{"id":29059,"date":"2010-09-04T11:30:59","date_gmt":"2010-09-04T11:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=29059"},"modified":"2010-09-04T11:30:59","modified_gmt":"2010-09-04T11:30:59","slug":"till-threats-keep-us-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/till-threats-keep-us-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Till threats keep us together"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nA startling film on groom kidnappings almost failed to see the light of day.\u00a0<\/strong>Aastha Atray Banan<\/strong>\u00a0speaks to the director of Antardwand\u00a0<\/em>on his struggle
\n\"\"<\/a>AT A TIME<\/strong> when Khap killings and female infanticide have stopped raising eyebrows, a film is all set to change our perceptions. When director Sushil Rajpal decided to make a film on groom kidnappings, also known as jabariya shaadi, a social practice flourishing in the hinterlands of Bihar, little did he know that he was embarking on an arduous journey. Antardwand, which was completed in 2007 and won the National Award in 2009, couldn\u2019t be released in India before 2010. The reason? The distributors didn\u2019t consider it economically viable. But Rajpal didn\u2019t give up. Several challenges later, his efforts seem to have paid off as the film releases under the PVR banner this week.
\nA particularly shocking scene in the film shows alcohol being poured down the kidnapped groom\u2019s throat as he is beaten and forced into a sherwani. Meanwhile, the bride is being pampered during her haldi and then dressed in a beautiful saree.
\nInspired by the true story of Rajpal\u2019s close friend from Delhi, the film was a labour of love for the debutant director. \u201cI never thought an incident that happened 20 years ago would still be relevant today. But the practice is still rampant in Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Out of 3,000 kidnappings last year, 1,000 victims were grooms. It is usually done to avoid giving dowry,\u201d says Rajpal. While Rajpal\u2019s friend ran away, he could never get married as the bride\u2019s family slapped a case against him, which he continues to fight till date. \u201cMost grooms submit to their fate. The ones that run away have charges of abandonment slapped on them. If the marriage has been consummated, then getting a divorce is even harder,\u201d Rajpal adds.
\n

\"Best<\/a>
Best man Rajpal\u2019s script was inspired by a friend\u2019s experience<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nRaj Singh Chowdhury, who plays the protagonist Raghuveer, says playing the groom in distress was frustrating \u2014 \u201cI am from Rajasthan, where female infanticide is still prevalent. How does one change the way people think? It\u2019s an innate part of their system.\u201d Even Swati Sen, who plays the demure bride, was dumbstruck when she first read the script. \u201cThe bride suffers as well. All she wants is a normal marriage and a husband who loves her. But she is stuck with a man who doesn\u2019t want her,\u201d she says.
\nDESPITE THE<\/strong>\u00a0distributors\u2019 initial scepticism, Rajpal found favour with some of the biggest names in B-town. \u201cEverybody has their reasons to release a film. Distributors need stars. My friends and the producers with whom I had worked as a director of photography helped me fund the project. Once we won the National award, PVR came on board,\u201d he muses, saying he doesn\u2019t blame the film industry. \u201cSo many people did help \u2014 Anurag Kashyap, Rajkumar Hirani, Imtiaz Ali \u2014 all came out to support the movie.\u201d Incidentally, Rajpal, a cinematographer- turned-director who studied at Pune\u2019s FTII, also worked on Ali\u2019s Jab We Met and was director of photography in Pradeep Sarkar\u2019s\u00a0Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Out of 3,000 kidnappings in 2009 in Bihar, 1,000 victims were grooms. It\u2019s done to avoid giving dowry,\u2019 says Rajpal<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shot in the stark landscape of Bihar, the film\u2019s desi dialect and strong performances give it a realistic edge. The final word comes from Hirani, who says, \u201cThe film is inspiring because the story is simple and strong. I was shocked to see that the practice still continues. If Rajpal had told me six months ago that he had problems releasing it, I would have released it for him.\u201d
\naastha@tehelka.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A startling film on groom kidnappings almost failed to see the light of day.\u00a0Aastha Atray Banan\u00a0speaks to the director of Antardwand\u00a0on his struggle AT A TIME when Khap killings and female infanticide have stopped raising eyebrows, a film is all set to change our perceptions. When director Sushil Rajpal decided to make a film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":29076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[5725,6000,842,429,6001,6002,6003,5792,6004,6005,6006,6007,6008,6009,6010,6011,5990],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}