Dadi and her Family
Focuses on a grandmother (Dadi) in a Jat
farm family in Haryana India.
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1982 by Michael Camerini and Rina Gill
Dadi (grandmother)
family life and kinship relations in India.
her family: her husband, her sons, her daughtersin-law, and her grandchildren
• organizes household work as well as celebrations
• cannot fully control, the constantly changing
forces holding the family together as well as
threatening to break up the family and to divide
and separate the family property.
Consider these questions as you
watch the film
• What are the "traditional" functions of an extended (joint) family in
India as depicted in this film?
• What factors cause an extended (joint) family to divide or break up?
• How does dowry function in this society?
• How does this family structure enhance or detract from the family's
economic status?
• How do post-marital residence rules affect family relations?
• In particular, pay attention to the role and status of mothers-in-law and
daughters-in-law.
• What are the roles of women in this society? How do they change
throughout a person's life? In what way is the birth of girls and boys
valued in this culture?