A powerful teaser for Chiraiya starring Divya Dutta was unveiled on Friday, raising questions about “one of the most normalized forms of injustice within Indian families”. It is a web series that will soon be streaming on JioHotstar.
Chiraiya’s teaser deals with marital rape
The teaser of Chiraiya begins with a look at a wedding, where the young bride, Pooja, enters a new phase of her life with the hope of a brighter future. In only a painful development, the bride appears in a state of shock on the balcony, tears silently streaming down her face and signs of injury visible on her body. In the teaser, Divya asks: “This is my question to society. Isn’t it a crime if a husband forces himself on his wife after marriage?”
“Behind all this celebration lies a truth that no one wants to name. Shiraya raises a difficult but necessary question for society: If a husband forces himself on a woman after marriage, does it cease to be a crime just because they are married? Yes sawal hai samaj se. Because marriage is not a license, and silence is not consent,” the official synopsis said, according to a press release.
Divya Dutta on web series Chiraiya
Speaking about the upcoming web series, actress Divya spoke about how she ended up facing the uncomfortable truth about relationships.
“While living with this character in Shiraya, I found myself constantly confronted with an uncomfortable truth: how often we silence ourselves in the name of maintaining relationships, in the name of keeping peace,” Divya said in a press release. “This story forced me to think about how easy it is to assume marriage is a space of unquestioned consent, and how sacrifice is romanticized to the point where the pain becomes invisible.”
She added: “When you see someone you love being disparaged or wronged, do you stay calm to protect what is, or do you risk everything to protect what is right? There is no easy answer, and maybe that’s what makes it so troubling. I hope when people experience this story, they don’t just see it, they feel it, and maybe, in a quiet way, they recognize truths that we often hesitate to mention.”
Directed by Shashanth Shah and produced by SVF Entertainment, the film features an ensemble cast including Sanjay Mishra, Siddharth Shaw, Prasanna Bisht, Faisal Rasheed, Tinu Anand, Sarita Joshi, and others. The web series will premiere soon on JioHotstar; A release date has not been announced yet.
