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Sometimes back after reading my comments about the rape scenes in Arundathi, Ananya had mailed me that all the rape scenes in Indian movies are like that, why single out Arundathi alone. She was right and in our Indian movies rape is more used as a provocative element to titillate the animal instincts of average Indian movie viewers. In the 80's movies almost all the movies had a hero's sister character who was created just to get raped and commit suicide following that gory incident. Thankfully that trend phased out eventually when the heroines took over the part of seducing the male audiences from the vamps and rapes. But there are very few rape scenes that gave me goosebumps when I even think about them. Those were vital for the story to move on and those scenes disturbed me for weeks. Recently when I read 'Kane and Abel' there was this gang rape scene after which I literally stopped reading that novel until Vaidhees assured me that no more such scene will come in that novel.

The latest one is from a Egyptian movie (if I am correct) which I accidenatlly stumbled upon while surfing the channels. The scene was very concise but disturbing.

Shot 1: A goon break the door and barge into the room where the girl was sleeping. She jumps out of the door only to be caught by two more goons hiding behind the window.

Shot 2: She tries to scream but one guy shuts her mouth with his palms leaving her eyes wide open with fear. A weak shreak comes from her.

Shot 3: This scene is from the girl's perspective. The goon was seen removing his pant belt.... Suggestive of what he intends to do

Shot 4: The girl's eyes pop out with fear and helplessness.

Shot 5: The goon moves towards the girl (camera here) and the camera darkens. She shreaks meekly.

Shot 6: There are many women standing out in the entrance of the hut and the old man, her father I think, makes his way into the crowd. The rape victim is shown sitting in the bed out of focus, with her lower body exposed. Her legs are blood stained suggesting the rape.

Shot 7: The mid shot of the girl, her hair is dishevelled and dresses are cramped. Seeing the old man tears pop from her eyes and embarassingly tries to cover her lower body and legs.

The scene was just for a minute or two but it disturbed me so much that for the whole day it cameback daunting.

Similiarly I can say that the rape scenes in Paruthiveeran and especially in the movie Priyanka, which gave me jitters for weeks after I had seen those movies. I was in my 12th std and in the nights I used to wake up suddenly with a jolt and look around. Such was its impact that I literally stopped seeing movies with rape contents even it was just suggestive. After a long time I saw Paruthiveeran after my friends suggested that the rape scene was trimmed by the censors. Still it disturbed me a lot.

Another rape scene that never showed the hugging and screaming but still managed to disturb me was from the Shashilal K Nair's hindi movie called 'Grahan' starring Manisha Koirala with Atul Kulkarni. It was also a short (1 - 2 min only) but suggestive rape scene that leaves the audiences shaken.

Shot 1: The goons produce Manisha before Atul Kulkarni and move away. Atul smooches the fearstruck Manisha and mustering some courage Manisha slaps him.

Shot 2: Furious Atul Kulkarni slaps Manisha hard that she falls on the sofa bed. The camera gets closer to Manisha's face. A finger of Atul Kulkarni enters into the helmline of Manisha's blouse and he moves it upward along the blouse's edge. The camera captures the fear in vulnerable Manisha's face. The finger tears the Manisha's blouse at her shoulder stitch.

Shot 3: The camera gets still more closer to Manisha's face and a folded fist hits strongly in her neck.

Shot 4: Atul lies down Manisha on her abs. The camera is from the low angle with Manisha's face distorted with pain, dominating 3/4th of the screen. At the out of focus, Atul Kulkarni is shown with a worn out facial expression suggesting an anal rape.

Shot 5: The camera now pans towards the profile of Manisha and she screams harder indicating the pain while rape.

After few scenes an insane Manisha was wandering the streets with an activist surrendering her to a police station. She is waiting in the verandah of the police station, with heavy rain outside, she walks with legs wide steps suggesting the pain in the private parts, she walks to the rain and spits a long saliva. Quite disturbing scene and too much to handle.

In one of her interviews Manisha Koirala told that since the director wanted her to understand the gravity of the rape scene he shot that scene first and the movie rest. She said that she was unable to sleep for days after she has shot for that scene.

Both the scenes I have written about doesn't have the villians making the heroine run around or stripping her sarees / tearing the blouses. They were shot subtly but effective at the same time.

Since the film makers were considerate about the story, they had treated the rape scenes carefully with utmost care. But 99.99% of the film makers treat rape scenes as a means to titillate the front benchers in turn for hoot calls and whistles. I end up laughing at those scenes while watching on TV.

Coming to the Egyptian movies, there is a channel '1' in Dubai that screens lots of Egyptian movies. They are not like typical Arabians but resemble a lot like westerners. Their style of movie making is very much similiar to our Indian style of films including the songs and dance routines. They too wear skimpy clothes and strut their stuffs around, which was quite surprising considering the conservative nature of Middle East culture.

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