From what I've learned about the Hindu culture from this film is that it doesn't matter if your husband's death is your fault or not, if he dies you're consider dead too. It's sad to see little girls as widow when they're just a child who knows nothing about life. Life is just starting for them and just like that their arrange marriage, husband dies and now they're put away from the world. It's like jail and a punishment for something they didn't do. That's what happened to one of the main character in this film. Her name is Chuyia. In the beginning she's taken by her father to the widows' house because her husband dies. Her long hair is shaved off. Her colorful clothes are traded for white ones. Her bangles are broken off her wrist and she is put in a house where food is dull and there's no color. The widows living in the widows' house live off Kalyani. She's another main character too. She's beautiful so Didi the one in charge of the widows' house made her into a prostitute to be sent over the Ganges River to the rich people's house.
Eventually she meets Narayan and soon fall in love. It's a sin to be seen walking behind a widow yet now falling love and wanting to marry one was a bigger sin for Narayan but that doesn't stop him. He believes in the Ghandi's practice that everyone is equal. So I'm going to leave it here as if so you can watch the movie and find out yourself if they get each other or not. This film is a must watch. I've seen this film before and every time I watch it, is like the first time.
Excellent post: you have good reflections on characters and plot, and are attentive to the cultural contexts of the movie. Mimi
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