Kamasutra and a Urdu short story

[Anand Tiwari]

Hello everybody,
I had the misfortune of watching "Kamasutra" Mira
Nair's latest offering. This film is another "thumbs down" mark on
Ms Nair's career which was floundering after "The Perez family". However
what interested me is that the movie is a direct lift from a famous
short story by Urdu writer Wajida Tabassum. The story is called "Utran".
The story is about 2 girls. One of the girls is poor and she always
gets clothes and toys 'used' ("utran") by the other girl. She is disgusted
with her life and with her fate of having to accept continously the other
girl's 'used' objects so she plans to take revenge. It is time for the
rich girl to get married. However the night before the marriage the
poor girl goes and seduces the to be husband with predictable results.
The next day the wedding takes place. When the "vidaai" is taking
place each of the rich girl's friends offers her some gift. However
her poor friend simply comes up to her and says "Tum ab sasuraal ja
rahi ho, wahaan ki har cheez nayi hogi sivaay tumhare dulhe ke
kyonki woh meri UTRAN hai" (You are going to your inlaws place. There
you shall find everything to be new except for your husband because
he has been 'used' by me (he is second hand -:) in short)). Thus ends
the story. I do not remember the names of the characters hence i use
the "rich" and the "poor" girl. This story was showed on "Door Darshan"
and the lead role was played by Sujata Mehta. Wajida Tabassum is a
well known modern Urdu writer. Many of her stories have been serialised
by the "Sushma" (hindi)/Shama (Urdu) magazine published from New Delhi.
The stories include "Tiya Paancha" (3 to 5 pieces) and "Saatwaan Phera".

regards
Anand