the female side who inherently tend to be the reluctant party, it is difficult to be brakes on emotions when the flickering ember of passion is fanned.

I think that is the problem with us. We believe we have controls on everything. Like ordering our lunch at the drive-in, we think we can dictate what want. The last person that we can trust is our own dear self! Do not put yourself in a vulnerable position. You do not need someone else to disappoint you. The person who would do that could be you.

Life is becoming more difficult with cultural conditioning, need to assert gender roles, individual responsibility for his actions, empathy, mindfulness and individual right. Nobody can do anything of his volition anymore. He is expected to act and react in certain ways only. 

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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

https://www.facebook.com/groups/riflerangeboy/