The Rising Angst

Rashmi Mehta
Sep 7, 2018 · 3 min read

At a time when India was desperately looking for a ray of hope, we’ve been blessed by the seven colours of the rainbow. Hearty congratulations to all of us for the win yesterday! As a member of the human community, my heart goes out to yours if you’ve ever had to hide anything in the closet — sexuality, love, emotions, achievements or anger. With the biggest closet finally being unlocked, I hope we find the keys to the other compartments as well. Now that we know what isn’t a crime, I hope we can turn our heads to the real criminal issues plaguing this country — naming which, is dangerous at this point. However, what is not dangerous, is watching a film (of course while I remembered my duty towards the nation and stood up for the national anthem before a horror film — duh!). Director Amar Kaushik’s Stree is positioned to be a ‘Horror-Comedy’ and that’s what it exactly is — funny, scary and feminist. Yes, you read that right.

I think Stree is a feminist film — not just because of the more obvious plot-line where we realize that the ghost was a woman who didn’t find respect. Neither do I say this because it’s a little funny to watch men being scared to walk on the road alone at night — NO. I firmly believe that no gender should be afraid of being attacked, either by ghost or human. That would be an ideal society to live in, wouldn’t it? Can you hear John Lennon’s imagine playing in your mind. Bingo, me too. Going back to the film, no I do not think it is feminist because men are scared — that is a total misinterpretation of feminism. Why I do think it is feminist, is because it manages to metaphorically portray an angst that has been hidden inside every Stree ( and purush and Other genders) who has ever been molested, catcalled or been abused- verbally, emotionally or physically. The ghost of Stree is nothing but bottled up angst taking the shape of an entity outside the body — vague, formless and scary. I believe that the ghost in this film is the dark side that exists within every person who has been wronged — by society, family or the human community.

We try so hard to kill this negativity within us, but maybe all we need to do is subdue its power. Let it out — scream from your window or dance till you are breathless. But maybe some forms of injustice are so constant that they do not go away by screaming and dancing. Can we say then that the injustice dons the cloak of invisibility, which is why only the people with the Marauder’s Map can identify it, while the others think that everything it just as perfect as it could be? The hope is that the cloak will accidentally fall, or will be pulled off when the mere muggles start believing the ones who can read the map. Till then, let cast Protego Maxima all over, because who knows what we need saving from? Hogwarts shall now be saved. Hopefully.

Rashmi Mehta

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I dream, I imagine, I observe, I absorb, I believe — I write.