On 23 Dec 16 Friday while the entire nation was busy watching this week’s biggest Bollywood release Aamir Khan’s Dangal. A crowd of 800 people gathered at St. Andrew’s College in Mumbai to watch a premiere organised by Vaastav Foundation for documentary called Martyrs of Marriage. The name itself appears like an oxymoron at first as marriage is something to celebrate across the globe so how can someone be a Martyr of Marriage. Well the fact is Marriage may be a lifetime celebration for many but it can be a downhill fall for some.

India’s Mainstream media highlights marriage as baggage that creates hurdle for modern women of India. Women are projected as ambition-less who bow down to patriarchal norms and social pressures. Most of the news channels and papers devote ample space to narrative of women who allegedly had to give up their aspirations after marriage. In fact India is shown as a country where men have upper hand in the social fabric they are dictator at home and a terror outside.

But like many other things that main stream media gets wrong is the fact that it is men in India who get a raw deal. Indian men face many form of bias not just in their career but even in their social and marital life too. Martyrs of Marriage is a documentary that tries to highlight the bias Indian men face in their marital life. This documentary is based on real life incidents where men have been victimized by women to such an extent that it is hard to believe that such things can be happening in India.

India has a history of creating draconian laws as knee jerk reaction to political pressure, stray incidents or even lobbying by pressure groups with vested interest. One set of such laws are marital laws of dowry and domestic violence. These laws have been made in such an archaic manner that they have become preferred tool of unscrupulous people for harassing innocent men and their family. One such law IPC 498a has been so much misused that Supreme Court of India used the term “Legal Terrorism” to describe its misuse. Martyrs of Marriage gives first person account of those who have suffered at the hands of abuse of this provision.

For those who are yet to watch the film, it has managed to strike a chord with the audience with its real depiction of the prejudices that men are subjected to and their struggle to break gender shackles. From men being manhandled to being threatened, the film’s director Deepika’s portrayal of the ordeal is compelling and real. Watching Martyrs of Marriage is emotional turmoil that may leave you numb. If you experienced threat, shock, lumps in your throat, tears in your eyes, you ought to know that there are millions, including those whose stories were featured in the documentary facing worse that life can offer. Much like the viewers who found the film emotional, the filming crew also underwent a turmoil of emotions while filming it.

Audience taking photograph with team of Vaastav Foundation & Martyrs of Marriage at the premiere venue.

My take is you should definately watch this documentary as it could be an eye opener for many. Do check for the next venues for premiere of this documentary on ( http://www.martyrsofmarriage.com ) and if your city is not in the list do contact their team to bring it to your city too.