Liberty, friendship, separation, pain, loneliness, oppression, greed and love, all this is encompassed in movie ‘Dor’ by Nagesh Kukunoor. Dor depicts the contrast between two female characters. Both are in search of something. The character of Meera and Zeenat (played by Ayesha Takia and Gul Panag respectively) develops as the movie progresses, influencing each other. The movie is full of symbolism and Kukunoor has done that job brilliantly.
The main door of haveli in which Meera lives with her in-laws is one such symbol. It depicts freedom. The main door opens first time when Meera’s in-laws enter the house. Meera is with her husband Shankar dancing to the tunes of “you are my soniya”. Shankar is alive and so is Meera’s half-freedom.
In latter part of the movie we can relate to that, when Meera calls Shankar and asks him to take her name because it is “azaadi ki awaaz” for her. After Shankar’s death, the main door never opens. Meera uses the wicket door whenever she goes to the temple. The wicket door signifies the very little freedom she gets after her husband’s death. She is only allowed to go outside once, to visit the temple. She is being treated as an object inside the haveli, whose duty is to perform daily chores. Once again, we see the main door opening at the end of the movie, when Meera runs from the haveli to meet Zeenat. At that moment the true character of the door comes into picture. She is fierce and independent now. She emerges out as the decision maker of her life and runs outside by opening the main door.
Even ghungat is also an important aspect of Meera’s freedom. Whenever Meera is with Shankar, she does not cover her face. Shankar symbolizes half-freedom for Meera. Meera’s ghungat cover her face when she is in front of her in-laws. Even when Meera is with Zeenat her head is only covered not her face. Zeenat also like Shankar, is half-freedom for Meera, in front of whom she can be whatever she wants. In almost every scene, Meera is seen adjusting her ghungat. The only time she let go, is when she runs to hold Zeenat’s hand in the moving train. It depicts freedom from family, inner conflict, pain, loneliness and revenge.
Another symbolism which I find quite interesting in the movie are bags used by Behroopiya (played by Shreyas Talpade) and Zeenat. When they go to Jodhpur in search of Shankar’s family, their bags are seen as an intact part of their life. Behroopiya’s bag consist of clothes. The whole concept of Behroopiya is to show how clothes can change a society’s perspective towards a person. He could be an inspector, a priest or a government official by just changing his clothes and looks. Zeenat’s bag contains the letter which is the only thing that matters to her. The letter is the only way to acquit Aamir (Zeenat’s husband). In earlier part of the movie Zeenat is seen saying that if she does not find a way to acquit Aaamir, she will not return back. In fact, the bags contain something important, on which both character’s life is dependent.
A lone structure amidst Rajasthan’s desert, the temple, symbolizes hope for Meera and Zeenat. For Meera it is the freedom from grief-stricken widow life. For Zeenat it is a hope to quash the death sentence of her husband. Meera never ties a cloth by herself on the tree. In latter part of the movie she is seen tying a red cloth on the tree. The cloth can be perceived as the only memory of Shankar, which she let go. After tying the red cloth, she says “badla poora hua” to Zeenat. The red cloth separates out from rest of the orange color cloths tied to the tree.
The red color cloth can also denote revenge that Meera wants to take from Zeenat’s husband who is supposedly believed to have killed Shankar. After that Meera leaves for the haveli and starts contemplating. Feeling of revenge is gone. She is ready to forgive Aamir and help Zeenat.
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