MAHASWETA DEVI’S RUDALI: FACT, FICTION, AND FILM

Abstract

Mahasweta Devi’s short story ‘Rudali’ is a unique subaltern and feminist text. Devi’s short story as well as the film adaption of the same, Kalpana Lajmi’s Rudaali has been explored in this article. The text highlights the plight of women in the system of exploitation and hunger. Amidst the never-ending class struggle, that Devi’s work so effectively deliver, the issue of gender struggle is highlighted in Lajmi’s film. This article explores how Mahasweta Devi discovers a language through which the subaltern may speak, the language of tears. Tears that have been eternally associated with the female become the unique language of the feminine to speak for themselves in both Devi’s ’Rudali’ and Lajmi’s Rudaali.