Bundelkhand, Casterbridge and wife-selling

P. Muraleedharan

"It is our ardent desire that not even a single citizen of India should ever go hungry."

Dr Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India

August 15, 2009

It was in the late Eighties that I read 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', written by that master storyteller Thomas Hardy. The Wessex novel shocked me to no end and I shed copious tears over the tragic fate of Michael Henchard, who in a bout of inebriated insanity, auctioned off his wife and daughter to lead a life of repentance later.

Though the novel, set in the Nineteenth century England, touched a raw nerve in my heart, I was consoled by the fact that Hardy was hard-pressed to write a gripping emotional drama with enough twists and turns in every episode to keep the reader hooked and that the incidents in the book were products of Hardy's brilliant imagination.

But, some reports that came out early this month punctured that false sense of security and well being I had had. They said in elaborate detail about farmers in drought-stricken Bundelkhand selling off their wives for small amounts. Just think of the gravity of the crisis the farmers are in! Men who consider selling off even their cattle as a crime! They were not selling their wives because they were drunk; the desperate farmers upto their necks deep in debt, did the horrible crime knowingly. Because, they had no other option left!

Raja Bundelar, president of the Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha, said: “This has been going on for years in the drought-affected and neglected region. Debt-ridden poor people are forced to mortgage their wives or daughters to private moneylenders. If a man is not been able to repay his debt, then he has to give the mortgaged woman to a moneylender.” Beautiful women fetch more money from the money lenders. Once the buyers are "bored" of the women, they sell them again at lower prices, say reports.

Some of the farmers know that they are selling their wives to prostitution rackets, says Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi. But, "they do it out of absolute desperation. They have absolutely no other alternative before them".

Yes, it is happening in India, the wannabe superpower of the new millenium! Bundelkahnd, a vast arid region that spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has been experiencing drought for the consecutive fifth year and the rainfall in the region has been on a downward spiral. More than half of the population of the area has migrated to the cities in search of work; more than 500 farmer suicides have already occurred in the area. Even the much lauded NREGA was not able to make a tangible difference in the lives of the poor in the area.

Everybody with a little common sense would have known it was coming. It was not yesterday that Bundelkhand was hit by drought. What did our democratically elected rulers do? They sat on the files, twiddled their thumbs and watched the crisis growing into gigantic proportions. In between, they spent their energy on scoring political brownie points against one another. Some of them spewed venom on chief minister Mayawati for spending crores of rupees on statues and neglecting human lives and Mayawati retorted saying that it was a crisis made by her predecessors.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi visited Bundelkhand and later met the PM demanding relief measures and a Bundelkhand Authority for the development of the region. Petty politics or otherwise, the Prime Minister's Office came half way to meet Rahul Gandhi's demands. It has approved a special development plan worth Rs 30,000 crore for Bundelkhand, though no decision on Authority has been taken yet. One sincerely hopes that this time around, things will be different: no man would have to face the ignominy of selling his wife or daughter away to escape rural Shylocks!

Hardy had subtitled his work as 'The Life and Death of a Man of Character'. What would he have written if he was alive today? I am doubtful whether he could even attempt to type a line!

When Kamal and Mohanlal lock horns!

Review of 'Unnai Pol Oruvan'

By P. Muraleedharan

I have been really cross with Kamal Haasan since seeing his prosthetic disaster in 'Dasavatharam'. An artiste of the calibre of Kamal does not need the crutches of make up gimmickry to impress his audience and make new converts, for sure. The film showed his lack of respect for his own talents ( A local wit said, the film shows Kamal's deep self knowledge that he needs some kind of extra props to ensure the success of his films!) and, for his audience.

But, now 'Ulaga Nayagan' has made amends for his follies with 'Unnai Pol Oruvan'. The Chakri Toleti film is a slicker version of its Hindi original 'A Wednesday'. Kamal has shown the courage to rope in Mohanlal, an actor capable of giving him tough competition, in a high voltage role which naturally would call for comparisons with Kamal's performance. The film has turned out to be a winner on all counts: The much anticipated "battle" between the top actors are just unforgettable, to say the least. And both actors have come out with brighter reputations.

Kamal's role of a common man armed with a laptop and bomb-making knowledge gleaned from Internet is quite subdued and convincing. It is only towards the climax that he breaks into an impassioned speech. But, it is Mohanlal who walks away with all the applause. As the super cool cop, he lives onscreen and shows a good actor don't need to raise the decibel levels or resort to mimicry to communicate. Veteran actress Lakshmi gives an energetic performance as the beleaugured chief secretary of the state who unwilllingly entrusts the police commissioner (Mohanlal) the responsibility of dealing with the crisis. The easiness with which the commissioner handles pressure from all sides--his bosses, the terrorist, the pestering media, handling his officers--is a treat to watch. He conveys a sense of calm alertness and commitment in the face of a grave challenge, but that strain of uneasiness is there underneath all the same.

For Ganesh Venkataraman, who gives a powerful performance as a cop, this film may turn out to be the big break he has been waiting for. Anuja Iyer turns in a cool performance as a TV reporter.

It is heartening to see that director Chakri has not resorted to preachiness when dealing with such a sensitive theme. There are no songs in the movie and the background score by Kamal's daughter Shruthi Haasan in no way hampers the flow of events in the movie. The visuals, canned by Manoj using RED technology (for the first time in India), are just awesome.

The film has its failings, of course. The basic premise of the film would need some real support to stand on its own legs. Is it possible to root out terrorism by dispensing summary justice? Not at all is the answer, if we examine some of the recent anti-terror operations. (Just look at Guantanamo Bay and see what happened there.)

The film will be remembered for the towering performances of Kamal and Mohanlal for long.