Oedipus Complex - Punarjanm (Reincarnation) and Surrogate Mother
Oedipus Complex-Punarjanm(Reincarnation)
and Surrogate Mother
Oedipus Rex was a King of Thebes
in Greek Mythology. Oedipus means swollen foot. When Oedipus was born both
his ankles were pinned together and thus the name was originated. He had a
hatred for his father King Laius and had a lustful emotion towards his
mother. After the death of his father, in fact, unwittingly Oedipus Rex kills his father, and then he marries his mother Jocasta
and had four children out of that wedlock.
His mother was unaware of the relationship as Oedipus Rex was out of the
kingdom and returned after many years. When his mother came to know about the
original relationship with him she committed suicide. However, King Oedipus Rex continued to rule his
kingdom until his death.
Punarjanm or Reincarnation. After death the soul takes a rebirth in another being. Punarjanmam is a 1972 Malayalam film based on a true story from the case diary of Dr. A.T. Kovoor. Dr. Abraham Thomas Kovoor (April 10, 1898 – September 18, 1978) was born in Thiruvalla in Kerala and practiced his crusade against parapsychology and black magic in Sri Lanka. Professor A.T. Kovoor spend most of his life in the Island country of Sri Lanka. Dr. A.T. Kovoor is an Indian professor and rationalist who gained prominence after retirement for his campaign to expose as frauds various Indian ”God-Men” and so called paranormal phenomena.
He practiced hypnotherapy and applied psychology. The famous top grosser Hindi Film “PK", a satire on Gods and Politics, is reportedly inspired by some of his case studies.
The famous English author Martin
Buckley in his work “An Indian Odyssey” described Sri Lanka as a heavenly paradise. The beautiful emerald island landscape almost
resembles the Gods Own Country, Kerala.
Let me share with you a poetry
tit bit about “I remember” here -
“I remember the fragrance of you in the morning
Dew on the petals of a new red rose
I remember your gentle reminder time
And I remember the Dragonfly dancing over our head
I remember she sang while she led us to heaven.”
PUNARJANMAM - Malayalam Movie
The 1972 Malayalam film “Punarjanmam” produced by M.O. Joseph under his “Manjilas” banner handles the issue of Oedipus Complex. The film is directed by Sethumadhavan, who had also directed the original Malayalam version of “Chattakkari” and its Hindi Remake “Julie".
Punarjanmam Or Punarjanm,
Aravindan Or Arvind, all Indian languages are the derivations of Sanskrit.
The mallu film Punarjanmam is one
of its kind Psychic Thriller in the history of Indian cinema. It stars Prem
Nazir as Professor Aravindan and Jayabharati as his college student Radha. The college professor Aravindan falls in love
with his student Radha and vice versa. Aravindan lost his dad at a young age and lost
his mother six months back. He is a
lonely person in this world. The only
relationship that existed was the umbilical cord one. He was so much in love with his mother. After turned on by Radha he proposes her in
marriage and Radha’s dad finally agrees to the relationship of Radha and
Aravindan. They get married but Professor
Aravindan has an Oedipus complex to handle.
Whenever they make love he sees his mother in his wife, and unable to
satiate sex with her and they remains childless. One night Radha finds out that he is making
love to the young house-maid but he is a failure in bed with
Radha. Radha’s dad who is waiting to
play with his grand-children gets disappointed and when he comes to know about
Aravindan’s problem, he takes him to Dr. A.T. Kovoor. Dr. Kovoor hypnotise Aravindan and gets to
know his history. Dr. Kovoor with the
co-operation of Radha creates various seductive situations and in the climax get
rid of Aravindan’s Oedipus complex. The film ends with Radha’s dad happily
playing with her child and both Aravindan and Radha makes a happy couple and
leads a happy married life.
The film was remade into many
other Indian languages. The Tamil
remake was “Marupiravi” starring Muthuraman and Manjula.
Bharatiya Yuiktivadi Sangam
declared a National Award called the A.T. Kovoor Award for the secular artist. The most versatile Indian Actor “Kamal
Hassan” was the first recipient of Kovoor Award in acknowledgement of his humanist
activities and secular life.
Oedipus complex, the concept was
introduced by the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud in his Interpretation of
Dreams (1899). Freud was the founding
father of psychoanalysis, a method for treating psychic patients. It is also a theory which explains human
behavior. Psychoanalysis is often known as the talking cure. Freud would encourage his patients to talk
freely (on his famous couch) regarding their symptoms and to describe exactly
what was on their mind.
Sigmund Freud was born in Vienna
and was a Neuropathologist. Freud went
on to influence the future direction of psychology as a whole.
Most controversial part of
Freud’s theory was psychosexual development and the Oedipus complex.
Surrogate Mother
The word surrogate means
“Substitute”. A surrogate mother is a woman who bears a
child on behalf of another woman, either from her own egg fertilized by the
other woman’s partner, or from the implantation in her womb of a fertilized egg
from the other woman.
In the modern world a large
number of people are going for IVF (in vitro fertilization). In fact India is the world capital for IVF
due to the reasonably lower cost for IVF in India. Fertility industry in India today stands at Rs.750
Cr. and Surrogacy is 7% which constitutes to Rs.54 Cr.
Surrogacy coming of age
The idea of ”Surrogate Mother”
has come of age. More and more people
are opting for surrogacy instead of going for adoption.
The latest surrogate child is Bollywood icon, Sharukh Khan’s second son AbRam. Sharukh Khan and Gauri have Aryan and Suhana two normal children. Of late they wanted another baby but could not succeed. The couple made up their mind and decided to go for a surrogate mother. They approached the same Doctor whom Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao consulted for their son Azad. It was given to understand that Baby AbRam’s surrogate mother is a UK national and she left India immediately after AbRam was born. He was weighing only 1.5 Kg at the time of birth. He was shifted from suburban Nanavati Hospital to Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai for personal care with mother Gauri to give company all the time. Due to care and parental love baby AbRam is now a healthy and cute boy.
Though there are legal, physical
and emotional problems involved in Surrogate Mother in the modern world, many
are going ahead with the idea of surrogacy.
Is Oedipus a Villain …?
The first paragraph of this blog
post projects Oedipus as a Villain. In
fact, the baby Oedipus after binding his ankles together was abandoned by King
Liaus and Queen Jacosta in the Mount Cithaeron after an Oracle told them that
his son will slay King Liaus. The baby
was found by a shepherd in the Mt. Cithaeron and felt pity on him and gifted
him to a childless King Polybus of Corinth.
The King Polybus and his Queen brought him up as their own child. In early manhood Oedipus visited Delphi and
upon learning that he was fated to kill his father and to marry his mother, he
resolved never to return to Corinth. Delphi was the shrine of Apollo and site of
the famous Oracle, whose often inscrutable advice was sought down through
historical times.
Travelling towards Thebes a quarrel
happens between King Liaus and Oedipus and Oedipus kills unwittingly his real father King Liaus. Continuing on his way
he found Thebes plagued by Sphinx and he solves the riddle of Sphinx and
inherits the kingdom of Thebes and marries the Queen Jacosta and had four
children out of the wedlock. Queen Jacosta
commits suicide after coming to know that Oedipus was her own son.
Oedipus when came to know about
his double sins (killing his father and marrying his mother) he blinded himself
for the rest of his life.
All this happened as a comedy of errors… the fate and cruel destiny.
The writer recalls a South Korean
film called “The Surrogate Woman” released in India in 1987. The film won many international awards and
was a commercial blockbuster.
Like cosmetic beauty is next to
the natural beauty, the surrogate mother is the closest thing that can happen
to a childless couple.
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