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NOTIONS OF 'PURITY'
The Pioneer (India)
March 24, 2015 Tuesday
India
India, March 24 -- Filmmaker Priya Thuvassery's documentary raised
questions on orthodox beliefs and customs around chastity in various
parts of India
In some rural parts of Rajasthan when a girl is married she is made
to wear a white undergarment at the first night of the marriage. The
undergarment is to keep a check on her "purity." If the bride is
found to be "impure" the panchayat is held and sometimes the groom is
asked to remarry. It is called the Kukari Ki Rasam and if the bride
is found to be non righteous, the groom's family demands repayment
of the money they paid for the bride.
There were many such shocking facts that were brought to light
through the short film My Sacred Glass Bowl. The movie that was
recently screened at the India Habitat Centre raised questions on the
beliefs and customs of the orthodox India and dealt with the concept
of virginity in various Indian cultures.
The film, directed by Kerala-born filmmaker Priya Thuvassery was
produced by PSBT and Doordarshan. The film was conceived after Priya
read a newspaper report citing instances where virginity and pregnancy
tests were conducted on girls before matrimonial alliances. "This
short film is a documentation of the idea of virginity perceived by
different cultures. There is no masculine word for virginity, we only
find people relating virginity to females. There was an incident in
Madhya Pradesh where the government conducted a mass marriage and the
girls had to undergo a virginity test. This was under the Mukhyamantri
Kanyadan Yojna where all the expenses for the marriage were to be
taken care of by the government. The virginity test was uncalled for
as the males were not even checked for HIV," shared the director.
The film also talked about the issue of virginity in metropolitan
cities. "We find educated people from middle class and upper middle
class families giving much importance to virginity at the time of
marriage. The generation gap can be one of the reasons. In the
documentary, I have included the advertisement of hymenoplasty,
which is one of the fastest growing plastic surgeries in India. The
girls are even ready to go under knife because of the huge societal
pressure," shared Priya.
The documentary ended with a beautiful sequence portraying apples
lying on a bed of grass, the notion behind it could be different for
different people. But the original idea was to refer to the story of
Armenia. As per the tradition in Armenia, apples were gifted to the
bride's family if the sheets were found stained after the wedding
night. But people protested to this tradition and apples were buried
in the ground to convey their discontent.
The narrative of the film was very personal and tried to break
many notions about documentaries. It used animation to describe the
subject. It will be aired on Doordarshan soon.
The Pioneer (India)
March 24, 2015 Tuesday
India
India, March 24 -- Filmmaker Priya Thuvassery's documentary raised
questions on orthodox beliefs and customs around chastity in various
parts of India
In some rural parts of Rajasthan when a girl is married she is made
to wear a white undergarment at the first night of the marriage. The
undergarment is to keep a check on her "purity." If the bride is
found to be "impure" the panchayat is held and sometimes the groom is
asked to remarry. It is called the Kukari Ki Rasam and if the bride
is found to be non righteous, the groom's family demands repayment
of the money they paid for the bride.
There were many such shocking facts that were brought to light
through the short film My Sacred Glass Bowl. The movie that was
recently screened at the India Habitat Centre raised questions on the
beliefs and customs of the orthodox India and dealt with the concept
of virginity in various Indian cultures.
The film, directed by Kerala-born filmmaker Priya Thuvassery was
produced by PSBT and Doordarshan. The film was conceived after Priya
read a newspaper report citing instances where virginity and pregnancy
tests were conducted on girls before matrimonial alliances. "This
short film is a documentation of the idea of virginity perceived by
different cultures. There is no masculine word for virginity, we only
find people relating virginity to females. There was an incident in
Madhya Pradesh where the government conducted a mass marriage and the
girls had to undergo a virginity test. This was under the Mukhyamantri
Kanyadan Yojna where all the expenses for the marriage were to be
taken care of by the government. The virginity test was uncalled for
as the males were not even checked for HIV," shared the director.
The film also talked about the issue of virginity in metropolitan
cities. "We find educated people from middle class and upper middle
class families giving much importance to virginity at the time of
marriage. The generation gap can be one of the reasons. In the
documentary, I have included the advertisement of hymenoplasty,
which is one of the fastest growing plastic surgeries in India. The
girls are even ready to go under knife because of the huge societal
pressure," shared Priya.
The documentary ended with a beautiful sequence portraying apples
lying on a bed of grass, the notion behind it could be different for
different people. But the original idea was to refer to the story of
Armenia. As per the tradition in Armenia, apples were gifted to the
bride's family if the sheets were found stained after the wedding
night. But people protested to this tradition and apples were buried
in the ground to convey their discontent.
The narrative of the film was very personal and tried to break
many notions about documentaries. It used animation to describe the
subject. It will be aired on Doordarshan soon.