Ripping Apart the Social Fabric – Investigating Gender-based Violence in Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili

Gender-based violence leading to the exploitation and subjugation of the other gender pulls apart the fabric of harmony in society, causing utter pain and horror which many a time take a beastly course. Ram Teri Ganga Maili by the great showman Raj Kapoor poignantly brings out the plight of an innocent mountain girl, Ganga, who symbolises the river, Ganga. Just like the river, she is pure and serene at her mountain origin, while her journey to Calcutta in search of her lover makes her impure, step by step, with the patriarchal males ready to gorge on her body like vultures. Her condition is identical to river Ganga (Ganges), which has to suffer the abuse of the people in the name of veneration, using its pure white water for bathing, washing, and cremations, making it dirtier on its course. Ganga's exploitation occurs on the same line, by a beggar woman, a Brahmin, an apparent blind man, and the prospective father-in-law of her lover. Male domination and cruelty are seen irrespective of caste and class. Another important theme covered is the burning issue of water pollution. The proposed paper seeks to explore the subjugation, oppression, marginalization, and exploitation of women at various levels in the name of culture, class, and orthodox traditions, leaving them as a rag doll, passing through the harsh hands of male tyranny, culminating into a mere object victimised by patriarchy and male hegemony.

Keywords: patriarchy, abuse, oppression, cruelty, hegemony