Beyond the Binary

Towards the end of Arekti Premer Golpo, a 2010 film featuring Rituparno Ghosh and directed by Kaushik Ganguly, there is a significant scene where the two chief protagonists of the film, Abhiroop Sen and Chapal Bhaduri, compare their respective senses of gender. In the film, Abhiroop, played by Rituparno, is a fictional Delhi-based film-maker who is directing a documentary on Chapal Bhaduri, a real-life actor in Bengali open-air theatre (jatra) now past hir prime, played by hirself. ¹ The film establishes a parallel narrative between reconstructions of Chapal’s past life, in which the younger Chapal is again played by Rituparno, and the present-day drama that unfolds in Abhiroop’s life during the shooting of the documentary. Near the end of the filming process in rural Bengal, the shooting is interrupted by the police acting on behalf of the local villagers, who heard that Chapal is supposed to enact Ma Shitala (the Goddess of plague) for the documentary, and who fear that an untimely performance of the pala (mythical play featuring Shitala) may precipitate an outbreak of plague. Abhiroop fumes at the ‘absolutely ridiculous’ behaviour of the villagers, who are apparently unable to comprehend that this is merely a ‘performance’, and contemplates going to the police station to protest. Since Abhiroop’s cinematographer boyfriend Basu is already in negotiation with the police, Chapal advises Abhiroop to stay behind – byatachheleder kaaj byatachhelerai koruk (let men do men’s work). At this, Abhiroop smiles at Chapal indulgently, and the following conversation ensues: ABHIROOP

Do you really think of yourself as a woman, Chapal-da? ²

CHAPAL

O ma, if I thought of myself as a man, then all the trouble would have ended! Why, you don’t think…?

ABHIROOP

No.

CHAPAL

You don’t think that God, while almost making you a woman, has made you a man [meye gorte gorte chhele gore phelechhe]?

ABHIROOP

No, I don’t think so. I think that women are separate, men are separate, and we are separate

(During hir statement, Abhiroop gestures with hir hand to the left, then to the right, and then to the middle.)