Recently, the show ‘Chiraiya’ on the topic of marital rape by Shashant Shah is now ranking first on Hotstar, and is in the national conversation in India. The show exposes the myth of implied consent within marriage.
This show, through accessible storytelling, unveils the upheld patriarchy by women, misogyny, the performed leftism, and women's health. Pooja, the young bride navigating the institution of marriage, becomes the first victim and the lead of the show. Kamlesh, a character of patriarchal women, who unlearns the definition of patriarchy and misogyny, shows us the lens of women structured in this system.
“Bladder, urine, and women's shame.” Hindustan Times recently posted an article about how women are violated in their biological dignity. “Research on sanitation insecurity in India has found that women often deliberately reduce water consumption or delay urination because toilets are distant, unsafe, or lack privacy.”
“Liberalism is revolutionary till it is not liberating women in the house.”
“The woman is conditioned to birth a son at the cost of her happiness and injustice to the unborn, erasure of the future daughter.”
The scene intrigues the audience when Pooja and Kamlesh search for justice in law, but having no option left, Pooja takes a step to file a dowry complaint. It gives us the notion of women's desperate and enforced psychological suffering and the failure of the system to provide them a safe environment and a way to escape the toxic loop of injustice. This exposes the uncomfortable misuse of the law to exit this entrapment when the system is failing.
In conclusion, it dismantles the bluff of fake justice and acknowledges the failure of the law. It brings the consciousness of the audience into restlessness, telling us how consent is continuous and voluntary, and it demands responsibility from the audience by questioning how many more Poojas will suffer because of our silence.
