Satyajit Ray's Films Reflect on how Societal Norms Curbs a Woman's Potential

A woman's dreams and desires have been subject to questionable interpretations and reluctant acceptance from their families and peers for a long time. The portrayal of women in the media always had a major role to play in how change can be brought about in a woman's lifestyle. 

With changing times and in the wake of equality, feminism and women breaking stereotypical societal norms, women are showcasing improvement in the way they live their lives. Biographical movies about iconic women are frequently produced and have managed to inspire millions. However, one more aspect that we often fail to identify and are ignorant about in a woman's life is their dreams and desires that we as a society repress every time we confine them to four walls of a kitchen or a mansion. Intellectual women have often been forced to curb their potentiality because of the ecosystem in which they exist.

The Cinema maestro, Satyajit Ray had been successful in highlighting the plight of women through his films. His film, "Charulata" displayed the emotional turmoil that a woman can face due to marital confinement. The character "Charulata'' made an effort to experiment with some brave aspects. They are moral dilemmas, a woman's innate desire, repressed emotions and traditional moral values. Another film of his, "Mahanagar", takes a stance on the prejudice against working women in society back then which we even get to witness in the present time.

Ray has always managed to portray women with a realism that directors today fail to emulate. Ray's direction and Subrata Mitra's cinematography have shown us the world from the point of view of women who exist trapped in the walls of societal norms, in subtle yet hard-hitting truthful frames. The characters Charulata and Arati from Ray's 'Charulata' and 'Mahanagar', respectively, portray women in two different scenarios, which shows them bound to their respective situations.

Charulata is an intellectual woman with an inclination toward literature. She is married to her husband, Bhupati, who works in The Sentinel. Although she is married, she experiences an unspoken state of loneliness. This comes along with her husband being engrossed in his work. However, Bhupati is a person who possessed renaissance ideologies and thus believed in Charu going forward with her creative pursuits. But ironically he fails to identify that his wife lacked freedom and equality, the two things he firmly believed in, consequently failing to help her seek or provide opportunities for her intellect.

Ray shows us Charu's loneliness in subtle ways through her daily life. Instances like Charu picking up a pair of theatre glasses to watch passers-by on the road or an instance when she observes her husband through the glasses from a distance, let us see the world through her eyes. Additionally, they also give us a glimpse of the emotions that Charu is experiencing during those moments.

As this frustration builds up within Charu, monotony breaks in her life when Bhupati invites his brother Amal into their lives. The cousin-in-law to Charu is a young enthusiast drawn toward poetry and literature. Bhupati requests him to give companionship to his wife and requests him to mentor her in her literary pursuits. He shares with Amal the appreciation that he possesses within himself for his wife. Bhupati regards his wife's creative potential in front of Amal.

Charu receives a companion with Amal's presence and both of them walk into a world of their own, decorated with poetry and literature. As they spend more time together, Charu experiences the perspective of another human being in terms of literature and also gets a space to share her own ideologies. Their relationship slowly flourishes into a creative space which becomes competitive. It takes a turn when Charu publishes a story of her own. Amal probably experiences a hurt male ego and finds it difficult to accept Charu's creative intellect. Following that development, Amal goes on to publish a write-up of his own, the one which Charu asked him not to publish.

This branches off into another discussion on how a woman's dreams and ambitions often get limited to the extent that her husband, a man in her life or her family can accept. Though Amal's response just displays a hint of possible insecurity and denial within him to accept Charu's intellect, Ray's Mahanagar presents a clearer stance on this matter. Aarti, the character in Mahanagar who goes on to work regardless of her in-law's objection, faces a similar reaction from her husband when she starts earning more than him.

The situation develops as Aarti, a housewife explores the option of contributing to the family's income after noticing one of her family acquaintance's wives take up a job. Her husband Subrata, who is the sole earner of the family, has to feed six members. He is appreciative and supportive of his wife's decision. However, as Aarti's work-life levitates and she progresses in her field of work, consequently earning more money than him, the societal hierarchy in the earning chain breaks. This comes off as disturbing to her in-laws who force their son to ask his wife to quit his job. Along with it, Subrata faces a certain amount of insecurity as his inner self makes him question his stature as the breadwinner of the family. He joins hands with his parent's reaction and moves forward to ask his wife to quit her job and resort to being a homemaker again. However, he soon has to take back his decision as he loses his job around that time.

Ray addresses the prejudice that exists in society towards working women through this usual middle-class family setup. People are attached to their make-believe social norms and age-old prejudices, consequently failing to provide opportunities for the development of skilled women. He also sheds light on the dominant work culture and threats to the working women in the workspace. Aarti is threatened by her boss when she stands up for an Anglo-Indian colleague who is a victim of racism by their boss. Aarti resigns in that scenario with the resignation letter that she drafted when she was asked by her husband to quit her job.

Going back to Charulata, Charu fascination that she unconsciously develops for Amal, comes to the fore. Her dormant desires start to unwind as her fascination develops with Amal. She is left with guilt and frustration that she has to suppress when Amal leaves one day. This happens after the events around publishing their articles happen and Charu also comes to terms with her emotions. Charu who was breaking free from her monotonous stay-at-home wife life resorts back to doing what an 'ideal wife' would do. This emphasizes the frustration and depression that women often disregard in their everyday life and move on with their life.

Ray adapted "Charulata" from "Rabindranath Tagore's" "Nastanirh" (The Broken Nest).On the other hand " 'Mahanagar' was adapted from the short story 'Abataranika' by the Bengali author "Narendranath Mitra".

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