This is a tale of high-caste
girls who eloped with untouchable boys. Using only interviews and no voice
over, it tells of love creating a conflict between parents and children,
religion and human rights, of youth who reject their culture to assert the
freedom to love and the right to marry a partner of their choice. It also tells
of Hindu extremists who view these lovers as a threat to the system, for an
increase in inter-caste marriage will blur caste boundaries and create an equal
society. Therefore conservatives punish the lovers with severe violence to
discourage elopements.
Twenty-five-year-old
Manoj leads the narration. His elopement with Parbati, twenty-two, in 2003 led
to ethnic cleansing in his village. Hundreds of high-caste men attacked the
around eighty untouchables, in a bid to drive them out and “purify” the
village, putting the lovers under extreme pressure to separate.
Similarly, when
Khadga, twenty-three,and Jaisara, twenty-one, eloped in 2008, violence between high-caste and untouchables
erupted in the village. The lovers hid in a forest for several days to escape
the wrath of Jaisara’s parents, who wanted to see them dead. They lost their
way in the thick jungle and nearly
starved to death.
In a tale of police
brutality, twenty-two-year-old Shyam, a milk vendor, eloped with
twenty-one-year-old Saraswoti in 2010. Her parents bribed the police, who
raided the village, tortured Shyam’s father, injured dozens of untouchables and
took her away.
The fourth story is
of a sensational court case. Kishor, twenty-one, a university student who ran
away with seventeen-year-old Ranjana in 2010 was charged with kidnapping and
seducing a minor. The judge controversially dismissed the case against him,
which was a victory for all Nepali youth who believe in love.
Rajib and Sabina’s
tale is a chilling reminder for us to take immediate action before the
situation runs out of control. With four months of their meeting, Rajib and
Sabina planned to elope, but her family did not like it. They were found
hanging in the jungle.
These stories evolve
over three major phases, modeled on the classical three-act structure. The
first part introduces us to the subject matter and the characters. It is an
ethnographic account of how they met, how they dated, and how their love
blossomed in secrecy amidst the undercurrents of caste discrimination in their
villages.
Being young and
innocent, they did not think there was a very big problem in their communities.
It seems a just society, with the evil of caste fading into the past. The high
castes allow untouchables to live next door, to share their water sources,
markets, temples, and schools. Only after children from the two polar families
fall in love does it surface that high castes are not ready to share blood with
untouchables.
Unable to bear the
thought of their love coming to an end, the lovers sneak out of home in the
dead of night and secretly get married. They flee to unknown futures, with
barely enough money to last them a few months past their honeymoon.
This
leads us to the second part, which recounts the consequences of the elopements.
To the untouchables, marrying a high caste is a matter of honor, a way to
uplift their social status and end discrimination. They, therefore, do
everything to support the lovers. But the high castes feel polluted and use
severe violence to restore their honor. Being numerically stronger, they attack
the untouchables to drive them out of the village, or force them to pay very
heavy fines. With influence in the government, they use the police to find the
runaways. The police falsely claim the girl is underage, or frame the boy for
kidnap, and randomly arrest and torture the boy’s relatives until someone
reveals the whereabouts of the runaways. Therefore, to ensure success, the
lovers keep their hiding (honeymoon) place a total secret.
Interviews with
scholars, human rights activists and anthropologists place the events in a
theoretical framework to enable the audience to understand the subject matter.
The last part of the
film is about victory, for this is a happily-ever-after story, a celebration.
After all the pains they endured, the untouchables won. Love won. And that
gives us the theme of the film, that true love will overcome any obstacle.
