Who Is Behind The Ghoongat? Subservience Or Rebellion

When you hear the word 'Ghoongat', what comes to your mind? An oppressed woman? A woman who is afraid of the male-dominated society? A woman who cannot show her face to men but can defecate in the open? A woman who is shy, submissive and subservient? Well, let me turn the tables and tell you a tale of how the ghoongat has now become a weapon of the spookily unidentified, secret and often tricky identity. 

Have you watched the recent movie Laapataa Ladies? The movie revolves around male dominance of women who wear ghoongat long enough to cover their eyes. Because of the ghoongat, women can't identify their husbands. All they can see is their shoes. As a result, a mix and match is created in the movie which becomes the main plot. 

How women in Laapata Ladies use ghoongat to defend themselves

But there is a twist. The ghoongat actually helps the women in the movie. Jaya, disguised as Pushpa, uses her ghoongat to escape the toxic husband she was originally married to. More specifically, in the scene where Jaya is supposed to get her picture clicked by the police for her identification, she uses ghoongat as a defence to not reveal her identity. Moreover, it is because of the ghoongat that she lands at a different village which became the launchpad of her success. 

When people question how she couldn't identify her husband, she rightly says that the ghoongat hides the identity of women and all they can see is the shoes of their husband. How could she differentiate from the husband of Phool and her own husband, Pradeep? 

On the other hand, the only picture of Phool in ghoongat delays her search which allows her the time to learn about women's empowerment from Manju Maai.

How Stree used ghoongat to hide identities

Another movie that used ghoongat as a weapon was Stree. In the movie, the spooky Stree also wears a ghoongat. But behind that ghoongat is not a submissive woman but a witch powerful enough to dominate the men and scare them away. Ghoongat is also used in the movie by men to deceive Stree which again brings us back to the question- who actually is behind the ghoongat?

Judith Butler, the writer of Gender Trouble, said that the body is like the plain paper on which the cultural norms are inscribed and legitimated. However, the inner self which differs from the bodily identity breaks those norms. 

How ghoongat is being used against patriarchy

Similarly, the custom of ghoongat is inscribed on the bodies of women. But their inner selves, who seek freedom by hook or crook, often defy the culture of ghoongat. In fact, this can also be understood by the idea of men living in women's bodies or women living in men's bodies. Many times we see in movies men decked up in sarees and ghoongat to conceal their identity. Even though this is shown comically, in reality, many men do wear sarees and ghoongat too if required. In this case, ghoongat becomes a means to both conceal and expose one's real identity. 

But does this mean that the culture of ghoongat is right or even beneficial? Absolutely not. It does hide the identity- be it of a woman or a man (trying to break the gender binaries). It does oppress those who have to wear it to escape the glare of patriarchy. It does make one afraid of the social norms and binaries.

Fight patriarchy by being one of them and deceiving them  

However, as it is said, straightforwardness with the straightforward. Crookness with the crooked. If ghoongat cannot be removed with salient efforts, one wearing it has to use it as a weapon. If patriarchy cannot end, one has to tear it down like the termites who sneak in and later destroy the whole furniture. Just like the movie Stree used the ideals of patriarchy by turning the table (replacing the positions of men and women), we too have to fight the patriarchy through fabricated conformity and real rebellion. One can conform to patriarchal rules by listening to them and yet attain independence. One can follow the norms of the gender binary and yet claim there is not just dawn and dusk but noon, twilight and midnight too. .

Views expressed are the author's own