To start a
life anew apart from all the constrictions of a cozy life is so challenging but
it gives man meaning, in fact it is only then can we say that a man has started
living. Before that he may have existed but never lived. Though our central
characters Vishwam and Sita might not have seen their life in the light we
discussed, yet it definitely helps us, spectators to see that life really
starts where problems are. In fact it is by solving problems while loving each
other that we trespass the absurdity of life.
Sita and
Vishwam expected that they would have a beautiful life after elopement.
However, wherever they went they understood that life cannot be that beautiful
until they pass the necessary conditions. Life offers undesired options to
individuals. We notice how the couple leave apartment after apartment and
finally end up in a middle class suburb. It was the first time they understood
the problems of common men, how they live, what economic constraints they have
and what sorts of things they do to overcome it. For Vishwam and Sita it was
about living but for others it was about survival. Soon the couple also starts experiencing
this shift from living to surviving. Their new neighbors are an aged widow, a prostitute,
her irresponsible drunkard husband, a poor family and a smuggler etc. From the
widow the couple understands the importance of having familial relationships.
Though the husband is a drunkard and a lazy fellow, the relationship between the
prostitute and her husband is a smooth one. They have an unwritten consent; the
woman is childless. She makes up her inability to bear children by procuring
money by selling her own body. This cements the common belief that women should
compromise for their shortcomings and men shall not for theirs'.
We notice how
subtly Adoor treats his characters. Vishwam expresses his dissatisfaction to
life after his unsuccessful search for jobs to Sita through angry replies and
through his general lack of interests in the promises of political parties.
Sita becomes so strong in order to give a staunch reply to a policeman who mistakenly
came to their house. Various difficult life situations made her strong that the
delicacy of a sweet relationship with her husband and neighbors is now lost. In
the earlier part of the movie, as a survival tactic Vishwam decides to get his
novel published; Ecstasy. We wonder
whether his novel would have the same title if it was written long after they
started living together, not just after their elopement. The amorous title of his novel suggests the early romantic dreams
of the couple. We also notice that the publisher comments it as: ‘too
sentimental’.
Vishwam had good
education so naturally he expected that he would get a job suitable to his
educational qualifications. He gets one but it could not even give him the
expected economic support. The same is true in the case of Sita who wants to
help her husband by becoming a salesgirl. Despite her educational
qualifications, more than what that is required, she was not able to get that
job. This tells us that education may not come to our help when we most need
it. Vishwam who wrote a sentimental novel is a biology tutor in a parallel college.
This contradiction makes us think about Vishwam’s education and his taste. So
can he have written the novel and became a tutor in a different subject as part
of his survival tactics? The boy of neighborhood makes up for the absence of
Vishwam. Sita befriends him. The boy helps her buy things for home. It is
interesting to note how the boy intimates the news of Sita’s delivery. He tells
Vishwam that she has given birth in an informal tone that we use for animals’ delivery.
And the boy is not interested to note whether the baby is a boy or a girl. To
him it is not important. But for the elders that is what is most important when
they hear somebody has given birth to a baby.
This kind of
keen character study is peculiar to Adoor’s art. He makes note of all the
cultural influences and intellectual levels his characters are in. We see the
widow chastising the prostitute when she holds the baby in a wrong way; as a
woman who did not get a lot to give birth to a baby, the prostitute does not
know how to care children.
On his job
search Vishwam meets ‘the supposed’ workers bearing placards blaming the ruling
government on its policies. Vishwam wonders where do these protesters get time
for such things and he also notices the political parties’ inability to help a
person who is really in need of a job.
Finally when
he gets a job in a sawmill things starts to get rolling. But this time it
has caused somebody his job. Vishwam, who was in dying need of a job does not
trouble much to think whether he was putting someone out of job (Gopi) (by
accepting the job), someone like him who might have gone through all the
troubles to get a job like this. Gopi, who appears only for a short time makes
a remarkable appearance. Interestingly as a jobless uneducated (evident from
his language) youth Gopi can easily find the injustice in Vishwam’s act. This injustice
which Vishwam did to Gopi reflects in a strange level in the form of a mortal
fever that Vishwam cathes. We wonder whether Vishwam would have caught the
disease if he had not accepted the job as a clerk which was previously handled
by Gopi.
Sita is left
alone like the Sita in Ramayana who is abandoned by Rama. However our Sita is
determined to move on in life caring her child. The closed door might symbolize
her imprisonment however we wonder whether the jobless youth (Gopi) will still
come looking for the man who is the reason for his present state and will offer
Sita a new life. This Ravan, if he wills to do that will change the
conventional understandings about a jealous, ambitious, cruel opponent of Rama
(Vishwam).
-Anjoe Paul-
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