A Comparative Study of the Novel “Pinjar” by Amrita Pritam with its Film Adaptation in the Light of the Subject Women’s body as an Object

                                                     

Introduction:

Pinjar is a saga of complexities in humanity and the restoration of abducted women based on the plot of partition and portraying the communal violence between Hindu and Muslim through a Punjabi family during the time of partition.  Woman has faced different types of violence—mental or physical, inflicted at individual, interpersonal or collective levels in the premises of social, political, religious or domestic; such as sexual harassment, forced marriages, rape etc. throughout the ages.  Hence, Pinjar is a ‘strong voice’ to the hegemonic patriarchal set up where the body of a woman is considered as an object and her identity is constantly questioned by observing her physical and mental torment. The novel is an exact picture of the violence against women during and after the partition of India in 1947. It portrays the plight of women, their struggles and sufferings, in the name of culture, religion or societal norms. The novel was translated into English by Khushwant Singh as Pinjar, The Skeleton. Here, the female protagonist, Pooro’s journey of transformation is depicted— from Pooro to Hamida, her loss of identity and her agony, where she eventually becomes the fate of thousands of women at the time of partition in both India and Pakistan.

Analysis:

Woman as an object in the both form:

Amrita Pritam, through her violated women characters of the novel— Pooro, Tara, Kammo, Lajo, mad woman, Rajjo— bring forth the fact that women have been the prime victims in every communal strife, riots and wars. In Pinjar, for the patriarchal society, the previous violence done with Rashida’s aunt by Pooro’s uncle was a bigger issue for the male ego than Pooro’s abduction. She has been victimized from two perspectives— firstly by abductor Rashida, who abused her physically and secondly emotionally, while she has been rejected by her own family after her elopement from Rashida’s kidnaping.  Consider the lines from the novel—

“……she had believed she was returning to life; she had wanted to live again, to be with her mother and father. She had come with full of hope. Now she had no hope, nor any fear” (p.23, Pinjar)

After getting rejection from her family, she has devastated and returned to Rashida to lead a life which is similar to a skeleton (Pinjar).Only because of the fear of the societal norms her family rejected her. Pooro has been victimized of identity crisis. Rashida married her forcibly and changed her to Hamida from Pooro. But at the same time, she has no option left except to marry Rashida. On the other hand Rashida, being repentant for the crime of Pooro’s abduction, tries to provide love and care to her, but for her Rashida was unforgivable. Therefore, in the movie when it is come to know that she was pregnant of four months, she said to Rashida, “Tere paap ko dhote dhote char mahine ho gaye.”(Pinjar Movie, Time 1.27.00, Directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi)

Pooro as Hamida came into contact with three females who were also the victims of gendered violence as described in the novel. All the three characters were treated merely as body, not as human beings. Taro was disowned by her husband, who had been suffering from some unknown diseases. Her husband forced her to become a prostitute and started living with another woman. Her situation was too pathetic that she wanted death to free herself from the cage of life. She said to Pooro, “What can I tell you, when a girl is given away in marriage, God deprives her of her tongue, so that she may not complain… For two years I have had to sell my body for a cup of pottage and few rags. I am like a whore… like a common prostitute…There is no justice in the world; nor any God. He can do what he likes; there is no God to stop him. God’s fetters were meant only for my feet” (p.45-47, Pinjar).

The second female character that Pooro met was Kammo, a motherless young girl, who was disowned by her father and stayed at her aunt’s house. Her aunt ill-treated and exploited her. From which, it is clear enough that not only males but also females themselves were against females. For Kammo, Hamida was like a mother-figure but her aunt stopped her to meet Hamida as Hamida was a Muslim. Hamida (Pooro) realized that it does not matter, what the religion, caste or community; after all, the ultimate victims in all the situations are only women. The idea of margin under the margin could be felt while the example of a woman has taken. By looking at all the aspects, Hamida was forced to believe that it was a sin and crime to be alive and born as a woman in this world full of evil.

The incident of woman parading naked through the village and town is an another form of violence against women portrayed in the novel, where a young girl was paraded naked and Pooro saw her who was accompanied by ten youth playing drum  in the form of procession passed by their village. Here, the female body is considered as the object of lust only. Honour and respect was completely taken away from women.

There is another woman character— the mad woman— who was sexually assaulted and became pregnant. Being mad, she was even unaware about the violence that inflicted on her body and later on she died after giving birth to a child. Amrita Pritam voices the trauma of rape through the child, who was given birth by the mad woman and became the victim of violence. Whether it was Pooro or Hamida, Lajo, Taro, Kammo or the mad woman or the naked woman; women become the ‘other’ not only during the time of partition even in today. That ‘other’ whose lives did not matter, whose voices are silenced, whose identities were in crisis and subjugated and who remained at the periphery of power struggle and power equation and continue to be marginalized and displaced at the cost of the self. Pinjar thus gives a voice to this ‘other’ voiceless and their concerns of displacement, marginalization, dual identity and powerlessness.

During partition, Pooro’s prospective sister-in-law, Lajo, is abducted straight from the refugee camp by men and it has not only been happened with Lajo, but also many girls like Lajo.

The desire for a son and considering daughters as burden is unveiled through Pooro’s fifty-year-old pregnant mother who is constantly shown to be praying to have a son. The father, on the other hand, keeps calling their daughters “sir ka bojh” and wants to get rid of them as soon as possible by taking them to marriage. Marriage is considered as the ultimate goal for a girl, which should not be. The individualistic approach of a girl child is completely being neglected. The song in the movie, “Charkha Chalaati Maa”, written by Amrita Pritam, perfectly captures this theme behind the scenes as the song literally suggests that it is better for a girl to die than to grow up and become a burden to her family. The songs in the movie are also here indicating the women as object. The song “Sita ko dekhe sara gaon/ Aang pe kaise dharegi paw/Bach jaye to devi maa hain/ Jaal jaye to paapan…”  is also important because by giving a brief reference to Sita’s ‘Agnipariksha’ from Ramayana in Pinjar, Pritam depicts the wretched lives of women, which is still continuing even in the present time. Pooro’s life is compared to Sita’s as she is also abducted and later abandoned by the society. But, in contrast to the original narrative, here we can see how Ram chand—Pooro’s fiancé— is an understanding man who is ready to marry Pooro even after her abduction.

The virginity of a girl is being seen as a sign of the family’s honour is a recurring idea in the film. The notion of associating a woman’s virginity to a man’s honour is something which persists even today where a rape survivor is blamed for ‘getting raped’ and is considered a social outcast. In the film also it is shown that a policeman was blaming Pooro for ‘secretly eloping’ with Rashida and dismisses the allegations made by her brother, Trilok.

                                                              (Picture source_google)

Compare and Contrast of the Novel with the Film:

This was the debut large screen film of the director, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, which brought the unit Film-Fare Best Art Direction Award to Manish Sappal and National Award for Best Actor to Manoj Bajpai, who played the role of Rashida. With Dwivedi’s apt screenplay and Gulzar’s poignant dialogues, the film is indeed a cinematic treat supported by a mournful soundtrack, which helps to describe the horrible situation of abduction to women during partition. The film reflects the dogmatic beliefs, rigid customs and traditions attached to religious boundaries. The director has boldly handled the sensitive issue of Partition. In 1947, the Britishers left India by dividing into two—India and Pakistan. Rattoval and Sakkar, villages of the novel, become part of Pakistan. Rajjo has gone to Amritsar with her brother. But Lajo, Ram chand and their parents are caught in clutches of riots.  Pinjar has been transformed into a sensitive screenplay in the hands of Dwivedi with a different sensitive approach. Unlike the novel Pinjar, the film Pinjar moves ahead with linear time. The novel starts with the present time and shifts to flashback and again comes back to present time. It starts with pregnant Pooro at Sakkar recollecting her happy past and lamenting her present. But the film Pinjar starts with the ‘past’ of the novel as its present. Pooro is seen enjoying her youth at Amritsar with her family at the out-set of the film. One more significant feature of this film is its pace. It advances evenly, without wasting unnecessary time on any single event or any unwanted casting.

The shifts that are seen in the film Pinjar can be explained as the film maker’s consideration of the demands of the audience. Even after bringing the necessary changes in the film Pinjar, the director has tried to maintain the theme of its source text without giving any complex narration. Amrita Pritam’s Pinjar tells the story of love and hate. Pinjar, the film too has the parallel ends as like the novel Pinjar. But in the film, the director makes this decision comparatively difficult for Pooro. Unlike the source text Hamida has lost her child as she miscarries it; the Hindus of her village have taken away her adopted child calling him the son of a Hindu mother; Ram Chand is still a bachelor as he had rejected the suggestion of his marriage to Pooro’s sister. The only attachment is her developing affection, understanding and forgiving Rashid. She declares Rashida as her truth and Pakistan as her home.

From the perspective of Partition:

The canvas of Partition was filled with horrible colors of murders, abductions, rapes and destructions. Pinjar can be considered as a document of terror, especially woman as its major victim. The novel starts with the communal hatred of pre-partition period, but it takes a turn at the midway. “Hamida, with her own eyes, saw men collecting steel weapons and having their edges sharpened…everyone was saying, we will not let a drop of Hindu blood remain in our country”.(Pinjar)

Pooro’s brother had set fire to their crops at Chhattovani village. This seemed to be an act of revenge in the year of 1947 but this act of setting crops on fire increased communal violence among the people to an unbelievable height. Hindu refugee girls have been abducted by Muslims.

Even the child of that mad woman, who was being adopted and looked after by Pooro and Rashida, has been taken away by the Hindu people of the village only because of the reason that the mad woman was a Hindu. The villagers said that Rashida had done a great mistake by adopting the child of a Hindu woman. Here, the issue of religion is occupying the place instead of the life of the child.

But the final decision of Pooro, from where she reaches the climax of acceptance and challenge, gives a sense of humanity above communal violence. She declares her choice between Ram Chand( symbol of India) and Rashida(symbol of Pakistan) and said  “My home is now Pakistan” .

Pinjar ends with recognition, recovery and rehabilitation of the abducted women.

Conclusion:

Thus, the both forms of Pinjar—novel and film are the depiction of women's sacrifice, courage and suffering during the time of partition. The focus of the novel has been taking the shift from the lives of the innocent to their journey towards experience. The life of women can be seen through the character of Pooro and her overall actions prove a strong answer to the questions of religion and to the gender-biased society. The novelist thus struggles for the emancipation of women and identity.