Degrees of female resistance

Chand Grahan opens up the avenue for several degrees of resistance shown by each female character in the drama. All of them are bound in one way or the other by the society and the cultural context but there is some form of active resistance that is played by each one of them. Sheherbano feels that she has been married to Amjad for all the wrong reasons where she is nothing but the worth her father, Lal Hussain Shah’s money puts on her. Her body language shows active resistance and she is very vocal about the unjust reasons which have tied her in marriage to Amjad. We see Sheherbano showing resistance for her own self and the injustice that has been done to her.

On the other hand, Jahania’s chattel Singhar, who belongs to a lower class in a village, is extremely submissive to Jahania mainly due to his feudal and political lineage. She is not educated and she has no conception of fighting for her rights until the abortion scene comes in and she shows active resistance in that. She does not hesitate to run away from the village for her child’s sake and she shows immense amount of bravery in fighting the feudal.

Lastly, Amir un Nisa, the subaltern female, also shows resistance in not working in the film. She is able to look Dilbar in the eye and also spits in the film maker’s face to show her hatred and vocalize the injustice. She has no strings attached to her and all she is looking for is money. As she is not part of the existing social system, her resistance is in many ways different from the other female characters shown in the drama who associate themselves to the existing social setup and act accordingly; Sheherbano being from a feudal sphere married in a bureaucratic sphere, Singhar being a low class villager and subservient to the feudal sphere.