Films | Café Dissensus

Dec 28

Partition and Nationalism through the Perspective of the Sex-workers in Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Rajkahini’ (2015)

By Priti Mandal
The film Rajkahini projects the lives, experiences, reactions of the suppressed voices like sex-workers and other women in the context of the historical event of Partition and creation of two independent nations – India and Pakistan. Throughout the film we can see how the sex-workers and women feel detached from the mainstream of nation as they are treated as mere objects by the police, the representatives of the two nations, and by other men.

Crosses and Knots: Subcontinental Partition Cinema

By Prithviraj Sinha
As my critical framework is built around the narrative of Partition, for me the agency of art vis-à-vis cinematic image and the written word is the one that has made me look at Partition as a tragedy as also the trickle effect of complexities affecting people across these border lines.

A Tale of Being Female in a Time of Conflict: Displaced in One’s Native Land

By Paromita Sengupta
Volga’s imagination of a defiant Renuka, who is rooted to her personal choices and beliefs, is inspirational. However, there are in real life many Ayeshas/Veeros who have lived displacement, who have tried to fight back but had to ultimately succumb. Ayesha’s jumping to death may be read poetically as her route to freedom.