Chapter 2: Broken Images

Answer. Girish Karnad’s ‘Broken Images’ play mainly deals with psychological issues, the rivalry between siblings etc. At the very beginning, the play portrays an entirely different image of the protagonist Manjula’s life. Manjula’s sister, Malini, was physically challenged, suffering from meningomyelocele right from birth. She spent her entire life confined to a wheelchair. Manjula, being childless, treated her sister as her child! Indeed, the book is about her. Manjula dedicated it to her memory. Manjula was helpless when her sister passed away. There were times when Manjula felt ignored by her parents while Malini became “the apple of their eye”, yet she understood the situation’s importance and need. Indeed, Manjula’s love for her sister was genuine.

Answer. Karnad elegantly portrays the psychological relationship between Manjula and her sister, who is physically challenged right from birth. Malini undergoes a series of operations, reducing her existence to misery. She is dependent entirely on her family, living in the shadow of Manjula. A few instances portray Malini as a lively and strong person who was more intelligent, attractive, and cheerful than the author herself and a compassionate person. It was as if “she radiated life from the wheel-chair to which she was confined.” Hence, Malini becomes the most loved person among their family members. Thus, the author develops the character of Malini beautifully through the course of the play till the very end.

(i) Manjula was highly protective of her sister after knowing Malini’s physical disabilities and was unhappy that she wouldn’t survive. Malini received the best of everything because of her disabilities. However, we can trace a sign of insecurity in Manjula as she trembles for words and ends up defining her sister as “the apple of their eye”. However, Manjula tries to convince the audience of her love for her sister but somehow can’t accept it fully. At some point, Manjula felt insecure about Malini and pondered if she had received all that love and attention from her family, and she would have prospered. Somewhere, Manjula gets stuck in the comparative analysis between herself and Malini.

(ii) The statement mentioned above lays the foundation for the latter part of the play. In reality, Manjula feels insecure about her sister. Still, for the on-screen readers, she portrays her sister as the dependent one living in her shadows, consistently securing the attention of her family members because of her disabilities. Manjula misleads the audience by convincing them it is her sister who received all the lookout for her smartness and intellect and not for her disabilities, a fact that unfolds gradually. In the later part of the play, it signifies that Manjula was the one who was in her sister’s shadow. Thus, the statement serves as the foretelling of the events that would unfold later in the play.

Answer. Yet another issue satirised by the playwright is the truth behind the media. The issues that the playwright satirises through this TV monologue of a celebrity are the defeated and unrealised hindrances, hesitancy and greed in an individual’s subconsciousness. The playwright’s satirical writing in English is akin to betraying the entire community. He also exposes the vernacular gap between intellectuals and the intense concern of commoners as well as communities. Thus, the playwright hints at the false optimistic pictures that the media presents, which are not entirely true, as is revealed slowly through the unravelling of the play.