But, hey, if a film was made showing the efficiency of Hitler, wouldn’t Jews protest until the film was banned? And not in the Padmavti kind of “just holding fort till the king comes back” but as a general and a warrior queen.
At ‘worst’, art only imitates life so maybe we should reform society rather than blaming artists for showing us just how rotten the republic is? If I understand correctly, the real Khilji did NOT attack Chittor just to capture Padmavati; it happened to be yet another of his brutal military exploits. Not saying this is comparable to film in any way, but as a concept, freedom of expression in art too has ethical anchors. Which is not to condone him but to question what is this Padmavat myth all about? I don’t see the rationale behind assuming that the film reccomends/ glorifies/ promotes this practice in today’s context. The grief of the Rajputs and perhaps much of the rest of India over that incident is not over and perhaps won’t be for a long time to come. If he had depicted that scene in any number of other ways, more creative tellings, and shorter ones at that, without the conch ‘call to suicide’, the pregnant woman and child, the seeking of permission, etc etc – I may have felt otherwise, that it’s just another bad costume drama. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The book is a revelation on how you make works of art, especially books and films on sensitive topics such as war, genocide and gulags. Ratan Sen/Singh does show his battle strategy when he is besieged, when the first lot of cavaliers advance towards Chittor (though it reflects badly on his Senapati who seems to have forgotten about the trench). Jauhar was NOT Patriarchal imposition. Again, she’s no simpering queen, agreeing to everything Ratan Singh says. Is this all because someone told you are not reviewing enough Hindi movies adichu thovaikuringa. .
It was saturating to come by long-form reviews, blogs, microblogs and all other available formats of opinions about Padmavati – some critical, some complacent and others congratulating. Instead we get a sanitized version of a head on spear and a cloud of settling dust. When I first read it as a teenager, I understood and felt the dilemma of the queen at being responsible for the suffering of her people. So as expressed by SLB, beauty was either in the eyes of the beholder, or a function of her ‘independent spirit’ showing through her actions, rather than just physicality. ( Log Out / To SLB this is classic Indian mythical puppet/nautanki/streetplay/ramleela storytelling and as an audience I revel in it.
I have forgotten most of that journey except three things the tongawala showed us.
Nothing shown to me seemed injurious to the Rajput pride nor warranting a snip at the title. Which brings to what truly upset me: Padmavati comes from a kingdom where she was allowed a great deal of freedom.
Another point (and then I will shut up): What exactly is Khilji’s motivation here. Instead of waiting, she simply could have died by any means leaving the other women to their individual decisions. The scene didn’t really work for me. This black and white portrayal is problematic on other levels as well. Upon their marriage, Padmavati is crowned queen, taking the place of the legal wife and queen consort of Ratan Singh and they reside together in joy and splendor. Didn’t the British believe we Indians are regressed and ruled us based on that hallowed principle. I only hope that these changes takes us ahead, not backward in thought. Padma went from being a warrior Singhal Princess (who speaks Hindi fluently and can perform a traditional dance form alien to her land without missing a beat) with a fierce will and a mind of her own to being a simpering, sacrificing sort who needs her husband’s permission to kill herself. Like history that is always written by the winners, the legends that we pass on are seen from a unique perspective – that of those invaded. If anything, I thought the film was very sympathetic to Padmavati and portrayed Ratan Singh as a valiant oaf. None of the characters were clearly delineated so their behavior seldom if ever makes sense and the barest simulacrum of a script on display here is hardly worth discussing. He was, after all, betrayed by his own.
( Log Out / Also since you mention Sita, there is a wonderful book that illustrates Ramayana from Sita’s point of view. As for Khilji whom everyone is starting to portray as some angelic barbarian, do note that SLB left out some of his most (documented) evil acts. There is part-2 to this thread? The scene is vaguely in view of Khilji attack of Chittor to get Padmavati as told by Jayasi in Padmavat. Her scenes clearly demonstrate that she is a warrior princess.
He shows it again when he speaks about celebrating Diwali and Holi and strategising by getting the other Rajas together. The Marathas were quick to catch on, eh? Padmavati heads to the jauhar. We can see that Padmavati is capable of taking care of herself and if she were allowed to handle the situation, she would have found a way to avert the disaster or at least dealt with it far better than her ineffective husband. Why not just view it in the context of that time. After Alauddin camps outside Chittor, the senior queen is worried. I do see the point(s) you are making, though I don’t agree with them. As a commentary on internecine Rajput squabbles and disunity, it must also be remembered that the Raja of Amber, an erstwhile vassal of Mewar, was on the Mughal side during the siege. In fact, terribly unfair in a country where politicians are allowed to give hate ridden speeches that incite communal unrest. I discussed the film with someone recently, and their argument was that the film should have taken pains to show the trauma of jauhar, and that a choice between death and rape isn’t much of a choice. As the Mughals stormed into the fort, the battle raged on, street by street and house by house, each Rajput fighting till he fell, taking with him as many of the enemy as he could, seeking honourable death………….. Akbar, furious at the bitter resistance he faced……………..ordered a general massacre in the fort, ‘which ceased only for the lack of victims’. “Jauhar was NOT Patriarchal imposition. As to the agency of Padmavati, she surely has more than others in the film, but I feel it is a case of being slightly more liberated than other women but very much still functioning within patriarchal frameworks and in service of the agendas of male characters, illustrated by her having to take permission to die etc. Bringing that down to real current world is the last thing a viewer should do. Or take the description by Cooper on the essential difference in pragmatism between the martial communities of Rajputs and the Marathas.
Not because Jauhar didn’t happen per se but because in this case, the conquest wasn’t about Padmavati and what we have instead is a made up story that appears to serve the patriarchy more than anything. In the end, it felt like all this death and tragedy was the result of a whim, a hearsay, an entitled king’s out-of-proportion desire for someone he has not even seen. After a while ST got up, did his usual flip-the-long-locks-back move and said urbanely, this is my book, you could always write yours with all those features in it. I think no one is denying that Jauhar is indeed a deeply problematic, horrifying practice. And also: Wouldn’t that even be artistically more demanding to try? It would be possible to show how that even then, Jauhar was not really justified. Baradwaj: finally got around to putting my own thoughts about the film down and then went through these two posts and the dozens of very thoughtful comments (including the ones by Anu Warrier and my namesake Jai). Reading these threads, I am reminded of a book reading Shashi Tharoor did in Madras – one of the Mylapore thathas got up with a lot of criticism – your book doesn’t have this and it doesnt have that. These things need to be evident to create a sense of drama and escalating tension. In the process it may open a raw wound again but it is needed when truth is shown after being suppressed for long. It was not even “moral victory” or any such thing – Jauhar or self immolation is not recorded in Indian history till the Islamic invasions…why? Devasena was a warrior. I remember a visit with my father to Chittor fort when I was fifteen. Perspectives differ from age to age, even between different cultures in the same age. How far he was from the site of the Jouhar, how many gates and doors does he have to breach to get to the main site? The faces and figures that launched a thousand ships or pushed legions into 18 year wars, are a thing of bygone era. She’s already begun to see that it’s her beauty that’s causing all this, even if she tells the senior queen otherwise. The intercutting wasn’t handled very well. In glorifying an already patriarchal tale there is a tacit reverence of said mindset.
What he does try to do is give those women some dignity in their death. Till the time efforts are made for a closure through acknowledgement, through poetry and literature by later generations, the trauma of a society will not be laid to rest and will continue to haunt. Surely this kind of depiction is not possible in our mainstream movies, but there could be ways to show what war and post war realities were like in those days. So instead of answering them one by one, I thought I’d put up a post addressing them all – mainly to continue the point about the jauhar, and why it isn’t empty glorification. PS: SLB is one of the four big influences on me and I don’t think he’s pathetic at all And not even remotely a poltroon. In fact this is where the farcical nature of this whole ‘controversy’ comes in, that the choices made in the structuring of the story and the relentless valour based dialogue and the Jauhar scene (this list can go on) point to a film that is more propaganda than art, there is liittle care for nuance that have led to caricatures rather than characters. Look forward to more conversations along these lines soon. But there’s a way out – it is possible to stand in support of an individual’s right to an idea, and yet criticize that very idea for being anti-women. The poem was written over 200 years after the events it purports to describe occurred. Exactly my point: They are not treated as characters, but as probs for the villain to show what could await Padmavati. A small gesture! There are scenes where she practices her skills. Frankly, by the time we get to the ending, I wanted Padmavati to become one with the fire and burn down the entire bloody fort and Khilji’s army with her Jouhar.
Padmavati is shrewd and tells Ratan Singh to seize the moment and get rid of a violent foe but he keeps parroting Rajput values all the way to the grave. Thanks to one and all! People wondering if Padmavati should have just accepted the idea of marrying Khilji, and maybe he wouldn’t have treated her that badly, hey, what the fuck happened to consent now? But that’s a different kind of screenwriting problem.).
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