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There's a scene in the series between Anjali Bhatti and her mother, at their home. Anjali is home for a few hours of rest, tired, after nearly 60 hrs of non-stop work on the case.
Trigger Warning: This has violence against women, murder, and emotional violence, and may be triggering to survivors.
Limited web series Dahaad (dubbed ‘Roar’ for an English speaking audience, its literal meaning) made by filmmakers Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar dropped on Amazon Prime on 12th May 2023. It began slow, didn’t make a lot of waves in the first couple of days, but since then, the roar is distinctly heard.
Whose roar is this? What is Dahaad about?
The series outline is well known, as it is shown in the trailer, as well as a few key characters.
*So very minor spoilers here.
Anjali Bhatti played by a superb Sonakshi Sinha is a police officer in Mandawa, a fictional punishment outpost for erring police personnel, though she is a local woman, well known to the town as coming from a marginalised community, but with a progressive father who, before he passes away, has ensured that his daughter is an empowered woman. Her mother, played with the correct note of frustration by Jayati Bhatia is a different person, though, wanting only ONE thing for her “wayward”, extremely non-traditional, rebellious daughter. That she marry, and “settle down”. Because after all, a woman’s future without a husband is not to be desired.
Devilal Singh played by the always supercool Gulshan Devaiah (well, he is!) is the upright police officer at this punishment posting because he won’t take a bribe. We can almost call him “feminist” in his thoughts and behaviour, not just at work, but with his children too. His wife? Find out.
Kailash Parghi played with great nuance by the excellently cast Sohum Shah is another police officer who reports to Devilal Singh. He has seniority over Anjali Bhati, but has been demoted and sent to the punishment posting because he was caught taking a bribe.
And then there is the serial killer Anand Swarnakar, who has till now managed to murder 29 women, leaving nearly no trace. We know he is the antagonist right from the beginning. Played to perfection by Vijay Varma, who has understood the “profile” of this kind of serial killer very well. I won’t say more about this because, well, find out.
All this background and explanations are for what I want to say next, which for me, is the soul of the series.
There’s a scene in the series between Anjali Bhatti and her mother, at their home. Anjali is home for a few hours of rest, tired, after nearly 60 hrs of non-stop work on the case. Her mother never manages to catch her long enough to talk to her about her pet project, so comes to her room.
Anjali has had enough. She shows her mother some of the photos of the murdered girls that she has with her. Her mother has no idea who they are, and then this unfolds.
As hard hitting as the words are, one is struck by the silent yet effective expressions that Jayati Bhatia gives to Anjali’s roar on the behalf of all such women who suffer in multiple ways, due to a patriarchy that considers them expendable burdens, and won’t let them live their lives the way they would want to.
The 17 screenshots of this scene, in a series below, express all that I want to say – what made these 29 women sitting ducks for an unscrupulous killer who snared them so easily?
“None of these girls are alive. They were murdered.”
“Do you know why?”
“Because their mothers kept forcing them to marry…”
(In this screenshot, Anjali says “mothers” because she only has a mother, and also this is rural Rajasthan. In a more general, Indian context, I’d add fathers too.)
“…believing as you do that without a man,…”
“…they will have no future.”
“They made their daughters’ lives hell with their nagging.”
“So, what happens?”
“This is the outcome.”
“These girls think that if they don’t marry,…”
“…the sky would come crashing down.”
“So, the first guy who turns up…”
“…and shows the slightest interest has the girls running away with him.”
“Then he murders them and dumps their bodies.”
“Who’s to blame for their death?”
“It’s easy to blame the man.”
“But if the girls’ families had let them live in peace,…”
“They would have not fallen into his trap.”
I was completely drawn into the narrative and binge watched it over the last weekend. I do feel this could be one of the best that has come out of Amazon Prime, and effective without any overt violence or gore!
I hope I have enticed you enough to watch the series, which, true to Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar’s work, weave in a hundred such nuanced, thoughtful moments and ideas, excellently portrayed by the actors. Go watch it on Prime this weekend!
In her role as the Senior Editor & Community Manager at Women's Web, Sandhya Renukamba is fortunate to associate every day with a whole lot of smart and fabulous writers and readers. A doctor read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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