Still Alive not Half-Dead: Portrayal of a Widow’s Desires in ‘The Last Color’ and ‘Pagglait’

Some six months ago, I visited my country home to worship my family deity. My travel companions were my mom and my widowed aunt; as we entered the temple, an old woman started commenting on my aunt’s attire. Because seeing a widow in a dark-coloured saree and a red bindi was unbearable. Ironically, the lady who was performing the rituals was my grandma, who’s also a widow. As per traditions in our family, only a widow can officiate the family deity’s rituals. My aunt got teary, but she retaliated by singing the hymns loudly and assisting my grandma in performing the rituals. Both of them felt an instant connection and got emotional. The other women at the scene thought the old lady had never gone outside the village. Therefore, she was ignorant of how people live in the city. This incident made me consider the plight of widows in our day and age. Despite numerous social reforms, the life of a widow today has not changed significantly. Society still expects them to keep their spirits low and mourn the deaths of their husbands for eternity. Some try to overcome oppressive barriers and move on, but they’re judged at every point. They are brutally trolled online for posting smiling pictures and having fun. It is often asserted that a wife’s happiness is related to her husband, and after his demise, she should give up all her desires. In this essay, I’ve tried to analyse the suppressed desires of widows through a cinematic lens. For this purpose, I’ve selected two films: “The Last Color” (2019) and “Pagglait” (2021).

The victimisation of widows in Indian society has attracted the attention of many filmmakers. The early portrayals of widows as helpless mothers raising their sons, who’d grow up to shield them, changed with the intense portrayal of a widowed mother in “Mother India” (1957). The widow became a mainstream commercial Bollywood heroine in ‘Prem Rog’ (1982). In “Prem Rog,” a beautiful young widow, “Manorama,” is presented as the oppressed princess waiting for her prince charming to rescue her. In recent times, women-centric films have taken centre stage, but a bold and unconventional representation of a widow is still stigmatised. Rituparno Ghosh’s “Chokher Bali’ (2003) is an exceptional movie in its depiction of a widow’s desires. Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ (2005) aroused much controversy during its filming. “The Last Color” and “Pagglait” contrast in various ways but deliver the same message.

The Last Color

With his debut directorial venture, “The Last Color,” an adaptation of his book of the same name, celebrity chef Vikas Khanna has set a milestone. It is set in the 1980s in the holy city of Varanasi; the movie’s plot revolves around an orphan named Choti and her friendship with an elderly widow named Noor and a trans woman named Anarkali. Khanna describes his inspiration for making this film in the novel’s epilogue. He writes: “I first saw the widows of Varanasi in 2009, when they were prohibited from playing Holi, and then later in 2012, when I saw the white widows drenched in the colours of Holi.” The image haunted me; I could not forget the sight of their joyous abandon. It was not about the colour, it was about the transformation of society. It touched me so deeply that I wrote a book about them. But even that was not enough to capture the beauty of Ma Ganga and the beautiful but scarred city of Varanasi, so I went back and made a movie.” The film opens with senior advocate Noor Saxena watching a news clip of her interview. The reporter asks her, “Ma’am, but what was the reason?” “What inspired you to go to the Supreme Court to fight this battle against religion, against society, against ancient customs…?” Noor replies, “Tell me, what religion teaches differences among people? And anyway, I wasn’t fighting against anyone; I was fighting for someone…”

As Noor returns to her native town Varanasi the camera rolls, and we’re taken in a flashback to twenty-four years ago. Throughout the film, multiple themes run parallel in the background. Many poignant social issues are highlighted, like the cruel treatment of homeless kids, the plight of widows, and the harassment of trans women. But the film’s primary focus is the special relationship between Choti and the widow Noor. Both of them suffer from isolation and abandonment, which leads them to find solace in each other’s company. Choti’s childish innocence and fearless demeanour make Noor smile.

Varanasi, the city of Gods and Goddesses, the sacred city also called India’s cultural capital, is a constant favourite amongst filmmakers globally. It’s a city where life and death are celebrated on a grand scale. When Noor sits by the side of the Ganges, she acts as a dividing line between life and death. As a widow, she’s neither fully alive nor completely dead; her position lies somewhere in between. On the one hand, life is celebrated, and at the same time, someone’s funeral pyre is lit. Her duty as a Hindu widow is to lead a colourless life after the demise of her husband. She is prohibited from wearing coloured outfits; she can only wear white, and she is not even allowed to eat a lavish meal. “The only way to lead a good life is through sacrifice and obedience to the Almighty.” Many sociologists have opined that the death of a husband causes the “social death of a woman.”

When Choti questions why Noor wears the white saree every day and not the colourful ones, Noor recounts her colourless life as a widow. At Choti’s insistence, she reveals that her favourite colour is dark pink. It is the first scene in which Noor expresses her desire for the colours that are missing in her life. The director has used colours meticulously to symbolise different aspects of reality in the narrative. The white saree-clad widow Noor acts as a contrast to the vibrant colours of the ghats of Varanasi. The colour pink is used metaphorically to signify liberation from patriarchal conventions. Choti forces Noor to revive her suppressed desires and applies pink nail paint to her toenail. There are many moving scenes where we witness Noor’s repressed aspirations. In one such scene, Noor stands in front of a mirror and imitates applying makeup to her face with her bare hands. After her husband’s death, she was expected to give up all her desires and lead a spiritual life to repent for her bad karma, which made her a widow. The director explores and exhibits the silent sufferings of abandoned widows in ashrams. Choti promises Noor that she’d play Holi with her, but Noor dies on the festive occasion. However, Choti risks her life and throws pink colour at Noor’s dead body. The camera angle focuses on Noor’s painted toenail during her funeral cremation. The flashback ends, and we find Noor Saxena, aka Choti, fighting for the rights of widows to celebrate Holi. The film concludes with a glimpse of Noor in her white saree playing Holi with her favourite color, pink colour. The use of colours as symbols elucidates the significance of colours in the colourless life of a widow.

Pagglait

The 2021 Netflix film ‘Pagglait’ is a black comedy drama written and directed by Umesh Bist. A middle-class family loses their young son Astik after five months of his marriage to Sandhya. The film is set in the background of a thirteen-day funeral procession of Astik. For a change, Sandhya’s in-laws are sympathetic toward her and don’t blame her for their son’s early demise. Meanwhile, Sandhya is in a dilemma because she’s not grieving as everyone expected her to. The ritualistic practices begin, much to the chagrin of Sandhya and Alok (Astik’s younger brother), who find them daunting. When Sandhya finds the photo of Astik’s girlfriend in his cupboard, she feels cheated and decides not to practice any of the rituals of a widow. When Astik’s ashes are immersed in the Ganges at the same time Sandhya eats Golgappas, the director depicts these two scenes at different locations together. Sandhya starts discovering unknown aspects of her life and decides to meet Astik’s’ girlfriend. To the surprise of the spectators, she befriends Astik’s ex-girlfriend, Akansha, and spends some quality time with her.

The relatives discuss Sandhya’s future and suggest that she should remarry. Sandhya’s mother declines to take her back home to cope with her loss, citing that her in-law’s home is her only home after marriage. Taking Sandhya back home would add to her burden as she has two more daughters to marry. The revelation of Astik’s health insurance money with Sandhya as the sole beneficiary brings an unexpected plot twist. The relatives who were mourning Astik’s death started accusing him of being selfish towards his parents. Sandhya looks into her life and silently observes everything. She realises that she didn’t feel sad after Astik’s sudden death because they didn’t share a close relationship. They didn’t love each other and were tied in a marital union just because of their parents. On the tenth day, Sandhya forgives Astik and decides to move on. Sandhya’s dialogue, “Jab ladki log ko akal aati hai na toh sab unko pagglait hi kehte hai” (When girls gain wisdom, then everyone calls them crazy), alludes to the title of the movie “Pagglait,” which means ‘crazy’ in Hindi. The moment when Sandhya starts taking the decisions of her life, she is considered crazy.

She experiences newfound freedom and decides to give life a second chance. Her in-laws want her to marry Astik’s cousin to keep the wealth within the family, but her mother asks her to reject the proposal and return to her paternal home. The director comically presents the whole fiasco, and the turn of events exposes the dual nature of people. After performing Astik’s funeral rites on the thirteenth day, Sandhya leaves home in pursuit of a job. In a letter addressed to her mother-in-law, she reveals that she has left the check for insurance money under her father-in-law’s pillow and that she’ll look after them like Astik.

Bist has done a remarkable job here by not portraying a typical, clichéd version of a widow. He has not pitted women against each other to hate each other. The death of Sandhya’s husband doesn’t disable her life with social taboos; instead, she gets a new life. In one of his interviews, Bist tells how the story came to his mind: “After writing the story, wherever I narrated the story, the person hearing the story narrated a similar incident in their lives.” That is when I realised that the subject and the story were very relatable to the listeners. And then I became conscious that the story was coming from some of my deep experiences when I had to participate in this kind of ritual. It was an experience that was completely caged in my mind. “At times, I used to find it bizarre—at times, very supportive, and at times, bordering on comical.” The film focuses on those who are left behind, not the dead.

The absence of male rescue figures in both films is a positive change. The protagonists are widows who defy conventions as Noor befriends the untouchable orphan Choti and Sandhya declines widowhood. Simone de Beauvoir points out in The Second Sex: “[Woman] is simply what man decrees;… She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is incidental, the inessential, as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute — she is the Other.” Here Beauvoir argues on the othering of women by men, but in the case of a widow, she is the Other in relation to both men and women. A widow is doubly subaltern, first for being a woman and second for being a widow. Both Noor and Sandhya are abandoned in a way. Noor takes refuge in an ashrama under dire conditions, and Sandhya’s mom initially denies taking her back to her paternal home. In the climax of both films, Noor and Sandhya strive to assert their independence. The former dies in the process, but the latter manages to break free. Despite the stereotypes, the films about widows represent their suffering as pariahs. A widow who refuses to follow the restrictions is estranged from our society. Even if she’s a celebrity, she’s subjected to online trolling and unnecessary hate. It’s high time we get rid of these social evils not just on paper but in people’s minds as well.

Works Cited

Khanna, Vikas. The Last Color. New Delhi: Bloomsbury, 2018

Parvathy K.A.“Widowhood: A Gender Perspective”. Problems of Widows in India, edited by  P. Adinarayana           Reddy. Sarup & Sons, 2004

Bist, Umesh. “Interview with ‘Pagglait’ Filmmaker Umesh Bist.” Interview by Dipankar Sarkar. Vague Visages, 28 April 2021. https://vaguevisages.com/2021/04/28/interview-with-pagglait-filmmaker-umesh-bist/

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. London, Lowe and Brydone Printers Ltd, 1956