Her Own Voice

Phupe,of Ganer Opare a surprisingly cerebral Bengali serial in this era of Bhalobasha.com and Bou Kotha Kou is a quasi-Shakespearean heroine.

Phupe,of Ganer Opare a surprisingly cerebral Bengali serial in this era of Bhalobasha.com and Bou Kotha Kou is a quasi-Shakespearean heroine. She lives in a crumbling mansion,is an heir to a culturally-evolved dynasty and is prone to queer fits of aggression where she steam-rolls her unwitting opponent with chaste Bengali. Her wardrobe comprises exquisite Fabindia sarees in various shades of white and she moves listlessly from one tastefully decorated room to another. She nurses a forlorn look in her eyes. A look that suggests a state somewhere between indifference and despair.

But what makes Phupe irrepressible as a heroine is her quiet,confident way of asserting herself. Like Viola of Twelfth Night,she never compromises on her dignity even when she concedes to accept situations which are not entirely in her hand. Though she agrees to a consider a prospective groom chosen by her grandfather,she constantly derides him for pushing her to an arranged marriage.

In other words,Phupe is actually a true-blue Rituparno Ghosh heroine. A confident,educated Bengali middle-class woman who draws strength from her sense of self. Ghosh,who has written the script of the serial,infuses the serial with feminine wisdom. In situations of conflict,the voice of reason is almost always a feminine one. Which means that Ganer Opare is populated with a number of very interesting female characters,and they are all Rituparno Ghosh prototypes.

In the eldest daughter-in-law of the Deb household (the family on which the serial is based) we see shades of Boro Boudi from Rituparno Ghosh’s Utsab. She may follow all the rules of the patriarchal set up,but never hesitates from protesting injustice. Bonna,the spitfire daughter,shares a complicated relationship with her scholarly father. A relationship which mirrors the one between the mother and daughter in Unishe April.

If Ganer Opare is indeed the most sensible thing on Bengali television today,we can only thank Ghosh’s subdued feminism for that.

Ganer Opare is telecast Monday to Saturday on Star Jalsha at 8.30 pm

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Her Own Voice

Phupe,of Ganer Opare a surprisingly cerebral Bengali serial in this era of Bhalobasha.com and Bou Kotha Kou is a quasi-Shakespearean heroine.

Phupe,of Ganer Opare a surprisingly cerebral Bengali serial in this era of Bhalobasha.com and Bou Kotha Kou is a quasi-Shakespearean heroine.