The latest version of this page moved to indiancine.ma - Click here
Agnisnan
aka Ordeal 1985 186’ col Assamese d/p/s Bhabendranath Saikia c Kamal Nayak lyr/m Tarun Goswami lp Malaya Goswami, Biju Phukan, Arun Nath, Kashmiri Barua, Sanjib Hazarika, Ananda Mohan Bhagawati, Arun Guha-Thakurta, Nilu Chakraborty, Indra Bania, Ashok Deka
The Assamese physicist and writer Saikia used one of his own novels, set in 30s feudalcolonial Assam, for this extended film about a woman’s emancipation. The well-off and British-supported rice mill owner Mohikanta (Phukan) is married to the quiet Menoka (Goswami) and has four children by her. When Mohikanta takes a second wife, Kiran (Barua), and makes her pregnant, the angry Menoka starts a secret affair with the village thief, Madan, and becomes pregnant. Unaware of his double standards, Mohikanta feels betrayed and demands an explanation for Menoka’s refusal to have sexual relations with him ever since Kiran moved into their home. Menoka simply points out that since Mohikanta had expected her to put up with his infidelities, so he must accept hers. The final confrontation between husband and wife, set in the rice mill, provides an unusual ending to this tale about patriarchal hypocrisy as the initially submissive Menoka self-confidently affirms her right to fully equal status with her husband.