ਮਨਿ ਜੀਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਜੀਤੁ / man jeete jag jeet (1973)
(win your mind and you win the world)
tw: violence, rape, suicide.
This was one of my favourite movies growing up. While the romanticization of the prison complex, reformist ideas, and mysogynistic perspectives are distasteful, this movie still has such an impact on my perceptions of feminine characters in Punjabi culture. I don’t “agree” with the narrative of the movie, but reading against the grain it —for better and for worse—expresses a lot of taboo themes; Reconciliation, guilt, punishment, violence against women, criminalisation of poverty, mental illness, and perhaps Stockholm syndrome.
There is Gurmeet, the “heroine” of the movie, and essentially the personification of a lotus flower, and definitely the most idealized feminine in the movie as well as in Punjabi Sikh culture. While it is expected for Gurmeet to be a “virtuous” and educated woman, I find she has a more heroic role than Sunil Dutt’s character (Sardar Bakhel Singh AKA Bagga) in the film.
We also get a picture of Bagga’s motives behind his rebel dacoit lifestyle, the abuse and subsequential suicide of his younger sister “Satto”, who was the last of his family. While this background seems to justify Bagga’s actions as he is a rebel WITH a cause, I find that the movie overall doesn’t take on as radical of a perspective as I imagine it could, and doesn’t directly address issues of the policing system. They are visible, indirectly through comedy however, as mainstream Punjabi Sikh culture is not too favourable of colonial policing systems in the first place.
1. Nautch dancer: played by #Madhumati 🌹Her character absolutely deserves more light! ***Essentially a feminine parallel to Bagga’s character.*** “Tu vi dakoo (dacoit) te main vi dakoo, dohan dhi adat hai mildi.” meaning, “You’re a thief, as am I. Our actions are the same. You steal the worlds wealth, I steal the wealth of the heart.”
2. Gurmeet Kaur: played by Radha Saluja, the heroine who is “as pure as the Ganga”.
3. Satto: the “Sati” character as she commits suicide after she is raped. Sati is the first incarnation of Parvati, and the horrendous and patriarchal practice of widow burning is named after her. Satto’s character has the most youth as well as naivety. The tragedy of her assault and death is contrasted with the joy of her life🌻
