you watch a film and then analyse..

When you look at the latest successful Bollywood melodramas like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Salaam Namaste, or Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna what is it that strikes you about the man-woman equation portrayed on the screen? Two things- they are not "conventional" and the action (or the climax) is not "Indian" to say the least.

Take the instance of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Most women loved the film because the female protagonist in the film is a self-assertive young woman, who believes in love and being one with her lover. She helps her sister escape a brutal marriage and run away with her lover. She romances her lover right under the nose of her father and a very conservative and traditional family. And then what happens is everyone's guess. The father has found her a more suitable husband, and she is married off. Young Nandini resists her fate and refuses to be the bride to her new husband. Hubby dearest finds out about her past relationship, is visibly mad and upset, and then does something no "man" would have otherwise done. And this is precisely why a huge chunk of our male population would have detested the film. No "man" is capable of understanding the selfless Vanraj's condition of having a wife who wasn't lovingly, emotionally, physically and willingly his. He defies tradition, familial constrictions and cultural legalities to take his wife to Italy to unite her with her lover. What is important to me is the site where the climax of the film takes place- Italy. Had the lover Sameer been any other part of the country like Gujrat or Rajasthan or even Delhi, would the same have been effortlessly possible? I think not. It is only after stepping out of the culturally defined borders of State can Vanraj give up his wife peacefully, and watch her be happy without envy or hate or remorse. Freedom from traditionally binding mores of a man-woman, or more essentially a husband-wife, relationship is possible only in a place not own. It is, therefore, important that Nandini too then realises her freedom away from her roots and cultivation, and makes the choice of returning to her husband.

But then of course, it can also be argued that Vanraj is projected as the 21st century Ram, who is bhagwaan-ish with the highly epitomic values of forbearance and sacrifice. Nevertheless, even within the carefully circumscribed borders of the "Indian" way of life, the changing attitudes of men, who don't necessarily have to be lableled as metrosexual, are heartening for the race of women who have always had the courage to go against the grain. Salaam Namaste gives us a peek into such a woman who gives up her family and traditional life in India to move to Australia to pursue her career, and live life on her own terms. She's 20-something, does not want to marry and is not queasy about living-in with a man who too does not look toward committment and permanency. So, the woman is changing as well, stripping away her sati-savitri and bhartiya naari avatar.

yet, the cloaks can successfully, and un-problematically, be removed away from the Indian homeland. It is in Australia that Amber can live-in with her "boyfriend," get pregnant outside marriage without taboo, and even think of raising a child without support from external agencies. She can think of abortion without societal or legal hassles. In turn, her partner Nick is as metro a guy you can think of. He cooks amazingly well (woos his lady by preparing a 5-course breakfast for her!), is crazy about cleanliness and order, faints at the sight of blood, cries at the movies, and wears pink. However, he too is as typical as his clan, wanting nothing more than an intense relationship without the strings of marriage, children or permanency. It is significant that there are no moralistic or authoritarian figures in the film that advice the young couple, or influence plot and action. The average age of the characters is 25 (barring, perhaps, 3). It is no wonder that they mature and change their ideas enough to agree to marry each other in 9 months on their terms. their problems are not externally orchestrated but lie within themselves as individuals, and within their relationship. And afterall, a Hindi film wouldn't be a Hindi film without happy resolution and reconciliation in the end.

The phase of transition from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to Salaam Namaste, from Nandini to Amber shows a trend of growth for the female protagonist and the woman. Amber is a self-sustaining young woman who has the volition to make her own choices. She is sensible, understanding, flirtatious, fun loving and unhesitatingly self-assured, unlike a dependent, emotional and individualistic-yet-helpless Nandini. This trend intensifies in a complicated film like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, in which the type of the self-assured woman is made to make a difficult choice of coming clean with her spouse after having committed adultery. To discuss this fim is tiring and time-consuming and will be followed up later. However, the point in relation to this film that i would like to make is that the complexity of man-woman or husband-wife relationships vis-a-vis incompatibility, impotency, un-loveability and adultery in the film needs a setting that is uncontroversial and indifferent, hence, New York. This might not be wholly new for audiences outside India, but had the film been set in Mumbai, it would have created an outrage unparalleled, when compared to the voices of dissension it had to face now.

Therefore, eventhough filmmakers have ideas that can access the current urban society, they cannot freely project them in their "real" scenarios. The characters have to be unidentifiable people located elsewhere, whose lives cannot be necessarily matched with our own.