The masculine oppression of woman through music in Čhānd Grahan

Art can be a force that has a “totaliz­ing, dehumanizing” process. For instance, Dilbur conducts his dehumanization through ghažals in episodes 4 and 5 as a means of psychological torture and to create emotional turmoil for Gulbahar. To suggest his wait for Gulbahar, he devises the following rhyme which is a mix between lyrical poetry and a harassing catcall: “You have a long life/My gaze has been searching for you/ It took so long for the merciful to come/on [her] arrival I give myself up”. (Baṛi omar hē tumhāri/ ḍẖonḍẖ hē rahi tẖi nazar humāri/ Baṛi dēr ki meḥrbān ātē ātē, arē si adā pē meiñ qurbān jāoñ)

The soundtrack “Mōjẖē Vida Ker Ayē Mēri Zāt Phir Mōjẖē” (My inner self has come to see me again) is run to Shahrbano’s Zāt to her marriage and then when she is physically hit by Amjad when he taunts her. After this, in episode 7, when Nasir seeks hers out on the same beach side, Shahrbano pleads him to leave saying, “I don’t recognize anyone, probably not even myself” (Meiñ kisi ko nahi pehčānti, shāid apnē āp ko bẖi nahi) which is again a reflection on the song itself.

What Čhānd Grahan does besides showing music as a form of oppression is also to show how music can encourage a meek submission towards masculine authority. Gulbahar who becomes Lal Hussain Shah’s wife reminisces about the times she used to sing to herself about “Is there anyone who will be my companion in these dark times/even I lie to him he should speak the truth to me” (koi tō hō jō meri weḥshatoñ ka sātẖi ho/ Meiñ ōs sē jhōt bẖi bolōn tō mujẖ sē sučẖ bolē). Shahrbano as Lal Hussain Shah’s daughter also submits to the marriage that is held for the preservation of power between her father and father-in-law and the ghažal she listens to time and again speaks of celebrating and reconciling herself to her grief when trapped inside the Babar household.

Women not subscribed to a male entity such as Khannum provide courtesans for the feudal males and is thus also brought within the male fold that dictates the direction of her life. She tells Amir-un-Nisa to sing since that helps one to forget (Gānā gā, gānā sab bẖolā detā hē). In this way, music plays a role in a complete deconstruction of the female mind in order to make her subservient to the male hierarchy.