This blog is
a part of my academic movie screening which was given to us during classroom
discussion.
On 29th
July, we had a movie screening of Kya Kehna in the context of The Scarlet
Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Kya Kehna is a 2000 Indian Hindi drama film
directed by Kundan Shah while The Scarlet letter is a novel written by American author Nathaniel Hawthrone.
The Scarlet
Letter
Looking at
the setting part of novel, the entire novel has a Puritan settlement which sets
in the year of 1642 in a Bostan city. The entire plot of the novel mainly moves
around the characters like Hester Pryne, Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger
Chillingworth. But the protagonist character Hester Pryne-mother of Pearl
mainly leads the plot of the novel. She is a young wife whose husband has been
missing for over a year and she is accused for adultery following the birth of
her infant daughter Pearl. Firstly she was forced to stand on scaffold for more
than three hours and as she refused to reveal the name of her child’s father,
this act angered the Puritanical citizens of Boston and she was forced to wear
the scarlet letter A on her body as punishment for her adulterous affair with
town minister Arthur Dimmesdale. After that she lived with her daughter at the
edge of town while Chillingworth moves in with the beloved Reverend Dimmesdale.
At the end of the novel Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold and confesses in front
of everyone then dies of his wounds in Hester’s arms.
In a way,
It presents
the journey of Hester and how she succeeded in
changing the
meaning of Adultery to Able and at last
Angle.
Kya Kehna
This Hindi
drama film casts the film starts Preity Zinta as a single teenage mother and
Saif Ali Khan as the father. Same like the novel, it also deals with the taboo
issue of premarital pregnancy and the views of society. The protagonist
character Priya Bkshi who is an individual spirited girl and in love with wealthy
playboy Rahul. Eventually they begin a relation and have a intimacy between
them but soon she is heartbroken and starts to live her life alone. She later
learns that she is a preganent with Rahul’s child, than even she is not
accepted by Rahul and his family. Similarly like Hester, Priya is also ready to
face the struggle whichever comes in her life. Being a student, she also faces
a lots of problems at university and is shunned due to her pregnancy and spoiled
character but she never let her spirit to be down. At a last she chooses to
marry with Ajay who secretly loves her rather than Rahul.
What is the
role played by society in Hester’s life?
Society
plays a very vital role in Hester’s life. While the Hester is not ready to
reveal the name of her child’s father, the puritan society forces her to wear
scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment for her adultery. Hoe far it seems
fair? If she does not want to tell the name, it is quite ok. Nobody can force
her. But looking at the part of society and culture, it always forces the
people to live in a certain kind of taboo. If one’s do not follow rules and
regulation, one’s can be considered as a sinner.The same happen with Hester
also,she is forced to live at outside of town with her daughter.
What is the role played by society in Priya's life?
Similarly,
it also happens with the Priya in the movie. When she is heartbroken and learns
that she is pregnant with Rahul’s child but Rahul does not ready to marry with
her.She decides to give the birth to the baby rather than to go for abort the
child. For this decision, she is
banished from her house and starts to live her life alone but subsequently her
parents and brother also find hard to live without her and supports her.And
when she rejoins her study, at that place also she is shunned due to her
preganancy.But the entire situation is changed agter the Priya’s passionate
speech about love, honour and respect and she gains the support of the
community.
Compare and
contrast the male characters, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, Rahul and
Ajay.
Rodger
Chillingworth, is referred as “The Leech” through the novel. When he returns
to New England and finds that Hester has committed adultery, he wows to find
and enact revenge of her lover. He becomes suspicious that Arthur Dimmesdale might be the Pearl’s father and it is
confirmed when he notices the mark of a letter A on his chest. Over the course
of seven years study of Dimmesdale, he transforms into a devil but at last he
leaves all of his wealth of Pearl.
Arthur
Dimmesdale and a character of Rahul seem quite similar. Both are not ready to
accept the responsibility if child at first. But they realize their mistake at
the end. Dimmesdale confesses his mistake while Rahul is ready to marry Priya.
The
character of Ajay is different from all these. He loves the Priya but never
tells her about it. He is shown as like a true hero, at the end of the movie he
is ready to marry Priya even after knowing all matters.
What are the
reasons that Arthur Dimmesdale and Rahul do not come forward to accept their
fatherhood? How do you they differ and what are their similarities?
The main
reason behind is may be that they have a fear of society. They have worry about
what the people will talk about us.We can say that they don’t want to spoil
their image as a good human being in society and that’s why they do not come
forward to accept their fatherhood. As far as Rahul is concerned, he is a kind
of playboy who never truly loves Priya. This idea of spoiling good image seems
quite relevant to Dimmesdale, as he is a priest his religious belief may not
allow him to accept his sin. He has that fear about society and how the society
will look at him after knowing that priest is a father of child.
Why do you think director has lifted the
character of Ajay to the ideal state? Is it possible in real life? What are the
reasons of your Yes or No?
The
realization of mistake at the end of the movie is also well known fact which is
used by many directors. Being a director, the main purpose is to attract the audience
rather that to presents the reality as it is. In that matter there is no doubt
that, movie presents the reality of the world but as far as end of the movie is
concerned it seem quite melodramatic or rather it is fair to say that we can
find a poetic justice. Ajay at last be ready to marry with Priya after knowing
about all the matters or ready to accept her child. As per my point of view it
is not possible in real life. If a man
wants to do it, society will never allow to do it. The so called society can
also consider it as a sin.
How do you
see Hester and Priya as individuals?
Both of the
women characters have that courage to live their life alone. They are stronger
than male characters. Hester lives alone with her daughter and faces every struggle
as a single mother but never let allow to come across reality or never blames
to Dimmesdale about it.While the Priya has a option for abortion but she never
even thinks about it. She decides to give the birth to the baby and even ready
to leave her house for that. Without blaming to male figure, both are able to
realize them their mistakes. Hester spends her life in carring of Pearl while
Priya decides to marry Ajay.
Write a
critical note on the end of the movie and the novel. Why do you think the
novelist has not given happy ending?
In ,“The
Scarlet letters” at the end Dimmesdale is broken by his own sense of guilt and
also publicly confesses his adultery before dying in Hester’s arms. While in
the movie “Kya Kehana”, at the end Rahul is rejected by Priya and she marries
with Ajay. Movie has happy ending, while the novel hasn’t. As we know that the
setting of the novel is Puritan society, in which rigidity is deeply rooted.
Through the novel Nathaniel Hawthrone wants to present the reality of that
time. If Dimmesdale was alive after
confessing his crime, did the society allow them to live toghther? The answer
is probably no. It may be the reason behind the death of Demmesdale. His guilt
did not allow him to live with Hester. The movie has happy ending, because the
main concern of movie is to present what the audience like to watch. They
always like to see happy ending of the movie that’s why movie has happy ending.
The novel put emphasis on reality of society while the movie put emphasis on
the idealization of everything.
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