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One may not completely agree with the end. I will not describe the last 20 minutes of this six-episode wonder as it can seem to be a shade anti-climactic for such a rich and enriching story of the standing of women in Indian society even today.
The point remains that this series (six episode totaling about 3 hours, which could have made an engrossing OTT film!) is not a mere social statement: it is the first socially-relevant one this year and actually packs a punch, even if sometimes a tad overdone.
The protagonist here is Kamlesh (Divya Dutta), whose father-in-law Sukumar (Sanjay Mishra) is a learned man who always recites from Hindu texts. Divya is married to his son Vinay (Faisal Rashid), an affectionate and yet a shade timid man. The couple wed when Vinay’s brother, Arun (Siddharth Shaw) is quite young and Kamlesh becomes like a second mother to him and plays a part in his growing up to a young man, who she repeatedly opines, can “do no wrong.”
Kamlesh is initially doubtful about a proposal for Arun: the educated, English songs-loving Pooja (Prasanna Bisht), who also helps out victims of sexual discrimination in an LGBTQ and women’s help center. But Kamlesh finally is cajoled into approving her by Arun.
Uneducated and prone only to read the cookery and similar pages in the daily newspapers, Kamlesh is shocked when after the wedding night, a severely upset Pooja wants to return home. The reason? Arun has forced himself on her even as she was reluctant due to her being unwell.
However, Kamlesh does take Pooja home, but her parents force her to return to her husband and in-laws. Kamlesh herself slaps her when Pooja tells her that she has been raped by Arun. The concept of sexual consent is alien to the patriarchal-orientation of Kamlesh’s life where the wife is considered like a property on whom the husband has full and complete control and ownership.
But slowly and surely, Pooja’s condition, her horrible experiences during the already-booked honeymoon and a reworked internal mindset with the right exposure to facts makes Kamlesh realize that it is Arun who is at fault. But now, when they form a team, Kamlesh and Pooja face impossible odds, beginning with their own family as well as Pooja’s parents. Worse, in India, marital rape has not been criminalized. Arun, as Pooja and now even Kamlesh feels, deserves to be in jail, but cannot be punished by law. What is the way out?
The series is gripping from the start even if it sometimes veers into maudlin or melodramatic zones and has an erratic graph to almost every character at many a time. For example, Pooja herself strangely does not confide her troubles to her friend at the help center, and there are similar oddities throughout the storytelling.
There are needless convolutions as well. The entry of Kamlesh’s grandfather, Nanaji (Tinnu Anand) and the role he plays does not make sense finally, and what Sukumar does with Pooja’s father is downright absurd. The confession by Vinay that he admires Kamlesh for her guts also does not hold water for he still does not dare to challenge his father. And so on…
Shashant Shah, the director who delivered the splendid Chalo Dilli 15 years ago, makes a mark again after eons in his choice of subject. Many of the situations and the lines have an organic sweetness and charm, and are hard-hitting when needed. Above all, the depiction of how males in Indian society, even today, are preconditioned towards patriarchy, ditto the women, finds the script, with all its flaws, making an impact even if one finds the last episode a shade underwhelming.
The script succeeds in portraying society’s ironies—of older women’s emotional reactions and lack of basic education, the omnipresent regressive thoughts and the odd dichotomy of the men having profound knowledge of the Hindu texts that have immense respect for women, and yet wallowing in double-standards in their own home.
Divya Dutta is superb in all the confused and complex shades of Kamlesh. She brings out her sassiness (within conservative limits!), stubbornness, haplessness, impotent revolt and finally determination with equal elan. Prasanna Bisht is okay as Pooja, hampered terribly by the paradox of an educated woman not being as bold and forthright as she should be out of fear of family and society.
Faisal Rashid as Vinay is effective and so is Sanjay Mishra as the seemingly kind but obdurate patriarch. Siddharth Shaw is the wrong choice as his performance teems with raw edges in most scenes. Tinnu Anand is wasted and the other actors, including Anjuman Saxena, hardly go above the routine.
The web series is worth a watch for a relatable factor: gender inequality is an issue that is still rampant in our society, even among the educated class. In the absence of legal support, the only alternative is to decondition, unlearn and finally evolve as a society that seriously believes in gender equality. Truly. Fearlessly. Ardently. And not turn our women into caged birds (chiraiya) but allow them to fly.
Rating: ***1/2
JioHotstar presents SVF Entertainment’s Chiraiya Produced by: Shrikant Mohta & Mahendra Soni Directed by: Shashant Shah Written by: Soumyabrata Rakshit & Divy Nidhi Sharma Music: Raja Narayan Deb Starring: Divya Dutta, Sanjay Mishra, Prasanna Bisht, Faisal Rashid, Siddharth Shaw, Tinnu Anand, Anjuman Saxena, Sarita Joshi & others
