Sairat in real: Aurangabad teenager beheads sister for daring to love

Marathi blockbuster film Sairat started off as a cute love story between two young people. Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they both fall in love.

The incredulous feeling of love is something we are all aware of. And the film reminds us of the breezy love we had or have or wish to have one day.  

(SPOILERS AND TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD)

There’s a bit of drama and reality infused in the film. Poor boy and rich girl fall in love, but girl’s parents disapprove; it’s the same classic love story we are used to watching since the 90s.

But this film speaks of another brutal reality; an unexpected and horrific reality. The ending of the film Sairat comes out of nowhere. Just when it seems as if the disapproving family is going to say, ‘Ja Simran, jee le apni zindagi’, it turns into a bloody murder (literally).

Archana’s (the female lead) brother Prince Patil and other family members are flipping through the time they missed in her life, when she got married, and when she had her first child. But the next scene we see is the slit throats of the boy and girl who fell in love and dared to live as they wish.

It’s called honour killing. For the victims, it is something very unexpected. You wouldn’t ever even have an inkling of a thought that your own loving family - your mother, father, brother, sister - would ever try to take your life. Much less try to behead you when you are making tea for them.

THE REAL CASE OF KIRTI THORE

Honour killing is so common in India that we are no longer shocked to hear headlines which read like this, “Brother decapitates 19-year-old sister”.

On December 5, 19-year-old Kirti Thore from Maharashtra’s Aurangabad thought that her family was finally coming to terms with her ‘love marriage’. Her mother and younger brother were coming to visit her after months of estrangement.

She was 2 months pregnant. When her mother and brother came to visit, she rushed to them to invite them into her house. She went to the kitchen to make them tea. Her husband was resting in another room at the time.

Then the thing that she never expected to happen, happened. Her mother came up behind Kirti in the kitchen, dragged her down by her leg. Her brother went on to chop Kirti’s head off. Her husband came to check in on the commotion, only to find his bloodied wife on the floor. The 18-year-old brother tried to attack his brother-in-law, but the latter managed to escape.

The scene is reminiscent of the ending scene of the film Sairat. Archana goes to the kitchen to prepare tea for her brother and uncles. In this case, her husband also joins her in the kitchen. They are brutally murdered thereafter.

Kailash Prajapati, Assistant Police Commissioner, SDPO Vaijapur in Aurangabad told mediapersons that it seemed like the accused Sanket Mote (the brother), and his mother Shobhabai Mote took inspiration from the film Sairat.

KIRTI WAS MORE THAN JUST A VICTIM

Kirti and Avinash were just another Archana and Prashant who fell in love and dared to live as they wish. Kirti eloped with Avinash in June this year. Kirti's family was disapproving of their relationship and angry that she ran away and got married without their permission.  

They were more than just victims or numbers. Kirti and Avinash, just like Archana and Prashant, had their own struggles, overcame them and got their life back together.  

The film Sairat doesn’t show what happens to the accused. The accused in the latest Aurangabad case will go through the usual criminal procedure and get the harshest of penalties, we hope.

However, in both the reel and reality versions, there’s no remorse, guilt or any sort of emotion shown by the murderers. In the latest case, the brother paraded around the neighbourhood with the severed head of his sister, showing off his work. There's more: they clicked selfies with the decapitated head.

Sairat manages to capture a bit of why honour killing is thought of as honour. Archana’s brother is a pampered son in the household. All of his faults are forgiven. Whatever wrong he does is overlooked because he’s the darling of the house.

It explains why in reality too, the brother felt he had done no wrong, and found support in his mother.