TREATMENT
The proposed film on Honour Killing is an investigative documentary based on the fateful consequences of the young couples who marry by opposing the traditional community norms.
The complicated nature of the truth comes out in the film through testimonials of family members of the victims, caste leaders, murderers of the victims, social workers, analysis of journalists and evasion of crucial questions by Govt. officials including women right commission, ministry of law.
All of these are strung together through the story of Sanjay and Rekha (Photo 02) which is the main theme of this film. It is then juxtaposed with another story of Manoj and Babli(Photo 01) which then reaches a climax with an increasing momentum. The theme of the film is punctuated by the narrations of an off-screen narrator about the statistical figures and facts of honour killings in different parts of northern India.
The protagonist of the main story is Rekha and Sanjay’s only son, Arjun (Photo 03). The film starts with the camera following the little child’s actions. He was born after his father Sanjay’s death, so luckily he didn’t experience that dreadful night when Sanjay was beaten to death by his (Arjun) maternal uncles and hired goons. Though the innocent kid is the chief protagonist, the story unwinds itself through the words of Sanjay’s mother KrishnaDevi.
KrishnaDevi with deep regrets and pain in heart tells the story of that night.
During this entire process of story telling some of the sound bites and scenes (knocking of the door, gunshots fired, shrieking cries, and patches of blood on the floor) are reconstructed so as to build up the thrill and create a dramatic impact. The camera is omnipresent but not visible. It’s the eyes of the viewers.
Then we shift to our another story of Manoj and Babli. They were residents of Karora village in Kaithal district. Caste was no barrier for their marriage (Photo 01) but, since they violated the norms of khap panchayats and married within the same gotra, they had to sacrifice their lives (see photographs).
The protagonist is Mr. Lal Bahadur Khawal (Photo 04), lawyer of Hisar district who is defending the case on behalf of Manoj’s family. Prime accused Gangaraj and Babli’s maternal uncles (Photo 05) are now behind the bars. But, once they get bail they’ll start inhumanly torturing Manoj’s family again. Once they had already slapped Manoj’s sister Seema in the court premises and threatened her about their powers. However, Mr. Khawal is confident that he’ll get justice and make Gangaraj and his men severely punished.
At this juncture, camera takes a turn to show the other side of the picture. We talk to the heads of Jat institutions like Kishanraj and many others to find out why the Jats still have a persistent hold in a modern, secular political system? And what has led to their medieval pattern of thinking? Largely, the strength of these khap (caste) panchayats and their illogical decisions may be traced to the identity crises suffered by a large section of Jats owing to the fragmentation of land holdings and the beginning of modern era.
Finally, the film ends on a text note shown in the screen about Sanjay and Rekha, as well as Manoj and Babli’s legal cases and it’s progress.[voice-over]
