I loved Paheli

A woman is not a mysterious being, not a puzzle. She is not unpredictable, not a scatterbrain and definitely not moody-atleast no more than a man is. What she is- is what has circumstances, environment and also the world has shaped her to quite some extent. It also helps happens with the male of the species. But from ages, except for some insects and reptiles etc., the female of any species has been given a unique role in bringing the life to this world.
That shapes her life, in some instances pretty much is her life. The human being, supposedly the most developed of any species on this earth-treated their humankind no different. Whether as a mother, daughter, wife, sister- the caring element continues to be present. Sometimes it causes her downfall- which leads some to be the antithesis of what a woman is supposed to be.

What she is - is not to be figured and written, analysed and then conveniently forgotten behind books, movies, sings, tales, webpages. It is to be understood, assilimilated into our behavior.
No matter how advanced the society becomes, the woman always has suffered a sad plight somwhere in some corner.
The movie "Paheli"- http://www.pahelithefilm.com/ explores that angle in this 150 minutes spectacle of Indian colors, music, picturesque desert locales and expressions. It is a like a rich kaleidoscope true-but is not to just enojy and forget. Amol Palekar has taken a simple tale-a fantasy and tried to explain a concept very close to my heart.
A small example in daily lives- a lady in hers 30's and 40's only concentrates on her kid, brother and her husband. When she becomes the spotlight of attention, the reaction by the society is by-and-large not only cynical but also disapproving. We at AMKA-American Midwest Konkani Association at Chicago, had a Fashion Show with a ODE TO THE SARI as the theme in April 2005. The picture is with all of us dressed at the finale.
The event went very well. After the hullabaloo ( am I misspelling this?) of the show, I went over the reasons why some of the womenfolk of the association refused to be up there, why some of them were shy, why some were even ridiculing those up there on stage.
It had to do everything with the physical aspect of how they looked. Their appearance at the end of this whole show seemed more inportant to them and the others than being there with everybody else and having fun. Why look at others- even yours truly directing, arranging the whole affair didn't pitch in and was not completely sure till the last moment. Yes, We all have desire to look good but that has never stopped men from having fun. As opposed to this, Rani Mukherjee looked lovely in the movie and her husband of a night still refused to consummate the marriage and left here alone for five years. He didn't her ask for her approval nor did her inform her of it till the wedding night. It wasn't fair to her and I am sure there are countless in India, if not the world, where this story is repeated endlessly.
I wish there was some way I could also help others in realising this and also help encourage women all over the world to lead a life they want, like than they should- bowing down to some archaic rules