BEYOND MARRIAGE : FILMS THAT TRACE THE PORTRAYAL OF INFIDELITY AND EXTRA-MARITAL AFFAIRS IN INDIAN CINEMA

By Ahona

Gehraiyaan - guilt and infidelity in cosmopolitan relationships

In Gehraiyaan, infidelity was tied up to not just the resulting guilt, but also intergenerational trauma. While it did dedicate itself to exploring the messiness of being unfaithful in an urban relationship, I personally found that it did not fully understand just how deeply past trauma can haunt a person. Having said that, it is one of the most consolidated attempts to look at infidelity without blatant judgement.

Kaanekkaane - guilt and infidelity in contemporary marriages

The film which, in my opinion, should be seen more because of its portrayal of infidelity, amorality and guilt, is the 2021 Malayalam film, Kaanekkaane. It is, by far, one of the most evolved explorations of an "affair" that I have seen in contemporary cinema, because it understands how internal this conflict of romantically committing to another person while being socially committed to one can be. Beyond the social, sexual and romantic aspects of infidelity, it looks at the impact it can have on individual psyches.

Silsila to Meghamalhar- old lovers reunite post-marriage

Of course, Meghamalhar and Silsila are two very different films, with two contrasting perspectives towards infidelity. But this is an entire sub-genre of cinema, in which two people who were either romantically involved at some point or had the possibility of a romance between them meet again after their marriage. They are held back by their commitment to their spouses, and drawn to each other at the same time often because they have a shared past. It juxtaposes morality with yearning.

Chokher Bali to Bajirao Mastani - adultery in period dramas

The social structure that films like Chokher Bali capture is vastly different. This is a period when the Hindu Marriage Act had not yet been put into place, and social marriages took precedence over legally registered marriages. The emotional turmoil, added to the legal grey areas, made infidelity an extremely difficult experience to navigate. This meant that people were far more answerable to their spouses than they were to a court of law. For women, particularly, the psychological cost of being abandoned by their husbands was substantially higher.

Astitva, Parama and Ore Kadal - A woman beyond her marriage

Again, these are very different films with one central commonality - each of them portray a woman stepping beyond the confines of her marriage and/or her home to seek some kind of fulfilment. Ore Kadal reaches beyond that theme to comment upon the pseudo-philosophical approaches that one of its characters takes towards life. But the act of infidelity is studied with greater depth in each of these films, holding its characters safe from any dismissive judgement, contextualising their choices instead.

Andha Naal to Andhadhun - adultery as a subplot in a crime thriller

Andha Naal, widely considered to be the first Tamil noir, is also one of the oldest films to include adultery as an important plot point in its narrative. Like Andhadhun, films that explore the concept of infidelity as part of a larger criminal activity, subconsciously hint at how being unfaithful and being unethical are considered to be overlapping qualities. The general understanding seems to be this characters who are likely to backstab a trusting partner, are also likely to literally stab someone.

Sathi Leelavathi, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal to Pati Patni aur Woh adultery in comedies

Essentially, these are "the other woman" comedies, where female characters are made to compete for male attention. There are plenty of examples in mainstream Hindi cinema, some of which have wives punishing the men for their infidelity, inevitably forgiving them in the end - such as Masti, or No Entry, or many comedies by David Dhawan, such as Biwi No. 1. The other woman, in many of these cases, is portrayed as the more promiscuous, westernised or amoral one.

Dosar, Abohomaan and Shob Charitra Kalponik - a woman finding out about the other woman in her husband's life in Rituparno Ghosh's films

Both Dosar and Abohomaan are more direct explorations of infidelity. But it is Shob Charitra Kalponik's portrait of the "other woman" that intrigues me the most, because the film only ever hints at her being a central part of the husband's psyche. Whether he was ever romantically involved with her, whether his literary dedication to her was inspired from reality - remain a mystery.

Charulata - a portrait of connection and distance

Possibly Satyajit Ray's most layered film on femininity, intellectual companionship, and the performance of marriage, Charulata is, and will always be, my favourite film on the very experience of womanhood. Whether Charu's psychological connection to Amol should be considered as infidelity has been debated by many. To me, however, the film has always been more than a take on faithfulness. It is a take on friendship, on literature, on writing, on having a voice and agency as a woman.