Pushpa Ki Abhilasha: The Travesty of ‘Rocky Aur Rani’ Romanticizing the Idea of a 16-Year-Old Needing to be Engaged
- I take the liberty to re-decorate Makhanlal Chaturvedi’s poem to counter Amitabh Bhattachary’s song, “Kudmayi.”
Last year Karan Johar’s “Rocky Aur Rani” became a blockbuster hit, with it’s rom-com take on Punjabi-Bengali culture hailed as the much-needed good family-fun. Its modern re-take of the extremely popular song from yesteryears ‘Jhumka Gira Re’ was the catchiest song of the year, and no one wanted to dance on anything but it! However, for any desi wedding happening nowadays, while that song is the one to dance on for the friends and family attending the event, it is the ‘other’ song that marks the emotional essence of a girl getting married. This ‘other’ song’s lyrics when interpreted start thus:
‘The moment a 16-year-old girl, steps out of her dad’s home, it is time for her Kudmayi/engagement’
It is a sweet tune and can make anyone tear up as the song goes on to recount how the girl’s days of playing with dolls and swings are over.
This song is all over social media, with wedding videos. This song is an important part of popular consumption, and no one objected to this song?
Across India, one in 5 women are still married before the legal age of 18. 1 out of 5 minor girls are married off or engaged to be married to someone, even now !
The conversation on women empowerment cannot even start, if a girl child-is not even promised her due right to schooling, education and nourishment by her own family, for the duration when she is a minor. A child in fear of being married off, will be simply that — fearful, subdued and weak. Weak girls will become weak women, and when women will be weak, of course men will fill the power vacuum, and the gender inequality will persist.
The song’s lyrics have nothing to do with the highly liberated, hot-shot media anchor Rani of the movie. Then why does Bollywood throw in such songs? Because they have mass appeal. And it is in these masses, largely in our rural areas, where that 1 out of 5 women lives.
It is in this context that Karan Johar’s romanticizing the idea of a 16-year-old needing to be engaged the moment she crosses the ‘threshold’ of the house, is not just silly, it is also dangerous and illegal. It glorifies the idea that girls are to be ‘protected’ by a father or a husband always. This notion strips women of their own agency, identity and individuality. Yes, one may argue, that neither the film’s reel avatar Rani nor the real heroine Alia Bhatt even remotely resemble women who are unempowered. And yet, this is even more reason to lament the poor choice of the song.
The song’s lyrics have nothing to do with the highly liberated, hot-shot media anchor Rani of the movie. Then why does Bollywood throw in such songs? Because they have mass appeal. And it is in these masses, largely in our rural areas, where that 1 out of 5 women lives. That one woman, lets call her Pushpa, lives in a house and society where her birth has been cried on because her parents wanted a boy. And thus, when Pushpa’s family hears these songs they only feel encouraged and validated in their beliefs about child-marriage. They are made to celebrate the girl’s turning 16 so that she can be married off. This is not what Pushpa deserves, nor what she needs.
Because I am a bilingual poet, I have the privilege of reading many a beautiful works in Hindi and English. One such Hindi poem, by the Late Makhanlal Chaturvedi is one that all of us Hindi-speaking Indians know well since when we were little. It was titled “Pushp Ki Abhilasha” and it was an ode to patriotism as the highest aspiration. Irked to the core by Karan Johar’s song, and more by the fact that no one found the song objectionable, I took the liberty to re-decorate Chaturvedi Ji’s poem. It is called ‘Pushpa Ki Abhilasha’
Its translation would read thus:
I wish not to be known by someone else’s name
I wish not to bedeck in glamor and entice everyone
I wish not to be a bride and then be pushed into a fire for dowry
I wish not to peg my luck to finding a rich husband
Don’t break me, Ma-Baba
Don’t throw me away, by calling it ‘Kanya-Daan’
Give me your support and blessings,
And I will fulfill the goals of us, of our nation and of our world.
Pushpa does NOT need for Bollywood to create a song and dance around her being denied the right to grow into a full human being who is equipped with her own abilities to distinguish the right and wrong. Kudmai is not Pushpa’s wish. Education, exploration and dignity is her plea. About time Bollywood understood that cheesy representation is not just sad, it is also illegal.
| पुष्पाकीअभिलाषा(by Nidhi Thakur) चाह नहीं मैं किसी और के नाम से ही जानी जाऊं चाह नहीं सौंदर्य में सज के सबको हर पल ललचाऊँ चाह नहीं दुल्हन बन दहेज़ की अग्नि में डाली जाऊं चाह नहीं किसी और की कमाई से अपने भाग्य पे इतराऊं मुझे तोड़ना मत माँ-बाबा कन्या दान कर देना मत फ़ेंक अपना आशीष और हौसला देना, पूर्ण करूंगी, हम सबके, इस देश के, इस विश्व के, लक्ष्य अनेक। | पुष्पकीअभिलाषा(by Shri Makhanlal Chaturvedi) चाह नहीं मैं सुरबाला के गहनों में गूँथा जाऊँ, चाह नहीं, प्रेमी-माला में बिंध प्यारी को ललचाऊँ, चाह नहीं, सम्राटों के शव पर हे हरि, डाला जाऊँ, चाह नहीं, देवों के सिर पर चढ़ूँ भाग्य पर इठलाऊँ। मुझे तोड़ लेना वनमाली! उस पथ पर देना तुम फेंक, मातृभूमि पर शीश चढ़ाने जिस पथ जावें वीर अनेक |
Dr. Nidhi Thakur is the author of ‘When She Married Dr. Patekar and Other Stories’ —a short-story collection of Global Desi tales on nostalgia and identity. She currently lives in New Jersey where she writes bilingual poetry/commentary/fiction and also teaches Economics (of gender, health and sustainability).