Classics: Jag Mundhra's "Provoked"

Jag Mundhra's Provoked is a UK based movie on the historical Regina versus Ahluwalia case - the monumental court case that transformed the nature of British law pertaining to 'Provocation Defense' -"the acceptance of Battered Woman's Syndrome as a legal state of mind, in accordance with defendants who have suffered extended physical abuse at the hands of a spouse." 2001 saw Kiranjit being honored by Cherie Blair with the Asian Woman Role Model Award for her exceptional courage.

The very beginning of the movie where a man is set ablaze by his wife comes across as an inversion of the numerous dowry deaths witnessed in India. Kiranjit(Aishwarya Rai) has had enough of unmerited abuses from her husband Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews) and cannot take it anymore. She decides to revolt in a manner deemed acceptable to her. She has endured ten years of persistent sexual, physical and mental torture. Her aversion is not to the man, as she weeps inconsolably later on his death. Neither is it to the institution of marriage, as she is reluctant to remove the momento and signature of marriage on her neck as the jailor asks her to. Rather, it is to the inhuman chauvinism of the man in question, that she wants to put an end to. The movie highlights, that in such cases, it is the disease that has to be killed, and not the diseased. Ironically, the jailor comes across as more kind as compared to her irreverent spouse. Paradoxically, Kiranjit exclaims to the reporter Radha Dallal(Nandita Das) on her question as to how she feels in jail: "I feel free". It was not her physical being that was being jailed within the constraints of her husband, but her spiritual self.

The flashback technique serves to illustrate the different negative shades to Deepak's character -the possessiveness, the suspicion, the infidelity, the inhumanity, the callousness, the utter lack of respect to reduce her to something lesser than even a physical entity. In one of the scenes, he tells her;" You are woman -less than nothing."

Kiran's entry to the jail is set against her entry to her married home, the latter appearing more despicable in contrast to the former. The mother-in-law being a woman herself refuses to acknowledge the harassment Kiran has faced over the years. She also forms a part of the mindset of the patriarchal society that we thrive in. The media mirrors this mindset as the headline of the newspaper goes: "Fireball Mum Torches Spouse." The court sentences her to a life imprisonment amidst loud protests from women. The court appears to be another facet of the same, from its lack of compassion to the issue. She considers herself to be a sinner in spite of everything, and does not go out to justify herself in the first hearing.

The second half of the movie focuses on her growth as an individual as she finds her space. This abstract growth is concretized in her makeover. She becomes more vocal about her innermost thoughts :"A woman is a toy, broken at will and stuck at will." The journalist fights out her case, underlining the issue and upholding her motto:" A lost cause is better than no cause at all."

With the verdict, there seems to be a ray of hope for many out there with a similar predicament. The movie handles this sensitive issue with a strong message that functions as a pointer to the numerous submissive women out there, as Radha quips:" Is you reputation more important than your freedom?"