ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES 95
As the inspector walks into the funeral demanding the culprit own up to committing
the murders, in response, all five women stand up to take responsibility, followed by
the rest of the mourners.
The commentary on solidarity – to do particularly with companionship between
women – that Angry Indian Goddesses presents is a confused and flawed one. Janice
Raymond in her book A Passion for Friends: toward a Philosophy of Female
Affection makes an observation about women – particularly feminists – as friends,
relevant to the film’s premise here. Raymond (2001: 5) writes:
In 1980 when I began writing A Passion for Friends, feminists were not
talking much about women’s friendships. It was almost as if we thought
that feminism itself, automatically made us friends. This assumption, as
many of us learned, was rather naive. Like others, feminists do not
automatically become friends. Although feminists believed and stated that
“the personal is political,” conversely the political was not always
personal—i.e. a sisterhood that was created in the struggle for women’s
liberation did not mean that feminists shared a common world beyond the
struggle. We did not necessarily share a space where friendship could
occur and thrive.
Within the space of the film, the vacation shared by the protagonists becomes an
exceptional period of time wherein the protagonists are thrust into each other’s
torments. Their hitherto apathetic demeanour shatters and they begin reaching out as
they realise that, despite their differences and divergent desires, they can still stand
united against a common enemy – patriarchal bondage. What the film brazenly
foregoes is that iota of attention to intersectionality that would have etched out each
of these women as asymmetric individuals in their own right, casting a spotlight onto
the complex mutual liaison that solidarity demands. Careless disregard for this crucial
detail results in the creation of a superficial, sentimental ‘solidarity’ based on a claim
that asserts the presence of a mutually reciprocated understanding of the characters’
frustrations and longings. Nargis and Suranjana, professionally at loggerheads with