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The Two Worlds in The World Before Her

The Two Worlds in The World Before Her

Matthew Theis

Trinity Christian College

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Abstract

This essay aims to explain the different worlds that Ruhi and Prachi have before them in

The World Before Her, as well as explain the differences in their goals and ideas of success. Ruhi

and Prachi have many strengths and weaknesses in their thinking, so this essay also aims to

explain where the strengths are, while critiquing where their thinking is dangerous. This is

apparent for both girls, though they deal with different versions of this. The final goal of this

essay is to explain that both girls have an overall flawed way of thinking, that could lead them

into many problems.

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The Two Worlds of The World Before Her

The Two Worlds of The World Before Her

Identity is something that many people struggle with in our society and other countries,

as well. One country that has an interesting juxtaposition of two different identities is India. India

has the traditional Hinduism followers that have been practicing their faith for thousands of

years, but it also has the beauty scene, shown in Bollywood. Nisha Pahujas The World Before

Her is a documentary from 2013 about two identities of Indian life for girls, one that shows a

fundamentalist Hindu camp and the other, the materialistic life of Bollywood. The main girls

featured in this film, Prachi and Ruhi, strive for success, with their own strengths and

weaknesses, in order to reach their own personal fulfillment. While these worlds of India may be

very different from one-another, they each show the strengths and weaknesses of the girls

success paths.

The World That Awaits Ruhi and Prachi

The worlds that await Ruhi and Prachi are completely different, but each has strengths

and weaknesses. Ruhi and Prachi have a world before them, just like the title states, wear their

different perspectives shape how they view their world and what they desire out of it. The world

before Ruhi is large and scary, but full of opportunity because she has a strong determination to

succeed and become an independent woman. In the Miss India Pageant, Ruhi strives to be
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beautiful and successful. She strives for this at the cost of her identity though, and her self-worth

becomes dependent on her success. After losing the pageant, Ruhi decides to enjoy her teen

years and continue working hard, until she becomes an adult. She states, I am 19 and I really

want to enjoy the ambitions I have. I want to enjoy my dreams (Pahuja and Barreveld, 2012).

This shows that Ruhi is determined that she will find success and wants to be an independent

woman, despite the fears she has. Prachi, on the other hand, enters a world of honor and

nationalism. The world before Prachi is one of pride and strength, but it is to easy to see where

her world could lead to violence. Prachi is an Indian girl that wants to become a soldier of

Hinduism. She wants to protect India and fight for its honor. Prachi feels that Indias goal can

only be achieved with protests, defense, and if necessary, violence. This could lead her into

dangerous territory with other countries. Despite her at-times scary stature, Prachi believes that it

is only okay to fight out of defense and does not want to harm those who are harmless to her

faith. This has a thin line for Prachi though, as she starts to justify violence later in the film, as I

will talk about later in this essay.

Definitions of Success

Ruhi and Prachi both want to succeed in their goals, but the goals they have and how they

measure success are very different from one another. Ruhi defines her success on her beauty and

judgment from others, specifically the public. Ruhi wants to be the next Miss India, so she works

hard to look her best and tries to impress everyone. The strength of Ruhis version of success is it
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keeps her determined and gives her faith to keep going. Ruhis determined mindset gets her to

keep pushing herself. The weakness of her version of success is she becomes more insecure and

individualistic, to the point that it makes her bitter. When Ruhi sees the winner of the pageant,

she thinks to herself, ...Pretending to be happy for them...Inside, my heart was crying, because I

was like, bitch. Im sorry. Like, get lost. I was supposed to be there (Pahuja and Barreveld,

2012). This is something that is very immature and selfish of Ruhi, as she should have been a

good sport and not taken the loss so seriously. She even states, Im here only to win. Only for

the crown (Pahuja and Benneveld, 2012). This is a shame because Ruhi seemed like a nice girl

before she joined the pageant and it is clear that the idea of winning has caused Ruhi emotional

dread.

Ruhis Insecurity

Ruhi shows her insecurity throughout the film. When asked by the camera woman what

the thoughts going through her mind are, Ruhi states, Scared. But I dont want to say it. I am.

(Pahuja and Barreveld, 2012). This is proof that Ruhis self-esteem is riding on her success in the

pageant and the thought of winning has caused her emotional dread. Throughout her time at

Bollywood, Ruhi becomes more insecure about herself and tries to become someone she is not.

She whittens her skin, attempts to act how she is told to by the Bollywood producers, and wears
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the clothes she is told in order to feel beautiful. She is scared of what others think of her, as

evidenced when she says, You start comparing yourself to them. See I am confident and I know

in my heart I have what it takes, but there are these stresses and these pressures and I dont know

why this is happening (Pahuja and Barreveld, 2012). She slowly becomes what the Bollywood

corporation thinks she should be and it has an effect on her confidence and self-identity. Ruhi

also partakes in actions where she tries to be sexy, which goes against her values and principles.

She feels she is promoting female beauty and independence, but she is also sending off a sign to

guys that she is desireable purely for her sex appeal. This is shown in the song that plays during

the pageant. Girl youre so sexy. I want you next to me. Rather than focusing on the qualities

of womens character, this song gives off the messages that women are sexy playthings that are

at the will of men.

Prachis version of success

Like Ruhi, Prachis goal is to become an independent woman, though she differs in that

she wants this so she can fight for her country and protect the faith she believes in. Prachi wants

to keep going to camps until she can become a leader of the female soldiers. Her version of

success is strong in that it encourages her to fight for the ones she loves and for what she

believes in. Prachi is also very confident and determined in her goals, which shows that she can
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hold her own in her life. It is also good that Prachi wants to protect her country from attacks. The

problem with Prachis version of success is it promotes ethnocentrism and it could lead to

violence. Prachi holds her country in such high regard, that she would attack those who she

thinks are threatening it. She claims this is self-defense, but to me it sounds like she will be

getting into many nonsensical fights, when peace could be a more viable option. The cause she is

supporting is also very ethnocentric, in that it promotes Hinduism as the best religion. In a Hindu

defense parade that Prachi was supporting, a little girl explains, We think our Hindu religion is

the best! (Pahuja and Benneveld, 2012). This disregards other religions and promotes isolation,

rather than peaceful coexistence. This view can also lead to senseless violence because of mob

mentality and situations getting blown out of proportion.

Violence from Nationalism and Ethnocentrism. Violence could erupt because of

nationalism and mob mentality. Signs of this are already happening. An article by The

Washington Post, titled Democracy Dies in Darkness, states that, A female Hindu activist (was)

jailed in connection with a bomb explosion in a Muslim neighborhood in 2008 (Democracy

Dies in Darkness, 2016). This shows that Hindu defense and honor can turn into violence and

even terrorism, as in the case covered by The Washington Post. Prachi even states that she does

not believe in peace. She states, I hate Ghandi. I am trying to be the next Sadvhi Pragya
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Singh...Shes a saint (Pahuja and Benneveld, 2012). This woman, Pragya Singh was the alleged

terrorist mentioned in the Washington Post, which shows that Prachi is looking up to a violent

activist. When asked if she would build a bomb if conditioned to, Prachi even states, If the

condition calls and tells me this is the need, Ill do it (Pahuja and Benneveld, 2012). Prachi

justifying building a bomb is not a good sign for the cause she is supporting. While self-defense

is important and India should not be defenseless from attackers, if this group commits attacks on

other countries, then they are no better than the people they are protecting India from. They will

be fighting fire with fire and harming innocents, as in the case with the bomb that Pragya Singh

was allegedly involved in building.

Conclusion

The two worlds of Prachi and Ruhi shown in The World Before Her, are very different

from one another, but they are also similar in that they both promote independence, while

bringing with them some cons. Ruhi wants to be beautiful and independent, but she sacrifices her

self-esteem and values in order to achieve this. Prachi wants to be strong and independent, but

she looks towards a path of violence and ethnocentrism and looks after independent violent

activists, which can warp her and make her more corrupt in the future. While each world holds

its challenges, Ruhi and Prachi will keep fighting in order to reach their goals and feel proud of

themselves.
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Works Cited

Lakshmi, R. (2016, May 13). Indian woman dubbed 'the face of Hindu terror' to walk free.

Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/indian-woman-

dubbed-the-face-of-hindu-terror-to-walkfree/2016/05/13/bd0c034c-1909-11e6-971a-

dadf9ab18869_story.html?utm_term=.ebc6a9f1468a

Pahuja, Nisha. The World Before Her. The World Before Her, Storyline Entertainment , 2 Nov.

2012, www.worldbeforeher.com/.