Roja, Alixandra Padnos

Allie Padnos
Screening India
Roja film review
3/13/10
      Roja is a melodramatic patriotic love story which deals with political domestic terrorism. The film redefines a new Indian middle class of clear traditional and modern aspects intertwining together, which can be seen through ideas of secularism, nationalism, and gender. The movie opens up with intense combat between the Indian Army and the Palestinian terrorist in Kashmir, to give the audience a preview of the central issue shown throughout the film. The next scene shifts into a beautiful village, where we find out a city boy Rishi Kumar is planning to visit the village in order to find his wife. After Roja’s sister politely begs for Rishi’s approval of marriage, Rishi turns to Roja to marry and they both move back to the city.
      National identity is present throughout the entire film and it’s depicted through the celebration of the new Indian middle class. The first symbol of pride for the nation can be seen through the scene when Rishi is presented with a delicate assignment from his boss to travel to Kashmir. Rishi’s boss apologizes for having to send him so far away and Rishi responds by saying “Kashmir is in India, and to go anywhere in India is part of my job”. This quote shows the devotion Rishi has for India and displays heroism since he does not fear his assignment, despite the present political issues in Kashmir.
      Rishi and Roja travel together to Kashmir and undergo their romantic honeymoon which is displayed through the beauty of nature and the love they have for each other. When Rishi is kidnapped by the terrorists, whom are depicted as Islamic, the narrative shifts into contradicting traditional ideals of the nation between the hero and heroine. Roja demonstrates religious and family orientated values, while Rishi portrays the principles of the state since he is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the nation. Roja can be seen as a representation of the state since her absence led Rishi to search for her, which set up his fate of being kidnapped because she directly disagrees with the state’s political logic and is willing to put the state in danger by the release of the ultimate terrorist Wasim Khan. Overall Roja believes the state’s main concern is security to all Indian individuals, which is contradictory towards Rishi’s view. This different understanding of the state creates a division between genders.
      While Rishi was held captive by the terrorists, there were two instances where Rishi’s national identity was symbolically depicted. The first scene was when the terrorists held up a recording device and told him to say something to the Indian army to assure he was still alive. Rishi commented “Hail India” and was punished with physical aggression from the terrorists. He continued to proclaim “hail India”, despite the unbroken painful abuse. Another significant scene which truly demonstrated nation pride was when the terrorists set fire to an Indian flag after they found out their negotiation of prisoner exchange backfired. Rishi converts his pain into nationalism by symbolically sacrificing himself for the nation since he forced himself onto the fire with his body, allowing himself to catch on fire. This scene clearly showed the differences between Islamic principles against India nationality.
      In the end Rishi stands between freedom and the leading terrorist Liaquat. Rishi begs for his life and questions Liaquat’s motives of killing through emotional recall of the recent death of Liquat’s brother. He brings in political, patriotic, and emotional knowledge which convinces Liaquat to draw his gun and step aside, allowing Rishi’s liberation and his reuniting with Rosa. This scene is extremely important because it shapes a new idea of the middle class by redefining what it means to be secular. Traditionally India was seen as a secular state and the Islamic forces were depicted as non-secular. Humanism becomes the root idea of nationalism, allowing integration into India, meaning the norm is shifted to the idea that everyone becomes humanistic enough to embrace and allow other religions in the nation.
      Many of the songs embraced the love between Rishi and Rosa, which were sung in the beautiful nature. A lot of the songs were extremely explicit, which was something semi new for us to view. There was one specific song that sticks out to me the most because it directly represents what happens during a wedding night. The rocking of the bed seemed to be explicit for Hindi film because usually the idea of sex is discreet. The songs promoted realistic true Indian values.
      I thought Rosa was a wonderful film, despite its narrow minded view. It was narrowed minded because it promoted a one sided story and the Palestinian’s were viewed more negatively. I liked the film because it produced a wonderful love story through a political issue that was very easy to detect and understand. I think the ending is the most significant scene throughout the entire film because it truly embraces the new idea of Humanism.