Director: Bhabendranath Saikia; Writer: Bhabendranath Saikia; Producer: Bhabendranath Saikia; Cinematographer: Kamal Nayak; Editor: Nikunja Bhattacharya; Cast: Malaya Goswami, Biju Phukan, Arun Nath, Kashmiri Barua, Sanjib Hazarika, Ananda Mohan Bhagawati, Arun Guha-Thakurta, Nilu Chakraborty, Indra Bania, Ashok Deka
Duration: 02:36:50; Aspect Ratio: 1.311:1; Hue: 82.706; Saturation: 0.049; Lightness: 0.276; Volume: 0.150; Cuts per Minute: 6.261
Summary: The Assamese physicist and writer Saikia used
one of his own novels, set in 30s feudalcolonial
Assam, for this extended film about a
woman’s emancipation. The well-off and
British-supported rice mill owner Mohikanta
(Phukan) is married to the quiet Menoka
(Goswami) and has four children by her. When
Mohikanta takes a second wife, Kiran (Barua),
and makes her pregnant, the angry Menoka
starts a secret affair with the village thief,
Madan, and becomes pregnant. Unaware of his
double standards, Mohikanta feels betrayed
and demands an explanation for Menoka’s
refusal to have sexual relations with him ever
since Kiran moved into their home. Menoka
simply points out that since Mohikanta had
expected her to put up with his infidelities, so
he must accept hers. The final confrontation
between husband and wife, set in the rice mill,
provides an unusual ending to this tale about
patriarchal hypocrisy as the initially submissive
Menoka self-confidently affirms her right to
fully equal status with her husband.
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