Saat chya aat gharaat

I saw a Marathi movie called Saat Chya Aat Gharaat a while ago and was surprised by its thought provoking story.

The film begins by giving us a view of the following different types of "today's" households:
(1) A joint family where the grandmother takes care of the house and kids while the parents are absorbed in their careers.
(2) A family of two where the activist mother does not like being called Aai by her daughter, preferring instead to be on first name basis with her.
(3) A middle class family having children who are unhappy not having the liberty to spend as much as other rich kids.
(4) Then there are these three boys staying as paying guests sharing a flat together.
(5) And finally there are two girls who are living in a hostel away from their homes.

The lives of all these college going boys and girls is spent bunking classes, boozing, smoking, doing aerobics, watching movies, dancing in the pubs and coming home late at nights. They are a mixed bunch coming from different backgrounds and environments. If there is one thing common between them then its that they form today's modern younger generation.

Their lives take a turn when all of them decide to celebrate Valentine's Day together. One of the couple's wanting to spend some time alone leave the party to get cozy in a location that is devoid of any population. But their actions are caught by a policeman. He sends off the boy to get his I-card from his room as proof of identification. Taking advantage of the situation while the boy is gone, the policeman rapes the girl.

A number of questions are then raised in the film. The first and foremost being why did the girl and boy have to go to that deserted place? Besides the man who committed the crime, are the boy and girl also somewhere responsible for what happened? What are the duties of a Local Guardian? What is the stand the college should take in this matter? How supportive should the friends be?

The movie paints a somewhat sad picture. The college authorities feel that they cannot allow the girl to mingle with her fellow students and suspend her from attending classes. The hostel wants the girl to vacate her room so that she cannot be a bad influence on others. Parents of her roomate force her friend to move in to a different room. While most of her friends are sympathetic towards the victim's problems, one of them questions the compassion since the girl though raped wasn't a virgin before the incident!

During her time of greatest need the girl's boyfriend leaves her. Initially its out of guilt that the boy is not prepapred to meet or talk to her. He also realizes that now he obviously wouldn't be able to marry her. His negative though frank statement is met with strong disapproval from his friends. But he poses the same question to them asking what if they were in his place, they are unwilling to give an answer. Its at this point when one of the central characters in the film begins to wonder if we youngsters are fit to call ourselves "modern".

The title of the film comes from the parents, following the incident, becoming concerned about their children being out on the streets till late hours and asking them to come back home by seven.