Kamla

Jaisingh Jadhav (Mark Zuber) is an avid journalist with a newspaper called Daily Reporter. A Michigan State University alumnus, he is married to Sarita Jadhav (Shabana Azmi) who is also a multi-faceted personality. She too holds a foreign university degree and knows archery and horse riding. They have been married for 10 years and do not have a child. Jaisingh is ferociously ambitious and is known for reporting scoops, scandals and sensational stories that have greatly contributed towards the newspaper’s success. He is always on a lookout to be in the limelight and decides to expose the very rampant flesh-trade business in Madhya Pradesh in a candid and unconventional manner. He purchases a girl of the Bhil tribe from a village in Madhya Pradesh for merely Rs 250, and brings her home to Delhi.

He then decides to present this girl, Kamla (Deepti Naval) at a press conference to expose the harsh reality of some Indian women still being sold at half the price of cattle in the country. Sarita’s uncle Kakasahib, comes to stay with her for a few days. He owns a newspaper back in his village, and has his own professional differences with Jaisingh. While, Jaisingh feels that the ‘art lies in presenting the case, not the case itself’, principled and upright Kakasahib, preaches that instead of reporting scandals in a bid to increase readership and gain publicity, journalists should instead contribute to the country’s betterment by focusing on valid reasoning and looking for viable solutions to problems. Jaisingh claims that he is doing a favor to the society by exposing harsh realities. However Kakasahib, who believes in writing in the vernacular to reach out to a larger audience, trumps his argument, contending that he writes in a language that can only be understood by a handful of people. Post the very successful press conference- Jaisingh and his sycophant friend, Jain, come back home in an inebriated state, and decide to celebrate over a few more drinks. They laughingly tell Kakasahib and Sarita about how Kamla was inundated with humiliating questions by men and women alike. However oblivious Kamla was unaware of what was being insinuated, and laughed along with the very people who were making a mockery of her! Kakasahib and Sarita are instantly appalled at his insensitivity and accuse Jaisingh of wanting to sensationalize the case at the cost of a despondent woman’s dignity. When his journalistic ethics are questioned, he admonishes Kakasahib claiming that the rubbish that he chooses to write is hardly read by anyone.

That night, he tries to forcefully make love to Sarita, but she is so disgusted and hurt by her husband’s unsympathetic behavior, that she shuns his maneuvers and decided to take a stroll in the house. That is when she spots Kamla and the two women have a poignant heart to heart conversation with each other.

Sarita learns that Kamla is a gullible tribal girl who believes that women are wired to be enslaved by men. She finds male domination normal, as she doesn’t know any different. In all her naivety and child like innocence, she assumes that Sarita has been bought by Jaisingh- and asks how much he paid for her. A bemused Sarita teasingly tells her “Rs 750”. Once Kamla learns that Sarita is childless, she candidly tells her that she thinks that Jaisingh bought a very bad deal for himself- as he paid so much for a woman who couldn’t even give him a child! She then righteously reaches a settlement with Sarita, suggesting that she can look after the household chores and bear Jaisingh’s child, while Sarita can accompany him to social gatherings and events, as that is something she feels she is not cut out for.

Sarita is all heart for Kamla and their conversation makes her come to terms with the harsh fact that her life is actually akin to that of Kamla’s.

Sarita is a well-educated lady, yet subjugated to her husband in every sense of the word. She is a dutiful and caring wife who is always supportive of Jaisingh’s work and his needs. She is always available at his beck and call, at home, in bed and in social circuits. Yet, she is forever taken for granted and literally used by Jaisingh for his selfish needs. She thus tries to discern the difference between herself and Kamla, as both are in way bought my Jaisingh- Kamla for his professional needs and she, for his bodily, domestic and social needs. The only difference being that Kamla was bought off the market at a monetary value, while Sarita was bought through the social license of marriage. The paradox of the stark contrast, yet the uncanny similarity between the trajectories of the lives of these two women, is the crux of the movie. Jaisingh’s story makes the government draw a lot of flak. Eventually he is ousted from the newspaper through a political coup. A defeated Jaisingh comes back home- shattered and hurt, his ego damaged irrevocably. That is when he feels the need of his wife’s support for the very first time! The movie sends out a strong message- of the strange and ineffable world that we live in- where everyone is a slave to someone or something, be it Kamla, Sarita or Jaisingh for that matter!