Blog post : Comparing across the border tales of valour and courage (but ladies, ladies!)
Release date: 24 June 2020
Let’s start with the witches of India.
I agree I am late to this party, but this review is nothing about how amazing this 18th century narrative is on the hounding of the great and divine feminine by the robustly arrogant Indian male. That saga is timeless and time tested and relentless. But This. This Is a breath of fresh air.
Yes the palette is too red albeit intentionally so. The blood soaked take of revenge makes the choice worthwhile. The idea is even more violently pertinent. The brutality of the truth stitched so beautifully onto the fabric of this gruesome horror story is just out there. It’s unequivocally stated. There is no room to wriggle in this chapter : in its understanding of how an 18th century telling of patriarchy and torture and control can be so easily, replicated onto the 21st century - sans any edits or script changes, is truly horrifying.
The acting is classical. The telling is lyrical. The edits refined. The background score in step with the pace of the story. The actors believe in the script and what it stands for.
I started writing this review thinking I would pen something on the idea of the skewed man woman dialectic but then you all know it. We all feel the absolute wrong in every act that is played out frame by frame ... but what i want to tell you is that this web series is a deeply resonating idea. It’s epoch after epoch of a constant. That it’s bloody brilliant.
That this is where producers like
#AnushkaSharma have my respect. It’s avant garde and yet periodic. It’s old and new. It happened and yes it still happens. The horror continues. It’s not past perfect and yes it is so present continuous that it makes you weep.
#RahulBose as the prime patriarch surprises me - esp in the unhinged persona he handles rather craftily.
Parambrata Chattopadhyay you elegant friend, you charming advisor with medical skills and a kind word: you kept it simple and it worked.
Paoli Dam you deviously cunning clever little witch you - your character; The layers - and how you got it down to pat! And that girl,
#Triptidimri, such a joy to behold. The innocence of her justified wrath. A thing of beauty. Watch it for your soul and your son. And yes beware we are all witches out here. All Broomsticks and brimstones.
Now let’s cross the border shall we?
A justice league from Pakistan. Now who would have thought of that??!! A big thanks to Adnan Farooqui and Sucharita for this insist. It’s a revelation.
Let me warn you of the early pitfalls of the rather rough tongued, PBUH honest to allah version of reality. It comes with a touch too much music and brass attitude in the first few episodes. The actors look wobbly.
And then the first crime. Bam. You are reeled in. Hook line and wonderment. O Pakistan you had my heart with
#DhoopKinare and Fawad Afzal Khan but my goodness have your men and women in the arts come a long way. Take a bow. I am simply thrilled to know that you can and you did, play it out loud for the world to see. This witty take on your terrifyingly ''true feminine'' power play today is an eye opener. And yes, even though your villains were a tad predictable in the finger pointing at the big bad boys ghetto... the treatment was so exceptionally subjective that I personally loved it.
Flawed yes, but fearless. I enjoyed the detour from the usual ending. The bloodletting was left to the in-betweens. The heart of the pure was placed first firmly on the sleeve and then on gun point. The idea is not novel but the rendition and coming to terms with the ground reality was very uncompromising. The plot is thick and the twists and turns keep you rooted. You identify with some and then you look for others like you.
They are all over, living out your reality in bits and bites - small and big. Humbling and humiliated. They stand tall as you would. A girl, a woman, an aspiring soul, a mother, daughter ...lover, cousin ... all that and then the third gender and true love that permeates through every single character's skin, woven rather quickly towards a hurried end. It’s a gasp. A shudder. Sometimes even a wry smile.
Their worlds might not meet in the wildest of dreams but what connects their dots - Batool, Sara, Jugnu and Zubeida - is their trauma. But. Don’t wallow in pity for the
#Karach4. My whiskey swigging, kickass boxing, rape surviving wonder witches don’t need your pity medearies. They have it all figured out. But yes, Batool will wring your heart as Zubeida will tug at your heart strings. The personal favourite for me - Jugnu. That’s a story worth telling. Brusque blunt and bold. Loved her!
There is nothing words can put to pin the thoughts that come to you as they take you to the genesis of the crimes, and you glance at your son and his play things with great trepidation.
It will bring you home to the fact that the world spins at precisely the same patriarchal angle as yours, right across the forbidden border ... the pain is truly identical. The hypocrisy twinning and the layers of social stigma thick and rich in its male fat.
And god knows you will love them for what they bring to your tele. For a change that little box redeems itself over and over.
As an Indian I can compare these two cross border realities and feel the missing differences. You can almost touch them. You know them. You understand them. Every single Churails is a Bulbbul and you can flip it in any order. It’s a hurrah for millions silenced into living these ignominious lives with impeachable horrors that modern society condones and condemns as it suits it.
So, as I raise my glass to these ladies ... and resume my hunt for the new league of extraordinary women... I say, let the black magic begin.
happy Diwali people!
