While marriages are supposedly made in heaven, the married couples on earth come in a variety of shades and persona that make them unique, inimitable, and truly distinctive from any other. Lovers of long years have been known to unite in holy matrimony; while some live to celebrate the milestone jubilees, others have been seen to have fallen apart within a year of marriage.
Incompatibility is often the chosen excuse among many others that might include domestic violence, emotional “atyachar,” or simply a hostile mother-in-law. And then there is “abhimaan” – that feeling of the husband being inferior or less qualified than his wife causing him a lot of heartburn. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s “Abhimaan” starring Amitabh and Jaya is that poignant tale that made us all weep so hard.
Recently, I had the occasion to come across a unique couple who were recently married. They got married during the pandemic lockdown. I had to visit their household on a special invitation by them ostensibly to bless them and so I did. Jayanta and Jurima, they were. The couple occupied the first floor of a two storey bungalow and for some strange reason, had a young paying guest called Choudhry who largely spoke to me in Hindi.
Awkward! That was what I felt about the household atmosphere from the moment I stepped in. Just a few days into their marriage, Jayanta and Jurima looked decidedly uneasy when it came to compatibility, mutual communication and ease of relationship making me wonder how at all these two agreed to get married to each other in the first place. Despite the fact that it was an arranged marriage supposedly!
And from what I could make out, Choudhry was not making it easier for them with his regular interference in their personal space. Be it helping the confined couple in cleaning up, sharing their frugal Assamese meals or even cooking, the strapping youngster with the attitude of a smart alec was proving to be a huge hindrance in the couple warming up to each other. Yes, it was a virtual communication breakdown for the first 15 minutes that I was in that household. “They just don’t talk to each other,” said Choudhry to me. Having blessed the couple, I was left wondering whether Jayanta and Jurima would at all be able to make their marriage a success – offbeat that they seemed. “Arranged” marriages always make me wonder how couples take this huge shot at finding eternal love within the confines of wedlock!
Well folks, I was privy to Jayanta and Jurima’s life through a sneak preview of “Arranged,” a short movie of 22 minute duration that is set to be released on YouTube on coming 16th October. The movie has been produced under the banner of Kadambari Creations and the co-producers are Samujjal Kashyap (also the director) and Harsh Siddhanta.
The accompanying poster gives all the credit details but what I hereby guarantee is a heart-warming and breezy movie experience that left me in splits initially and in moist-eyed wonder when it finally ended.
