In a struggle to rebel

A man is standing on a crowded platform at a local railway station in Mumbai waiting to see if the woman he loves will come. At last, weary with waiting, he gets up to leave. She walks in. His eyes light up. So do mine. A moment later, everything has changed. "I'll miss you... best of luck," she says. His eyes mist over. I shake my head in disgust.

This is the last scene of the movie Life In A Metro. A film on love affairs - love in marriage, outside marriage, before marriage, in old age. In the 21st century, I must admit I expected a bolder ending.

However, some things seldom do change I guess! A woman must still accept her husband, even though he has been cheating on her for two years. She cannot fall in love even though she is in love. She must be the forgiving, husband worshiping wife. This is all that society gives its women at the end of the day. We kid ourselves about being liberal and open. And that's all that it is - a joke. Women continue to battle every monster that they have for centuries.

New age cinema, however bold it may get, finds it difficult to cross that frontier!