94 C. S. BHAGYA
irrelevance of the scene and the inaccuracy of its portrayal of Indian women as weepy
and reliant on the whims of a heroic man in the vicinity to act as saviour.
Joanna plays the role of a kind of overseer, the voice of reason and poise. She forms
intense, reassuring bonds with the women – she coaxes Lakshmi into seeing the
futility of relentlessly fighting the system, guides Suranjana’s eye to her daughter’s
delights, encourages Mad to continue the pursuit of musical success, and, in her spare
time, frolics amidst the natural bounties of scenic Goa, fantasising about the attractive
man who comes in occasionally to wash Frieda’s car. Joanna’s continued refusal to
reduce herself to desultory, petty titillation for a male audience is juxtaposed by her
many observations about (a largely homogenised version of) Indian society and its
failings where it concerns the treatment of women. She is clearly inserted into the
storyline to provide a raft to the sorrows of the other women – as a relief of mood, but
more, as a relief via cultural contrast. Her British-Indian identity appears to be a
construct used to endow her with the authority to speak objectively, by dint of cultural
distance, about a vague and essentialised Indian society suffering from a monolithic,
toxic sweep of patriarchy.
Joanna’s presence within the film appears emblematic of an ideal female companion
who is rational and empathetic in her understanding of how societal forces shape
women’s anxieties and gradually erode their will. Conversely, the hope of change and
understanding projected by Joanna is disrupted in one fell swoop in the denouement.
Joanna, the night before the wedding, storms away from the dinner party after a
falling-out about her anglicised Hindi accent, and is gang-raped by a group of five
men – the same ones the women had fought with earlier in the film over an incident
of street sexual harassment. Shocked by the tragic turn of events, the women summon
the police to handle the case. After an extremely discomfiting round of interrogation
by the biased inspector in charge of the case – he questions their motivations behind
partying on an ‘unsafe’ Goan beach late at night in skimpy clothing and refuses to
give credence to the pictures taken by Maya of the group of men responsible –
Suranjana recovers Lakshmi’s gun from the house and goes after the men, shooting
all five of them dead. The scene of the funeral held the next day is trite and formulaic.