Gendered Bengali: Expectations and Challenges, in Ashapurna Devi’s ‘Chhayasurya’ and Partha Pratim Chowdhury’s Chhaya Surya [Chhayasurya], and Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Dadar Kirti and Tarun Majumdar’s Dadar Kirti

Abstract

The paper offers a comparative study between two filmic ‘adaptations’ from two Bengali texts: (i) Chhaya Surya [Chhayasurya] (1963) adapted by Partha Pratim Chowdhury from Ashapurna Devi’s short story ‘Chhayasurya’ (1988[?]: 130–139), and (ii) Tarun Majumdar’s Dadar Kirti (1980), ‘adapted’ from the novella/novel Dadar Kirti by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay ([1982] 2011: 259– 289). With close textual and filmic references, the paper explores (i) the conceptions of masculine and feminine and conflations of the two, (ii) artistic expressions internalizing gender as well as challenging it, (iii) male interactions interpreted by domestic women, and (iv) women’s interlocution in perspectives on heterosexual coupling and marriage.