Abstract:
Institutionalised patriarchy has always idealised a woman’s submissiveness as normative behaviour, which has been capacitated by subjecting women’s bodies and their movement to unremitting control and speculation. This has been accompanied by years of social and cultural conditioning leading women to perpetuate the same orthodox ideologies and further limiting women’s scope for freedom and individuality. However, eliminating these accepted norms of patriarchy, the female protagonists in Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’ and Abhishek Chaubey’s Dedh Isqhuiya, orient themselves to experience their sexual libido in the very space which robs them off their right to exist as individuals. These non-conformist female characters undertake the aberrant path to re-claim authority over the domestic space and liberate themselves from their subjugated positions. From objects of patriarchy, they transform into active agencies, directing their sexual energies to define their ‘self’. In relation to this, the paper will accentuate the use of the lihaaf/quilt and shadows as a trope in both the texts. However, while set in a similar background, the paper will explore the strikingly varied take of both the texts, with regard to patriarchy as society’s looking-glass. Moreover, though both the texts feature homosexual content, heteronormativity and homophobia, subtly but unambiguously, operate at the backdrop, to differentiate between non-normative behaviours. On this basis, the paper will also examine the grounds under which each of these texts either fail or succeed in aiding the female characters from achieving, what Julia Kristeva terms as, jouissance.
Key Words: Heteronormativity, jouissance, Sexual deviance/homosexuality.
Introduction:
Friendships and close emotional relationships between men and between women have been celebrated in poems, legends and movies as the greatest form of dignity. Sometimes, such relationships are valued over heterosexual relationships between lovers or husband and wife, where a close friend/confidante is willing to sacrifice their happiness or even life. However, since Freud’s theories on homosexuality, the association of eroticism or sexual intimacy is seen as the primary aspect of these relationships. In addition to this, there has been much influence from the way heterosexual relationships have been represented in movies, since the twentieth century, as “an individual’s primary source of social support, cutting him or her off from kin and friends” (Vanita and Kidwai xiv). The topic of homosexuality has since then encountered an extent of criticism, even in India. There exists an emotional dimension to these relationships and Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai, in their edited book Same-Sex Love in India (2000), provides lucid details of homoerotic content in the most ancient texts like Mahabharata and Shiva Purana, Kamasutra, Ghazals and Sufis, to various genres in the twentieth century. The theme of homosexuality is not a rarity in Urdu literature too. Like Rekhta poetry, the presence of Rekhti poetry suggests homosexual tendencies between women, which were definitely written by male poets. It has also been demonstrated that “ghazal often genders both lover and beloved as male, and also refer to explicitly sexual love” (Vanita and Kidwai 192). With explicit references to desires and sensualities, though these texts were considered offensive, they did not meet with such criticisms as Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’ did. In fact, as Rauf Parekh notes, Muhammad Hassan Askari’s collection of short stories titled Jazeeray, published in the same year with ‘Lihaaf’, which too dealt with homosexual love between women, interestingly did not gain much notoriety as the latter did (“Ismat Chughtai”). ‘Lihaaf’ was charged by the court for obscenity but Chughtai, who already apprehended such indifference from the hypocritical male-dominated society, cleverly confronted the allegations put against her and was finally released from Lahore court.
Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’, published in Adabi-Latif in the year 1942, is a satire exposing the social and psychological problems faced by women in a conservative Indian society. In other short stories too, like ‘Tehri Lakir’ or ‘The Crooked Line’, Chughtai takes up such repressed issues suffered by the women of the Muslim community, often hidden behind the purdah. Though she had written various pieces during her time, she is more often known for ‘Lihaaf’ due to the uproar it stirred during pre-independent India. In a discussion over the content of ‘Lihaaf’, she explains to an elderly writer her confusion over the subject not being talked about: “Aslam Sahib, in reality no one ever told me that writing on the subject I deal with in ‘Lihaaf’ is a sin, nor did I ever read anywhere that I shouldn’t write about this… disease… or tendency” (Chughtai 437). This conscious disapproval of the topic and the overall perception of same-sex love as a disease or addiction is also something that pervades the whole story. From the beginning of the story itself, the child narrator develops a grim setting, by reminiscing on her childhood fears of the dark shadows formed by the quilt on her aunt’s bed.
Abhisekh Chaubey’s Dedh Isquiya (2014), in contrast, begins with Arshad Warsi as Baban, cracking a ridiculous joke in front of his thieving leader and pleading for his life. As Baban cunningly escapes his death, the scene swiftly changes to the episode of thieving an expensive necklace from a shop with his partner, Nasruddin Shah, starring as Khalujaan. The movie foregrounds Baban and Khalujaan’s character in the beginning and sets forward to narrate the story of two men fighting to win the love of their admirers.
Written in the pre-independent era, ‘Lihaaf’ sees a comeback in Dedh Isquiya. The 2014 Indian comedy thriller is a sequel to the 2010 black comedy, Ishquiya. Featuring Madhuri Dixit as Begum Para and Huma Qureshi as Muniya, the movie adopts certain nuances of Chughtai’s text. Quite surprisingly, the sequel did not receive much admiration from its audiences, even though movies like Imtiaz Ali’s Highway and Vikas Bahl’s Queen, which were released in the same year and were women-centric, hit the box office rating with huge numbers. While most critics perceive the unconventional ending of Dedh Ishquiya as one of the reasons, it can be argued that the implicit reference to same-sex love and an obvious preference of it over a heterosexual relationship as another significant one. The female protagonists in Highway and Queen definitely hold agency and realise the significance of pursuing independent, individualistic journeys. However, both of them are shown as vulnerable characters and dependent on their male counterparts for most segments of the movie. Unlike Dedh Ishquiya, these female protagonists do not direct the plot and determine the role of the male characters. Therefore, it is important to observe the representation of female characters and protagonists in the select texts in order to understand how patriarchal agencies function to assert its control over the subordinates.
Intertextual inferences
Popularized by Julia Kristeva, the term ‘intertextuality’ signifies “the multiple ways in which any one literary text is in fact made up of other texts, by means of its open or covert citations and allusions, its repetitions and transformations of the formal and substantive features of earlier texts…” (Abrams 317). This paper, consequently, highlights the aspects of references from Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’ in Dedh Isquiya, that transform the “open or overt citations” so that the female protagonists in the latter, gain a more liberating experience than in the former. This will be justified by the elaborate analysis of the respective texts.
Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’ encapsulates the tragic life of Begum Jan, who is married off to an insensitive Nawaab. Here, the institution of marriage is shown as a social and an economic enterprise. The Begum’s family members, who desired to uplift their social and economic status, perceives that it will be made available to them only through marriage of their daughter to an older but effluent Nawaab. Post-marriage, Begum Jan’s life subsides to a phase of darkness as her emotional and physical needs are ignored by her husband. Like “all his other possessions”, the Begum is pushed inside four walls of the zenana to wallow in misery and isolation (Chughtai 36). Her movement outside the house is also restricted. She has no hope of support from her relatives too, who
come for visits and would stay for months while she remained a prisoner in the house. These relatives, free-loaders all, made her blood boil. They helped themselves to rich food and got warm stuff made themselves while she stiffened with cold despite the new cotton in her quilt (Chughtai 37).
Begum Jan attempts to draw the Nawab’s attention by practicing necromancy, but it hardly has any effect. Then she turns to religion and romantic novels, but nothing resolves her problems. Existential questions start haunting her and she develops a “persistent itch” in her body which has no cure (Chughtai 37). Numerous doctors and hakims visit her but cannot prescribe any medication. As she is almost at the verge of death, Rabbu, the Begum’s house-help, comes to the latter’s rescue. Rabbu is exempted from other household duties because Begum Jan needs her to either scratch or massage her body for prolonged hours, as if it is for her “the basic necessities of life. Rather – more important than life’s necessities” (Chughtai 37). This daily ritual of massage extends for more hours on the days she bathed. The everyday massage of her body, or in fact Rabbu’s presence, changes Begum Jan. Her body transforms from its emaciated state to beauty and brightness in every pore. With Rabbu fulfilling her desires, the Begum erases from her mind everything that she had expected from the Nawaab. Treading beyond the normative behaviour, Begum Jan thus experiences jouissance within the zenana. Here, the term jouissance is used to mean deriving sexual pleasure, which is close to Jacques Lacan’s theory.
Similar occurrences are carefully crafted in Chaubey’s Dedh Ishquiya too. The movie can be better understood if we divide it into two separate episodes: the scenes occurring before and after Begum Para’s kidnapping. In the first half of the movie, at least till the final selection of Begum Para’s to-be Nawab, the movie follows and presents a typical heteronormative story. Begum Para from Mahmudabad is a widow. So, according to the wishes of her dead husband, the Nawab, a swayamvar is held, where Begum Para will marry the best versifier in town. This is where we see Nasruddin Shah featuring as Khallujaan aka Iftekar, participating in the competition. A lousy crook in real life, Khallujaan has Arshad Warsi as a partner, who takes the role of Baban. The rogues con the theft of a precious jewellery and get separated while absconding, but eventually meet in Mahmudabad and experience the seven stages of love: from dilkashi to junoon. Both Khalujaan and Baban try to pursue their lovers with poetry and flowers. Khalujaan even goes to the extent of cheating his partner, Baban, and gifting Begum Para the expensive necklace thieved by them. Khalujaan, in an attempt to help Begum Para remember her past associations with him, also encourages her to revive her old passion for classical dance. The blissful moment of their love affair is, however, cut short when Begum Para declares Jaan Mohammad, one of the strongest contenders in the swayamvar and a rivalry of Khalujaan, as the winner. The Begum’s strange decision not only shatters Khalujaan’s hopes of winning her love and her wealth, but also shocks its viewers. It is only revealed later that Begum Jaan is left penniless after the death of her husband- a bankrupt Nawaab. Therefore, the swayamvar is held every year so that the Begum and her partner in crime, Muniya, will be able to entrap the richest man and together escape with all his money to a life of independence.
The reference to ‘Lihaaf’ in Dedh Ishquiya is directly drawn in the second half of the movie, i.e. after Begum Para’s supposed kidnapping. Begum Para takes the role of Begum Jan and Muniya that of Rabbu. Here, the apparent difference in the representation of Muniya and Rabbu needs mentioning to further understand their relationship with the protagonists. Muniya is fair and beautiful and hardly looks like a hand- maiden, but Rabbu is black like “burnt iron ore”, “face lightly marked with smallpox, her body solidly packed” (Chughtai 7). These distinct depictions of the protagonists’ female companions are probably used to articulate Begum Jan’s materialistic connections with Rabbu, which has been analysed later in the paper.
It is in the second half of the movie that we learn of Begum Para’s past life. Like the Nawab in ‘Lihaaf’, in the movie too the Nawab has homosexual relationships outside marriage. The only variation in the movie is that those relationships are with adult men, revealed in the photographs, unlike Nawab Saheb’s (in ‘Lihaaf’) interest in young boys. Like Begum Jan, Begum Para is saved by Muniya from retreating to a life of misery. Consequently, Begum Para, while narrating her past to Khalujaan, affirms that Muniya “humari dost bhi hai, behen bhi hai aur jaan bhi (She is my confidante, a sister and my life too)” (Chaubey). This is thus suggestive of an inseparable connection which goes beyond the conventional definitions of love and relationship.
Besides the similarities in the stories, Khalujaan in the movie is seen consciously referring to Chughtai’s text when he and his thieving partner is trapped in a vicious manipulation by their female beloveds. Kidnapped in an isolated and abandoned storehouse with their hands tied, the lovers are unable to do anything but witness the two women play and flirt with each other. As an audience, we see their shadows stumbling and merging into one, which is suggestive of their intimacy. Khalujaan, taking opportunity of the situation, satirically remarks, “Thand lag rahi hai? Lihaaf maang le? (Are you cold? Shall we ask for some warmth?)” (Chaubey). Khalujaan’s reference to lihaaf is in association with Chughtai’s text. His reference here makes it easier for the viewers to recall intimate moments between Begum Para and Muniya and connect it with the later events in the movie, which culminates in the escape of both these women to live together independently without the influence of men.
Subject/Object power dichotomy
In ‘Lihaaf’ we see a clear distinction of power between the Nawab and his Begum. In their respective positions they simultaneously objectify those under their power. For instance, the Nawab exploits those slim-waisted, young boys in gossamer shirts and no one questions his motives. Begum Jan, on the other hand, seems to have a master/slave relation with Rabbu. The sisterly, compassionate, mutual bonding that exists between Begum Para and Muniya is absent in ‘Lihaaf’. While Begum Jan lies on the carpet munching on dry fruits, Rabbu massages her. Besides, Rabbu also assists the Begum in experiencing an orgasmic pleasure that was absent in the latter’s married life. In exchange for her services, Begum Jan provides financial support to Rabbu’s son. Hence, it is quite obvious that their relationship is both materialistic and emotionally unsatisfying.
The subversion of object/subject dichotomy is also prominently manifested in Chaubey’s visual narrative, where Muniya, performs a sexually and emotionally dominant role in her relationship with Baban. However, towards the end of the story when she declares her lack of affection towards Baban, he wields his physical force on her to prove his masculinity. Though Baban assumes the image of a typical Bollywood mawali (street ruffian) in possession of guns and political connection, there are scenes where we also witness him as a witty and humorous character. In fact, even during life-threatening situations, he manages to amuse the viewers with his unique, comical delivery. Baban’s only violent confrontation is with Muniya and as much as the incident can be critiqued as problematic, it can also be seen as mirroring society’s constructions of masculinity and femininity. As a product of societal conventions, Baban is unable to deal with emotional rejection and shows his dominance over Muniya, even though momentarily. At other times, oddly enough, Baban is shown as a petty thief who is threatened and cheated by others.
In the movie, Begum Para’s vulnerability as a widow and without male support is exposed when Jaan Mohammad threatens her with death. With his position as an MLA in Mahmudabad, Jaan Mohammad is not only rich but also powerful. His past life, though, has not been much eventful. Therefore, his motive is to win the Begum and also the title of a Nawaab. Nevertheless, if we consider the overall impact, Begum Para and Muniya are the ones who lead the plot forward. They not only have an upper hand over the men in their life, but also manipulate the men to work according their plan of escape.
Begum Para and Muniya’s relationship also debunks the idea of love restricted only between couples, be it heterosexual or homosexual. Both women allow the men to court them but also go back to each other for solace and comfort. Jealousy is the most obvious aspect that might surface in such relationships and the women too face it. While in ‘Lihaaf’, Rabbu and Begum Jan argue with each other, Begum Para and Muniya show only expressions of discomfort. Therefore, the connection between the women in the movie is shown as more accepting and mutual. A large part of the reasoning to this can be imputed to the depiction of a covetous relationship in ‘Lihaaf’, which can be seen as Chughtai’s way of perceiving society through a satirical lens. The female characters are trapped in traditional hierarchal roles that translates through dichotomies of servant/master or male/female relationships.
Trope of quilt and shadows
The texts discernibly represent self-actualization and individuality through sexual deviance. Women, who have been forgotten and is hidden behind the veil, venture forward to act out of the rigid social conventions. However, these deviances are performed behind closed doors and represented only suggestively through the application of quilts and shadows as tropes. In ‘Lihaaf’, the child-narrator notices that
Begum Jaan’s quilt was shaking vigorously, as if an elephant was struggling beneath it… the elephant-in-the quilt jumped and then sat down… the elephant started fluttering once again as if about to squat…. The quilt… was now assuming such weird shapes…the elephant somersaulted beneath the quilt and dug in (Chughtai 40).
As much as these tropes symbolize empowerment, it is also an indication of suppression. While the Nawabs perform and express their sexuality without the fear of being ostracised, the women find recluse in darkness and tropes that cover their ‘deviance’. The images generated in the lines above have sexual undertones and is depicted as if the act itself is frightful. The use of a child-narrator seems apt in this context as it reflects the society’s reception, both on the topic of sexual intercourse and homosexuality. To talk candidly about sexuality and the sexual act is a taboo in a conservative society. In a way, the use of quilts and shadows allow the writer to challenge the symbolic order.
Julia Kristeva, in her book, About Chinese Women (1977), argues that it is the men/ the Father who hold control over the Word, the symbolic order and time. Women are subjects of that order, but can gain access to the historical and political affairs of the society only by “identifying with the values considered to be masculine” (Moi 155). Hence, while some women (usually the homosexuals) rise up to subvert the symbolic order, others “sullenly hold back, neither speaking nor writing, in a permanent state of expectation, occasionally punctuated by some kind of outburst: a cry, a refusal, ‘hysterical symptoms’” (Moi 155). In ‘Lihaaf’, we see Begum Jan turning hysterical during Rabbu’s absence. Though through the Begum, the writer tries to create alternative ways to discover the character’s individuality, it is not successfully achieved. The writer’s attempt at altering the symbolic order remains incomplete because Begum Jan and Rabbu are unable to isolate themselves from the indoctrination of hierarchal roles in a heteronormative society. It is rather achieved in Begum Para’s role in the movie, who boldly furthers her relationship with Muniya outside the domestic space. The trope of quilt no longer functions as concealment. The literal quilt is abandoned here to accentuate the significance of shadows revealing human bodies. The trope of quilt is rather used here to suggest warmth and as Charlotte H. G. Giles states in her dissertation,
“Dedh Ishqiya takes this one step further by showing, just for a moment, what is happening under the quilt by bringing the viewer into Begum Para and Munni’s world” (Giles 44).
For once, shadows project scenes of affection, rather than frightening ones.
Towards the end of the film, Begum Para and Muniya are seen teaching dance routines to young girls in a school that they start independently. This unfamiliar ending, considering the first half of the movie and its application of heteronormative storytelling techniques, only justifies the non-normative diversion in the second half. The jouissance (in Julia Kristeva’s terms) of these two women is therefore experienced through translation of the symbolic (tradition, established order and convention) to the semiotic. In the case of Begum Para and Muniya, the ‘symbolic’ is the idea of love (restricted between two people and men and women), and a traditional family structure, they cleverly dismantle. The fact that they undergo a liberating experience, both in the shadow scene and at the end of the movie, by escaping from the clutches of patriarchy is itself a semiotic event for the two women. Through sheer manipulation and disguise of their homosexual affair within a heterosexual relationship with their male counterparts, these women present their agency and their control over patriarchy and its structures. Without taking a revolutionary role, they stand up for anything that exists outside “the order of speech and social symbolism, that is an echo of …[their] jouissance…. By listening; by recognizing the unspoken in all discourses…by emphasizing at each point whatever remains unsatisfied, repressed…eccentric…that which disturbs the mutual understanding of the established powers” (Moi 156).
Conclusion
Victimized by the rigid social conventions during the pre-independent era, Begum Jan fails to liberate herself. Begum Jan and Rabbu’s inability to translate their intimate bond, which is not anything more than carnal and materialistic, to a more transcendent level can be seen as another reason for the failure of self-assertion. Both of these women are trapped in the power dynamics that regulates and is regulated by a patriarchal society. Hence, though both the texts deal with liberating the protagonists in their domestic space, only Begum Para and Muniya is able to attain jouissance and, in a true sense, represent the alleviation of women from submissive roles. In simple words, the subjugation of Begum Jan under patriarchal norm in ‘Lihaaf’ is metamorphosed into Begum Para’s self-realization in Dedh Ishqiya. The Begum and Muniya’s escape from the established order is, thus, rhetorically a completion of the journey that is initiated in Chughtai’s text through Begum Jan. The final scene of the movie, where Begum Para and Muniya finally take control of their life, also reflects most women’s unfulfilled aspirations to lead a life of freedom; unsubscribing to the regular oppression, denying the expected norm and establishing an identity of their own.
Works cited:
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- Vanita, Ruth and Saleem Kidwai, editors. Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History. Macmillan India Ltd, 2001.