DOSHOR: Estranged Companions ?

How difficult or easy is it to forgive a philandering husband or an unfaithful wife? What solemnizes marriage which is presumably the most pure relationship on earth? Trust or a series of compromises? Rituparno Ghosh’s Doshor raises all these questions and leaves them to the audience to answer.

Women and their role in the domestic sphere have been Ghosh’s putative concern. Through Unishe April, Dahan, Subho Muharat, and Chokher Bali,Ghosh has gone out of his way to show how women continue to play second fiddle to men, in spite of themselves. Yet, he has shown how women can rise above crises and define for themselves an identity of their own. If Rangapishima of Subho Muharat reinvents herself as a detective, Binodini of Chokher Bali abandons both her lovers and embarks on a journey to discover for herself the meaning of “nation”. It was, therefore, really surprising for such a strong-willed woman as Kaberi (Konkona Sensharma) to stay on with Kaushik (Prasenjit Chatterjee), even though he fails to justify his relationship with Mita (Chandrayee Ghosh). The film could have been more radical if Kaberi had walked out of the relationship after Kaushik had recovered. Although it would have been A Doll’s House kind of ending, it would have been a Rituparno Ghosh kind of ending as well.

Kaberi is almost shattered on discovering her husband’s liaison with his office colleague Mita. This might not have ever been discovered if Mita had not died in an accident in which Kaushik is almost mortally injured. Both of them were returning by car after a sojourn at a resort outside the city, while Kaberi thought that Kaushik was on some business tour. Kaberi is in double crisis: on the one hand, she has to look after an ailing husband; on the other hand, she has to suffer the insult of being betrayed by someone she had unconditionally trusted.  

Initially, she decides to walk out of the relationship and asks her brother-in-law to file a divorce case immediately. She feels no sympathy for Kaushik and in a deliberate attempt to hurt him she conveys the news of Mita’s death rather insipidly without any introduction. Back home, when Kaushik pleads with her to look after him and listen patiently to what he has to say about his extra-marital affair, Kaberi’s rejoinder is just too brilliant: “I can’t really take the responsibility of your catharsis.” She is remarkably indifferent to him; yet, she cannot help but sponge him as he is too seriously handicapped to do anything on his own.  What surprises us is that Kaushik does not really suffer from any sense of dependence and almost shamelessly endeavors to get intimate with her once again. Though Kaberi shows apathy and indifference, she gradually gives in and the relationship is saved.

On the other hand, there is the betrayed husband Mr. Biswas (Shankar Chakraborty). He is unnaturally silent and is unwilling to discuss anything about it with Kaberi who voluntarily goes over to his place after the incident. In fact his very act of returning to Kaberi a packet of rubber found in his wife’s bag seems brutally inhuman, a deliberate attempt to hurt somebody else in the absence of his wife. Another instance of his displaced aggression is seen in his brutal act of intercourse with the prostitute (Moumita Gupta) who slaps him really hard: “Aren’t you satisfied by murdering your wife that you want to kill me as well?” ...

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