March 6, 2008 A Toast to Women
Making Films
on Social Causes By Azera Rahman
New Delhi
Operating on a shoestring budget and hardly getting the
encouragement they deserve. Life is not all rosy for Indian women
filmmakers dealing with social issues, but nothing deters them from
making the movies they believe in.
Sagari Chhabra is an independent filmmaker who believes that her
films are a medium through which those whose voices are not usually
heard can reach the masses.
"Whether it's the poor, the marginalized, women or children, my
films, no matter which issue I am dealing with, is a medium for the
voiceless to get their voices heard," Chhabra, who has won five
national and international awards, told IANS.
One of the films that she made was about a rape victim.
"Often people ask me what I want to achieve through my films and how
the people I make my films on benefit. In the early 1990s, I made a
film on a rape victim. Just recently when I was shooting for another
film in Rajasthan, the same woman came up and hugged me tight.
"She said that after the film, not only was she accepted back in
society but also hailed as a hero. She now works to raise awareness
about sexual abuse amongst women and supports rape victims. That's
the difference I am talking about. It's a chain reaction," said
Chhabra, who is 15 films old.
Another of her films, "Tatva", was centered on a woman journalist
who was in search for herself. The story shows how amid all the fact
finding and writing of stories, she finds her inner voice.
Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury's elder
daughter Poojita is another passionate filmmaker who believes in the
issues she makes films about.
"Gender Bender", her first film, was dedicated to the girl child. It
is a collage of women doing unconventional jobs as barbers, priests,
hand pump mechanics and auto-rickshaw drivers, which are generally
considered men's preserves.
"There's no job that a woman can't do," she said.
"Sand In My Nostrils", another of her films, was about female
feticide.
"In the course of making this film, we met this doctor who practiced
sex determination and had female fetuses buried in flower pots. It
was shocking and a telltale sign of just how deep-rooted this
problem is," she said.
Samina Mishra, another Delhi-based independent filmmaker, however,
has a strong stance against the very term "social issue" based
films.
"What's the meaning of social issue based films? Any film that is
about human beings, deals with human emotions and portrays society
is a social issue based film. It's wrong to categorize films on this
basis," Mishra said.
She made a series of three films on the girl child, called "Stories
on Girlhood" commissioned by the Unicef. She also did a short film
on girls' education called "Found My Way to School".
"I also toyed with the idea of a film about women working with the
voluntary sector. But the project was shelved for want of sufficient
resources, a nagging trouble with documentary filmmakers," she said.
Lack of resources or not, these women filmmakers are determined to
go on in order to sensitize society about various issues.
"A man struggling for water in a village in Orissa is something the
rest of the country might not be aware of, but through these films,
people do. This in turn leads many to actually do something about
it, help in some way," Chhabra said.
"Similarly the International Women's Day March 8 is more than just a
celebration of womankind. It is a strong reminder to the women that
you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."
(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)
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