To Do Away With Desire
Adoor Gopalakrishnan in his mise-en-scene conglomerate, Naalu Pennangal (2007) presents the sad plight of women strangulated by the patriarchal societal structure, where a woman is deprived off her erotic drive, marital bliss and her choice to beget children. Based on the short stories by Thakazi Shivshankar Pillai, portrayed in a deceptively simple yet effective manner, four narratives, about four women run parallel, intersecting at crucial points.
The Prostitute:
Kunju Pennu(Padmapriya), the local whore, finds love in Pappukutty, ties the knot with him, in a ceremony such, which lacks legal evidence. To make two ends meet, both work as daily wagers. Kunju Pennu receives constant humiliation as she tries hard to catch up with the rules and regulations set by the conventional civilized, respectable society, which has no room for respect for a “fallen woman” like her. The law of the land curbs her natural right to make love with her husband because they both are unable to provide documents relating to the validity of their marriage. The film reaches a shattering climax in the courtroom scene where Pappukutty keeps on repeating “we are man and wife” on and on in a desperation with which one would try to hold water in a clenched fist. Padmapriya is stunning as the prostitute, who is deprived off her dignity because she desired of a life, just like the others. Adoor Sir, pulls off the brutality of the society towards a woman who tried to change the trajectory of her destiny, who was self-sufficient, who desired…..with great elan.
The Virgin:
The decrepit household run by the daughter after her father was taken ill manages to marry her off to a shopkeeper,who neither takes interest in their relationship nor her. He chooses to be absent in the nuptial bed and avoids any form of intimacy with his wife. As she coaxes him to do so, he is taken aback by her daring, and refers it to be an act of low morale, and finally deserts her, that too demanding compensation for “ruining” his moral chastity. The filmmaker hammers the intellect with the question that, what is wrong if a woman desires, with a stroke of artistic brilliance. The most intriguing scene, perhaps is the one where her in-laws are more interested in her ornaments than her, and how her husband is more interested in gluttony than sharing a meal with the family.
The Housewife:
The childhood friend of a village housewife pays her a visit, to make the proposal of making love to her, something that had been incomplete in their formative years. He declares her husband to be impotent and offers to get her pregnant. The housewife has to curb her desire in order to retain her label of the pious woman loyal to her husband. She would rather be deprived of filial love than commit adultery. Adoor Sir, whips at the very foundations of patriarchy where a woman is conditioned to think like the housewife, to do away with desire and men can afford to commit to someone else, outside his marriage, an act, which if committed by a woman, would be equivalent to committing a sin.
The Spinster:
In order to marry away her younger sister, Kamakshi(Nandita Das) sacrifices her marriage proposal, and gets her sister married to the man meant to marry her instead. eventually, all her siblings get married, and she is left alone after the death of her mother. She not only is deprived of marital bliss but also appears as a burden to her family for whom she had chose to suffer. Strong Meghe Dhaka Tara treatment by Ritwik Ghatak’s gifted student. Nandita Das is simply phenomenal as the turbulent Kamakshi, who finally questions her morale because she desired to be loved. The silver lining comes as her declaration that she does not need a man to shoulder her as a responsibility, she is well-off alone. But alas, the desire….
Tags: Adoor Gopalakrishnan, nandita das, Oru Pennangal, Padmapriya, Ritwik Ghatak, Thakazi Shivshankar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Been ages since Ive watched any South Indian film. Seriously. Most are just commercial ones. So it kind of pulls me away from such films too even tho this is one really good film. Cant say when Ill watch this. I have to get that mindset first…damn…hopefully…
do watch it…..its amazing….you’ll love it Arthi
i havent got around to watch it. But Adoor’s ‘periodness’ irks me these days!! i dont understand why Adoor cant tel contemporary stories!!!
This one is a lovely movie.And reached out to a lot of people who are mainly fond of the regular mainstream movies.Performaces from almost all the artistes including the supporting cast is bang on.
This was the first movie which i saw of Adoor GopalKrishnan.
But heard that this was defitnely not his best work.Hope to catch his othermovies soon.
Loved this film…..would have loved to watch it on screen again but alas, most people don’t consider me worthy enough to be informed of such screenings..
anyways…..
@ Rick
baba……….
By the way, the name of the film is Naalu pennungal (4 women) and not oru pennungal. So please change it on your blog.