It is actually difficult to feel proud to be an Indian, after realizing that such injustice is still going on here. Women have been ill-treated in our country since ages and even when we have a lady president today, the situation of women is still deplorable. Of course this is not just about one country but this movie is based on ills related to India.
Well, some movies can really make you feel different. This one called “Lajja” by “Raj Kumar Santoshi” is a poignant movie which can affect your soul if you try to understand it the right way. I watched it on television from the scene where Madhuri Dixit was playing the role of ‘Sita‘ in a ‘Ramayan’ play. The dialogues that were delivered by her when ‘Ram’ challenged her chastity were efficacious.
For those who have some idea of Ramayan, as per the script ‘Sita’ was supposed to walk on fire (Agnee Pareeksha) to prove that she was pure. In this movie however, she oppugns him by asking, ‘Why should she be the one to be doubted?”. She even claims that Ram had not done anything great by defeating ‘Rawan’ because she already defeated him (Rawan) in his own land called “Ashok Vatika“. And if she would have turned herself in, there wouldn’t be any respect or honor left for Ram to claim now. When Ram’s brother Lakshman tries to interfere, she remonstrates by saying that this was all his fault. If he wouldn’t have messed with ‘Surpanakha‘ (Rawan’s sister), none of this would have ever happened. She tries to explain that she had only lived by reciting her husband’s name and endured all the sufferings to be with him again. But she was disappointed to learn that the person she left everything for, didn’t trust her. By seeing that Ram did not understand her, she even asks him to walk along on the fire, because he too has been alone by himself for this period, and the doubt of virtue applied on him as well. By this time, the audience got violent and the play had to be ceased.
The next day, there were mobs outside the theatre screaming that this girl (who played the role of ‘Sita’) was a slut and belonged to an asylum. When she was walking towards the ambulance, she gets assaulted and loses her to-be-born baby.
There are many more tragic events that are portrayed in this movie; All summing up the fact that women have been treated like refuse, and their rights have been crushed in the name of the so-called culture, religion and honor.
I say damn the culture that says that a woman can’t get remarried once she is widowed. I decline the religion which says that a woman who gets pregnant before marriage is a slut. I discard the honor that allows hypocrites to kill women who want to marry by their will.
It’s true that even today there are villages in India where female foeticide is performed openly. It’s true that a boy is sent to the school while a girl is married off even before she enters teenage.
Let alone the villages, even well-educated families are following dowry system as if it was a custom to brag about.
What kind of future can we expect if this goes on like this?
Ask yourself, search your soul and do something about it!
We can’t just be institutionalized into this bunkum. And if you want a clearer picture of what I am talking about, zoom into this:
To check-in to this movie visit:
http://getglue.com/movies/lajja/raj_santoshi
Read about female foeticide in India at:
http://www.sikhspectrum.com/052006/foeticide.htm
Kushal Ashok 
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