A Documentary with a Mission: Revisiting Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her

On Amir Khan’s prominent show, Satyamev Jayate, well-known RTI (Right to Information Act)activist Shailesh Gandhi talked about India’s current political situation. Passionately, he told Khan “every person is responsible for the flaws of Indian democracy and the problems facing it.” Gandhi then discussed the responsibility that an individual has in transforming and changing India and its situation. Commenting on recent politics, he remarked, “Some say Narendra Modi will fix things. Some say Arvind Kejriwal will, other state Rahul Gandhi will. That’s the discussion. Nobody talks about what they will do. We say that we are in a democracy, but we are looking for a messiah. There will be no messiah.” In agreement, Khan responded “In a democracy all of us will have to work!”

As I watched the episode, I felt all kinds of emotions and immediately couldn’t help but agree with Gandhi’s words; as individuals, we need to play an important and more proactive role in bringing change to India. Ever since the Delhi Rape case happened in 2012, India’s treatment of women has placed the country in the forefront of national and international politics and media. As a result, arguably, there has been a surge of female-centric documentaries and films that have been released that engage with the politics of women’s rights and their position within India. As someone who was born and brought up in India but left the country when I was seven years old, I have always had to consider and struggle with my identity as an Indian woman who has lived in Malaysia, Singapore, United States, and now Canada. I still remember that I had to make a decision at a very tender age when I was 14 years old whether I wanted to assimilate into the Western culture or remain tied strongly to my roots. While I “work” (intellectually and emotionally) everyday to strike a balance between my “traditional” and “modern” worlds, it has not been an easy crisis to face growing up. As I was being educated in the Western realms, I would crave to have a social life with people who belonged to my culture, understood cultural nuances, music, and popular culture. Thus growing up my research has been on trying to understand the complexities and nuances of what it means to be a modern Indian woman in the current era.

I have been grappling with this particular problem (among others) since my high school days I wrote my first research paper on Indian women novelists such as Manju Kapur in 2006-7. When the Delhi rape case happened more than a year ago, suddenly these questions about an Indian woman’s identity became a major topic of discussion for national and international media. For me, Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her is a documentary that is more than just a “film”. It is a cultural product. It is a mission. It is the desire to bring a change in India especially with concerns to women’s rights.

 Although politically I do not identify as a “feminist”, my concerns remain with the future of India and as an Indian citizen, my heart sinks whenever I hear the rhetoric in international and national media that women are being abused, attacked, raped, and even murdered for being who they are. It does not matter whether they are of lower, middle, or upper class. The rhetoric suggests that our country is barbaric – that is uncivilized because it cannot respect women although it prides itself on worshiping goddesses or revering mothers. Therefore, as an Indian woman personally who is trying to figure out her own subjectivity in the so-called Modern India, the way women are treated is of major concern to me– perhaps it is a selfish desire, but the desire to understand the complexities and nuances of this issue are important for the future of my nation.

The award winning The World Before Her is a nuanced film, and it engages with different types of issues that concern women in India. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2012, and since then has been screened in more than 125 film festivals and has received 19 awards for its efforts to bring awareness of the situation of women’s situation in India. At the heart of the film is the question of female infanticide. It is a topic that Amir Khan too launched his show Satyamev Jayate with a couple of years back bringing the issue to the forefront. It is a reminder that we still need to tackle with female infanticide where we need to value the lives of girls in India. We need to allow them to become educated and independent citizens who are capable of making their own decisions. This was an issue sadly that has been brought up in much academic and non-academic literature since Katherine Mayo’s Mother India (1927) and Elizabeth Bumiller’s May You Be The Mother of A Hundred Sons: A Journey Among The Women of India (1991).

 While yes the documentary speaks of the polemic Durga Vahini camps, I don’t think the intention of the filmmakers is to vilify such camps but to show the two sides of India – the so-called “old” India and the “new” India – and to suggest that both these schools of thoughts are similar and different in their own way. Both of them have a vision for India. Both camps – the Durga Vahini and the Miss Femina India camp – shape a woman’s subjectivity towards certain ideals. Both their ideologies are not wrong in any way, however, they are symbolic of the two extreme ideologies that are currently present and are at odds with each other in India. It is the India that women are born into. However, one must realize that before even women can experience this dilemma – they need to be alive. For me, this is the ultimate concern. 

Nisha Pahuja, FarzanaShammi, and Mariam Zaidi have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise awareness of the very issue that concerns my own research – to bring the issue of the violence against women to the front and centre of India and Indian politics. The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day on March 8^th. The film will be released in India on April 25^th this year. The campaign has the goal of reaching $50,000 CAD. In less than 20 days to go, the campaign has raised almost $25, 000 CAD. With the money raised, the funds will be used for 4 causes: screenings at educational institutes, speciality and theatrical screenings in six cities, online release after the National elections have taken place in May, and screenings where the rates of female infanticide/feticide are high. To support the campaign, Anurag Kashyap, Nandita Das, Shimit Amin, Neeru Bajwa, Lisa Ray, and Deepa Mehta are playing important roles in the campaign. Anurag Kashyap will present the film a month before its release.

I write this blog urging readers and visitors who are concerned with the current situation of women in India to see the documentary and film in India as well as contribute to this cause. The Kickstarter campaign website is easily accessible and once you make a pledge; you inadvertently become part of an important movement that is concerned with the issue that has brought India into the international map. Any amount you donate and in whatever currency works towards bringing awareness about female infanticide and the other issues that the film highlights. The link to learn further about the campaign is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/411325600/the-world-before-her-india-campaign.

 I want to thank Nisha Pahuja and Farzana Shammi for being so readily available and informative about the campaign. To conclude, as Gandhi mentioned in his interview with Amir Khan on Satyamev Jayate – we all have a role to play to contribute to the future of India – as individuals we need to play our parts. By participating and becoming a part of this campaign, this is exactly what you will be doing – you will become a part of a change!

Image source: d2nh4f9cbhlobh.cloudfront.net and the world before her facebook page. 

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

Stepping On Blurred Lines of Reality and Fiction: Anubhav Sinha's Gulaab Gang (2014)

          When I was 11 years old and living in Singapore, my good friend Manoganya introduced me to Jim Henson's fantastical movie, The Labyrinth (1986), starring the popular singer of the 80s David Bowie and with him was the young Jennifer Connelley who recently was part of The Winter's Tale (2014) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). While the entire movie is cute and unforgettable with muppet-like characters, it is the journey of Sarah who is in search of her brother, Toby, who has been stolen by Jareth (David Bowie), the king of the goblins. Towards the end of the film, Jareth is frustrated with the cat-and-mouse chase with Sarah. He blames Sarah for being the cause of the conflict as she had been the one who had initially been frustrated with her brother and had asked Jareth to take the baby away. While he continues to psychologically manipulate and play with Sarah's mind trying to gnaw at her weaknesses, Sarah realizes that she has always had the power within her to overpower and overcome his tactics that are attempts to weaken her strong and resilient spirit. At the end of the scene, Sarah cries, "you have no power over me!" 
            Sarah had the power all along to combat such negativity and control from Jareth. The film ends with Jareth falling into the abyss and Sarah rescuing her younger brother. Why is this story important to understanding the mission of Gulaab Gang (2014) or Nishtha Jain's documentary Gulaabi Gang (2014), one might ask? This anecdote reveals the power struggle that continues to exist between the subjectivity of the marginalized peoples and oppressive systems that attempt to control them and overpower them through verbal and physical tactics. Sarah breaks the psychological control by empowering herself and not allowing Jareth's meaningless words to overpower her own subjectivity. 

          As a disclaimer though, I do want to say two very crucial points that I wish to reiterate whenever I write about violence, patriarchy, and bio-politics. First and foremost, I want to emphasize the idea that not every man is a Jareth in the Indian context. Surprisingly, I have encountered more men who are sympathetic and empathetic to the cause and are against any or all types of oppression. They are gracious and are filled with respect for all marginalized communities and genders. Secondly, I want to reiterate that I am not a "feminist." My political concerns span across gender, caste, class, religion, and other realms and my ultimate goal is to understand why India is the way that it is, how can we improve its conditions and lives of the oppressed and marginalized communities, and what does being an "Indian" mean for women like me who have lived outside of India for majority of their lives but continue to live, breathe, and intellectualize India daily and everyday. 
           Although unfortunately recent news reports have said that Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer Gulaab Gang (2014) bombed the box office, I would suggest that the film is still a must watch. Perhaps, even should be watched alongside Nishtha Jain's documentary on the Gulaab Gang (2014) that took five years to make. Both these films have been the avenues that have placed Sampat Pal Devi and her Gulaab Gang on the international map. The members live in the rural parts of Uttar Pradesh, a region known to have an oppressive and misogynistic culture and sometimes physically fight for their rights against the issues of dowry, domestic abuse, and political corruption.

 I am reminded here of an interview I was watching on Bollywood Boulevard the other day when Dixit said that the film focuses on the lives of women who live in the 75% India - the poor India - and how they overcome various systems of oppression. Unfortunately I have been unsuccessful in locating the clip online, Dixit has realized the struggle that India as a nation is facing. There are two "Indias" that co-exist - The "Old" India and the "New" India. The former that is kept alive by centuries old traditions, while the new one striving to be cosmopolitan and modern in the 21st century. Both worlds trying to reconcile their differences and attempting to find a "middle ground" if one exists. At the heart of this struggle, recent films and documentary such as Gulaab Gang (2014) have emerged to strongly argue that "No, India is not dangerous for women. Here are examples of women who do fight back verbally or physically and repeat Sarah's words to their oppressors - YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!" 
                  While I will not divulge Anubhav Sinha's Gulaab Gang (2014), I will urge those who are indeed concerned with the cause to at least watch the movie once (and then watch Nishtha Jain's documentary). Both these renditions of the real Gulaab Gang offer us the realities that we sometimes overlook and erase from our cosmopolitan memories. The women who live in rural areas do not have access to education, are privy to child marriages (even Sampat Pal herself), and are readily abused or even have acid thrown on them if they refuse advances. Gulaab Gang was formed to protect women from such oppression and dedicated to the cause. Had both Sinha and Jain worked together or even released the two films side-by-side, we as audiences could have seen that the intention both filmmakers had was the same - to show that women in India were fighting back by uniting and literally taking arms to fight oppression. Instead, there are countless articles that show that both sides are immersed in a controversy days before the release of Sinha's film. Perhaps, their controversy serves a reminder that there is a need - a desperate need - for a united India. Without unity, there is no space for progress of any kind if people are too busy trying to find differences in one another. Although one film was a commercial enterprise set to release on the eve of International Woman's day, the other was a labour of love that took five years to make and was an attempt to capture the reality of the Gulaab Gang through Jain's perspective. I do have to say though that Chawla's performance as the corrupt, shrewd, and power-hungry performance should not be missed! 

            The other issue that I found alarming was that the film did not do well at the box office was because there was no male lead in the film. Why is this an issue when no one questions Hollywood films such as Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady (2011), which was a biopic on Margaret Thatcher? The silver screen was dominated by Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla who are both strong and empowered women in their lives and are working to promote the causes that support the empowerment of young women and girls through their means. There is no reason why this film should not work. Perhaps, people are turned off by violence but do not the same people watch films that are action-based and maybe even more violent that the realities illustrated in Sinha's film or Jain's documentary. I believe that this is a realities that many people are aware of and witness in their daily lives and thus have been desensitized to them. Many also perhaps do not want to watch the horrific realities that exist in the poor India where conditions remain the same as they might have been two hundred years ago and it is a reminder that India still needs to work to bring change in the lives of the poor and forgotten! 

Images & Sources: hindustantimes.com, india.blog.nytimes.com, nytimes.com, firstpost.com, and gallery.oneindia.in

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

Imitiaz Ali Seeks The Truth About Women's Issues in Highway (2014)

        Imitiaz Ali has been one of my favourite filmmakers since he made his debut with Socha Na Tha (2005) starring Ayesha Takia and Abhay Deol. He wowed his audiences with rom-com drama Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Rockstar (2011). Three years later, Ali returns with Alia Bhatt-Randeep Hooda starrer Highway (2014). I went to watch this movie with skepticism and doubt because I kept on thinking how will the age gap between Bhatt and Hooda will work on the silver screen. After all, Bhatt's debut with Karan Johar's Student of the Year (2012) had casted her as a young, popular arrogant girl very much like Veronica in Archie comics. However, having faith in Ali, I braced myself for what was going to be unforgettable two and half hours of my life.
       

The film begins quite innocently with Veera Tripathi (Alia Bhatt), a rich tycoon's daughter, meeting secretly with her fiancee to escape the ongoing wedding celebrations in her home. They drive too far and bear witness to a robbery. The criminals kidnap her and take them with her to the crevices of India's poor and humble neighborhoods. Fellow criminals reprimand the kidnapper - Mahabir (Randeep Hooda) - for abucting the tycoon's daughter fearing that the rich had connections to politicians and law that could make them vulnerable in the eyes of the law although their crimes were petty. Mahabir is an angry and frustrated man tired of the atrocities he has had to face because he belongs to the poor class in India. Driven to avenge his own fate, he sees Tripathi as a consignment - a method by which he can make the rich class suffer. He decides to keep her kidnapped aware that he is a "no-gooder" - a man with a criminal past still not convicted for the three murders he has committed.
         

 At the heart of this powerful film is a very sensitive issue that many people fear to speak about. Rapes and sexual abuse of young children is unfortunately an unspoken commonality in India. No one speaks about them publicly because it can tarnish reputation and honour of families. The perpetrators are not held for their criminal offense and in order to protect the honour of families rich or poor, women and men grow up traumatized unable to comprehend the contradictions that are before them. Both Veera and Mahabir are victims of such a society. Veera's uncle and family friend rapes her since the age of nine luring her with chocolates and gifts and her own mother stops her from speaking the truth and behaving as if everything is "normal." Mahabir bears witness to his mother's abuse. She is prostituted by his own father to cater to the "needs" of rich men. Therefore, the film alludes to a glaring issue that rarely gets taken up in the socio-political fabric of India.  The film suggests that rape and sexual abuse arguably over-rides class complexities within India. Perhaps the most powerful moment is the climax of the film when Veera confronts her family - she says, "growing up, you told me to be careful of strangers outside our home but you never told me that I should be careful inside my home too." She finally screams the pain and trauma she felt at the tender age of nine.
   As the film ends, audiences in the theater were left baffled and in awe of Alia's performance. Perhaps more endearing is the issue at stake in the film. Although a mainstream "popular culture" film, Imitiaz Ali speaks to a very current social issue that needs our attention. Honour and reputation are used as tools to silence voices of the innocent boys and girls who grow up in traumatic situations not only as street kids who witness atrocities but also in the luxurious homes of the rich where sexual abuse and rape is kept under the rug to prevent dialogue. Sexual abuse and rape sometimes happens in the public and the crowd just watches sometimes not reacting or not partaking in saving the victims. In a country where films like Mother India (Mehmood, 1957) are heralded and where women are revered as Goddesses in mythology and religion, why are such cases silenced?
          I understand the need to protect honour but at the stake of one's child who is traumatized without their own pain and hurt unacknowledged is something that I struggle with when I see such cases or watch movies or television shows that address the issues. Part of the problem too is the lack of trust in counselling and therapists because again it has to do with reputations. If you see a counselor or a therapist, automatically you are ostracized from the society. However, if one really thinks about it, the importance and relevance of such services should be made emphasized within our society. I would suggest that the film not only does justice highlighting and underscoring a very important issue but also addressing the need for counselors and therapists who are there to deal with children who have suffered from sexual abuse.
        Finally, a reviewer of the film questions the choices Ali makes for Veera's Stolkholm syndrome - a psychological moment when the kidnapper and oppressed share a traumatic bond. The reviewer sets the moral precedent arguing that the film is sending the "wrong message" with a very subdued love-angle justifying the crime of abduction. To some extent, I can see the reviewer's moral dilemma as he or she questions,

Soon, Alia makes an attempt to bond with Randeep and trust him enough to share with him a childhood trauma. But the film, despite Ali's sensitive handling of a prickly issue, sets a wrong precedent. Among an ocean of subjects to choose from, women once again find themselves the subject of harassment, threats and intimidation on screen. Does the captive's identification with the captor make the act of kidnapping legally acceptable? At a time when the crimes against the women are on the rise should Bollywood have shown more maturity?
     
While I can see his or her argument that such films might increase kidnapping and rape because it does in many ways romanticize the relationship between the captor and captive, however, I would suggest that the film does more to complicate the bond between Mahabir and Veera. In our society, there is a definite need to define relationships. If there isn't a name for it, it is viewed as something that is seedy or unacceptable. But, that is exactly the relationship that both Mahabir and Veera have - they bond over the fact that both of them have witnessed the exploitation of women. Veera feels that she can be honest with Mahabir and he will accept her as she is without any judgement or pre-conceived notions about her as a person. Therefore, Ali creates a very complex relationship between the two. Although there is a hint that both of them are romantically attracted to each other, there is no hint that their relationship is purely sexual. Instead, they bond over trauma - which is something- that is uneasy to talk about, difficult to unravel, and definitely something that is not easy to understand if you have not suffered it yourself.

The writer also questions if Ali's film will further promote the idea that kidnapping and abduction is "acceptable," however, my response to such an observation (albeit valid) is that we are capable of making the right moral decisions without being influenced by films. If we are able to easily get influenced by such films, then these issues will never be brought to attention and become a source of discourse both academic and non-academic. A similar film called Pinjar (Chandra Prakesh Diwedi, 2003) showed a similar trauma that the main female protagonist experienced during the time of the Partition. Although she hates her kidnapper (Manoj Bajpai), she falls in love with him at the end when her own family rejects her because she has tarnished their honour. Hence, these type of relationships are not easy to unpack without understanding the subjectivity of each person involved. To say that such films will influence increase in abductions does not make any sense to me, who believes that change can only take place in the society if we are willing to discuss it out in the open, admit to our weaknesses and faults, accept ourselves for our imperfections (and grow from them), and become tolerant and accepting of others. No one can be perfect. We are born always already imperfect. No one can be absolutely "good" or "bad" because every human is a complex amalgamation of heart, soul, mind, love, desire, and hate. Each and everyone has a reason for their decisions, for whom they are, and their actions. To think otherwise is to think that there is an absolute perfection and no human being is without fault and in my mind, that is God - or the Higher Being. Hence, this film needs to be watched with such lens to understand the humanity that lies within Veera and Mahabir and their struggle for peace and freedom!

Images & Sources: media1.santabanta.com, datastore4.rediff.com, images.songsuno.com, and ibnlive.inc.com

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

A Tale of Two Women: Review of Nisha Pahuja's The World Before Her (2012)

 "It has been said that India was a golden bird. But people are forgetting our history. We are becoming modern, our country is becoming modern. Our past is our roots, we cannot leave our roots. I will speak that I am a Hindu and I will proudly say that I am a Hindu. Egyptians, Romans, they are history now. It's going to happen with us. So we are trying to save ourselves. That is the only thing I want. Nothing else." - Prachi Trivedi 

Prachi Desai instructing her students

Prachi Trivedi is a youth leader of the Durga Vahini camp, the women's wing of right wing militant fundamentalist movement in which young lower middle class and poor girls are taught through methods of lectures and physical combat training how to become a "good Hindu woman." The young girls are also taught to fight against any type of non-Hindu (Islamic, Christian, and Western) influences by any means necessary to protect their culture by doing whatever it takes. The Indian government is wary of their ideologies and has been trying to ban them because these camps promote terrorism and hence, these camps are a great deal of concern for the nation. 

I listened to Prachi's words as I was traveling abroad the flight between London and India. I was transitioning between the world I had left behind in Canada/US (who I had become) and India (where my roots belonged to)! When I first listened to these words, I found them to be so innocent and true. With burgeoning "western modernity", many like Prachi Desai fear the loss of India's "traditional" culture. As she says so eloquently, India was the "golden bird" and I think to some extent whether you are a right-wing or liberal,  there is always a nostalgic hearkening back to the India that was before colonization.

 Many films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra,1995) and Pardes (Subhash Ghai,1998) reiterated these ideas about young girls who were expected to maintain their traditional culture and reject western systems of modernity because they were emblematic of India as a nation. Prachi, however, is one of the most complex people I have ever watched in a film. She is strong-willed and vocal feminist who is emotionally dedicated to the principles and ideologies of the Durga Vahini camp. She shares a love-hate relationship with her father who does everything in his power to instill his value systems into her. That being said, her subjectivity is intriguing and unforgettable.

Although these camps strongly promote the principles of becoming a "good" Hindu woman, in many ways, I understand their concern for the loss of their culture especially as a woman who has been brought up in Malaysia, Singapore, and United States and is currently in Canada for the past two years. I left India when I was seven years old and I never wanted to lose myself or my roots. One of the anecdotes I remember from high school is that whenever I would feel like it, I will wear traditional salwar-suits and I remember proudly answering to my fellow students that it was not a religious holiday but I was wearing my cultural clothes (for fun!) I still do at times and am proud of my cultural heritage. As India's growing cosmopolitanism becomes more "universalized", I can understand the need for many to cling on to their own culture and protect it - after all it is the identity that we are born with and what separates us from the rest of the world. That being said, I also understand that change is constant. Therefore, as a 1.5-generation, one of the biggest challenges I have had to face is the need to find a happy balance between the Nidhi who is in love with Indian traditions and culture with Nidhi who lives in a cosmopolitan and modern culture.However, instead of finding an either-or to this dilemma, I have come to terms and always try to embrace the best of both worlds - the old and the new.  

 Ruhi, a Miss Femina India contestant, belongs to the "new" India. In her introduction, she says: 

"We, as a country, should move forward. A lot of people think that if you know...you know if you allow women to work and get modern and get educated, you will lose your culture, your heritage, and your deep-rooted values. But, I don't agree. If we want India to develop, I think all of us have to change. We have to change our mentality. As much as I love and I respect my culture. I think of myself as a modern young girl and I want freedom." 

Ruhi (far right) with fellow Miss Femina contestants

Ruhi's upbringing is quite different than that of Prachi's. Ruhi belongs to (upper) middle class India. Her parents are supportive of her dream to become a Miss Femina India and support her journey throughout the film. She embraces modernity and wants to live her dream and make a career. Like Prachi, she is also fervently dedicated to her dreams and desire to become a part of the modern India. 

In the background of the Introduction of the film plays the national anthem of the Indian nation. This documentary, for me, is more than a film. It crystallizes, explores, and complicates the tensions Indian women both abroad and in India are facing everyday. Historically, women' s bodies in India are emblematic of their nation. Shree 420 (Raj Kapoor,1955) and Mother India (Mehboob Khan,1957) constantly reinforced the notion that she not only represents honour of her family but also of her nation. The film also explores questions of female infanticide, classism and class politics, and poverty. However, at the heart of this film, is the tension between the binaries of modernity/tradition and modernity/westernization. 

Both Ruhi and Prachi are representative of the two extremes. While there are women like Ruhi who embrace modernity, there are people like Prachi who are reinforcing age-old traditions and rejecting India's step into modernity. Interesting however, is the conclusion of the film when both these women - Prachi and Ruhi - are still expected to retain their traditional roles to get married and have a family. 

Since post-liberalization, India especially cities like Bombay, Delhi, and Bangalore have become locus of modernity where younger generations experience a whole different culture and become part of the worldwide cosmopolitan club. They can afford travel, well-known brands, and can live a luxurious life.  If you have the money and can afford a cosmopolitan lifestyle, sometimes the essence of traditional culture as it used to be dissipates with past. Here, I was reminded of a conversation I had once with my former advisor, Bipasha Baruah, who suggested that when people do not belong to a certain class or do not have comfortable financial means to support themselves, they cling on strongly to their cultural capital. In my opinion, I believe that these camps are constructed and regulated because its leaders fear the loss of the cultural capital so as Prachi suggests in the beginning of the film, they can save themselves. Therefore, this film does explore the complexities and nuances produced by class politics and how this binary, in particular, shapes the subjectivity of women in India.  

Miss India Pooja Chopra posing for a Photo

The film also tells the tale of Former Miss India Pooja Chopra and her mother's brave steps to save her daughter's life. Furthermore, the viewers also listen to Chinmaiyi, a young girl who was getting drawn to and learning the ideologies of the Durga Vahini camp. Their stories, like that of Prachi and Ruhi's are riveting and touching! While we see Chinmaiyi's nascent ideologies slowly developing and strengthening towards the end of the film, it is Pooja Chopra and her mother's life story that remains unforgettable and disheartening. 

Chinmaiyi standing proud! 

The World Before Her, therefore, is a rich and powerful documentary that greatly speaks about India's current situation especially in lieu of the subjectivity of Indian women that reside in India and out of it. While I have only briefly touched upon the themes of the film and the lives of the people it explores, I would strongly urge people to watch this film. It is a film that underscores the reasons and really brings to light the questions that the international media has raised concerning the violence that women face in India. It also shows how the two worlds of the "Old" and "New" India collide and merge together and speaks to the issues such as female infanticide that still need to be understood and such practices eradicated from the fabric of the society. This film, in conclusion, contributes to the emerging academic and non-academic discourse that speaks about bio-politics, nationhood, women's status in the Indian society, and violence against women in India. 

Please do checkout this film as its available in Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes for viewers in America and Canada. For viewers in India, please support this film and do watch the film when its released all over India. It will blow your mind and really make you rethink about a woman's status in India and the struggles they face in their every day lives..

I want to thank Nisha Pahuja, with whom I had a great conversation with while I was in India. I also want to thank Naveera Ahmed, a fellow PhD student in my department who introduced me to Farzana Shammi and Nisha Pahuja. They were generous with their time, approachable, and always available to my many questions and extremely supportive. I would have missed out on a great film and documentary that spoke to me both at an emotional and at an intellectual level. I apologize too for the delay in posting my blogs for this month because last month was a potpourri of personal and professional obligations that needed to be taken care of.

I would also urge all readers to visit the website of the film, www.worldbeforeher.com, and learn more about the India campaign that is about to start soon. For my readers who live in India, you will have a great opportunity to not only view the screenings but also meet Pooja Chopra, former Miss India who nearly escaped being a female infanticide victim and her brave mother, who saved her life!  

The trailer for the film is below and clips are available at the World Before Her's youtube page.: 

Image Source: Farzana Shammi

Source: Farazana Shammi and Nisha Pahuja 

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

Glimmers of Hope - Interview with Melanie Walker, Intern at Guild For Service Organization in India

While the current Indian social and news media is focused on the recent controversies surrounding the lack of outrage in India after the Assamese Gang Rape case , my fellow friend academic and colleague is making a great contribution to a wonderful organization that supports the rehabilitation of widows barring race, religion, cultures, and class to give them a chance to start their new lives in a country where the status of women is constantly called into question especially in the eyes of the international (and local media). Feminists and non-feminists are focused on attacking each other rather than trying to spend time and work together to come up with a solution to eradicate or at the very least alleviate the issue of women's inferior status in India altogether.While I have focused on troubling issues that Indian (middle class) women are facing currently, there are also marked efforts being made by individuals whose efforts go unrecognized but play such an important role in contributing to some sort of a "progress" towards the status of women in India. As an Indian woman, I am critical of the discourse both academic and non-academic that constantly emphasizes that countries like India and Middle East are misogynistic and continue to enact systems of oppression that suppress women and take away their rights as human beings. Among the women who suffer from these conniving and "evil" misogynistic hands are widows. Widow remarriage is a topic that has always sparked a controversy in the Indian discourse both in popular culture but also in the social media that seeks to define boundaries for women who are living without men in their lives. The Tanishq Ad that sought to break taboos was for me one of the first glimmer of hope that people were now seeking answers for this problematic tradition that essentially annihilated the subjectivity of women after the (untimely) death of her husband. Like single women who are mostly unrecognized in the society, a widow in India especially lives a life that is a constant reminder of the loss of her husband - she is always clad in white (that is emblematic of her [sexual] purity) and no longer wears jewelry and other symbols that show her living a vibrant life! Films like Baabul (2006) and Water (2005) have played a profound role in honing on this issue and beg us to take a look at them once again and ask the question - does not a widow have the right to remarry? I would argue - yes - she does! I applaud the efforts made by Dr. Mohini Giri and her intern, Melanie Walker who is not only a close friend but who is contributing immensely to the service.

Melanie and I at the South Asian Studies Conference in Claremont, CA

We had met by chance at the South Asian conference in Claremont University, California in 2011. I was working in EMC at that time but was passionate about my career in academia so I had applied for a conference and with my own funding had gone to the conference and it rightfully changed my   life (but that's another story for another day!) In any case, the conference became a forum where I met many wonderful scholars who have stayed in touch and have been supportive. Among them, I met Melanie Walker. 

So now that I know that she is achieving great heights, she had to be featured in my blog because both her work and contribution are evidence that while there may be concerns regarding a woman's subjectivity in India, there are also groundwork efforts being done by individuals and organizations that are providing resources for women to have a better life. There is a glimmer of hope and The Guild For Service and Melanie Walker's work and contribution is a great and profound contribution to this thought! 

So without further delay, I introduce Melanie Walker to you: 

Nidhi Shrivastava:   How and why did you select The Guild for Service as an organization that you wanted to work for?

Melanie Walker: To be honest, it selected me. I’m here under extreme happenstance! Well, I was connected to the Guild for Service and Dr. Giri under happenstance; the rest was up to me. It is one of those, “you never know who you are going to meet” stories. I met Dr. Giri’s Niece, Nalini while working an open house for my Uncle while in California in September. My Aunt was ill that day, so he chose to stay home and asked me to fill in and support his business partner, Susan, where needed. Nalini works in the same real estate office as my Uncle and Susan, and stopped by the open house. Susan introduced us and shared some of my history, having done research in India, and it only took a minute to not only realize that we had a lot in common, but Nalini asked me if I knew of her aunt, Dr. Mohini Giri, and of course I did. Not only had I heard of Dr. Giri, but, had done a presentation in grad school on a movie she is represented in (Forgotten Women) and discussed her work to my students in Development Studies lectures at the University of Calgary.

Nalini said that I should reach out to Dr. Giri mentioning our shared connection - I told her I would love to, being that I was post-grad and searching for an internship opportunity in an organization that supported my values in community development - a rights based approach. Dr. Giri and Guild for Service focus on the plight and rights of widows in India through advocacy, activism, and participatory outreach. I knew that it would be important to follow through, even if just to be a supporter. However, after some emails, phone calls (with Dr. Giri herself! - this was very exciting at the time!), and further endorsement from Nalini, Dr. Giri looked into my background and being satisfied, offered me an internship and told me to come to India. I applied for my Visa the next day.

NS:What was your inspiration to work in the organization? I know earlier you had done a lot of work in the development work that included helping those who were most affected by the dam politics (If I remember correctly 2 years ago)

MW: You are correct. My previous research and advocacy work was within the umbrella of community development, focusing on displaced indigenous populations due to dam building in India. Though the concentration of my work is on rural India, indigenous populations, dams, and specifically development induced displacement (DID), the premise of mine, and Dr. Giri’s work is participatory community development, capacity building, and rights based. Our goal is to advocate for those without a voice; include marginalized populations in the fight to be heard, increasing their human rights awareness and education; therefore, allowing people to be the agents of change - changing policy and societal mindsets.

My inspiration came from knowing that I valued and supported the work I would be doing. I would be a part of something that was already creating change, and had been for years. Of course, part of my inspiration was being given the chance to intern under a legend. Dr. Mohini Giri is one of the leading social activists and human rights advocates in India, if not the world, especially when it comes to the topic of widows. Her connections lead to UN Women, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and sits on the board of numerous organizations, such as The Hunger Project in New York. With her background, experience, and reputation, how could one not be inspired to work with her? It was an opportunity I had to take and was privileged to receive. Maybe I’ll have to write a book? - Behind the Scenes of a Legend - haha!

NS: Knowing how unsafe arguably Delhi is right now for women of all ages, races, and skin color, how are your adjusting yourself to the environment? (this is optional/ mostly I am curious) 

MW: Haha - you should ask this first question to my family - you would get an intense response! Yes, over the past while if you watch the news and/or any medial outlets, including social media, you might think that once you arrive in Delhi you will be raped, and later murdered. However, I believe that anything can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time. This is my fourth time to India, which may allow me to connect to the real Delhi on a better level, outside of what’s shown on TV. I first came to Delhi in 2008 to attend the University of Delhi, returned in 2010 for a research study group, and again in 2011 to conduct research for my MA Thesis. I have been in Delhi during other significant events, such as terrorist attacks and/or bombings, and thus have first hand experience of  media portrayal versus what’s actually happening on the ground. In my experience media uses a close-up vision of an occurrence. However, the occurrence will be in one small section/area of a city, so I won’t go there - or I will use extra caution and common sense. For example, now more than ever I do not go out after dark in Delhi, unless I am with someone(s) I trust and know well. I also stay away from areas that are known for political rally’s etc. Although, the other day I attended a Violence Against Women protest and ran smack into a huge (mainly male) intensely political rally - these are not the best situations for visible foreigners, so I got out of there quickly - this is part of the work and job of an advocate and activist and are bound to happen. I’m not suggesting that violence such as rape and murder in Delhi are impervious to me, not at all, just that the media portrayal has painted Delhi as a “rape city” and yet is so much more. It’s got a bad rap and I could get hurt/harmed just as easily elsewhere if I’m not smart, safe and aware - this is the world we unfortunately live in, and that’s what Dr Giri and others are trying to change!

NS: How did you meet Dr. Giri? 

MW: The first time I “met” Dr. Giri was when her niece (re: previous story) Nalini had me contact Dr. Giri on the phone while she was visiting her daughter in Michigan. I was nervous. I mean who just calls up a legend?! I had a good breakfast and asked everyone in the house to leave - haha! She of course was completely laid back and lovely - she is a very busy woman, so was to the point and had questions about my work and qualifications, but was so accommodating and welcoming in her offer of internship that I hung up the phone elated and maybe a little stunned! I met her in person upon arriving at the Working Women’s Hostel where I am staying, which is also run by Guild for Service and the location of the main office where I work - my commute is very long - two flights of stairs. From the moment I met her she was just as lovely as on the phone, we had tea and got to know each other. Since, I’ve been here two weeks now, she has taken me under her wing and invited me to follow her along in her work, in which I am learning so very much, getting a glimpse behind the scenes.

NS: What was the experience like to witness the widow remarriages? Do you remember any anecdotes or stories the women told?

MW:  The Group Marriage totaled 15 couples, of which five were widow re-marriages. It was incredible to witness; this was due to the details covered by Guild for Service and Ma Dham (Vrindavan). Staff, volunteers, and Ma’s (widows) living at Ma Dham, decorated the grounds beautifully. The Ma’s especially were so excited for the event because it was the first Group Marriage at Ma Dham, previously they were held in Delhi. They prepared marigolds and other auspicious elements while singing, dancing and chattering excitedly, working together in circles. Brides received full dress and adornment, which added to the experience and excitement that this was a real wedding. I had time to talk to some of the brides and one in particular was so excited to get married that she took me over and proudly introduced me to her bridegroom; they were an adorable couple. Her sister, mother and father were also there and had the same expression of any parents on their daughters wedding day; this was especially heartwarming to see in India because a wedding can be a mournful time for a bride as she leaves her family and embarks to live with her husbands family, seeing her own family less. Norms are changing, if slowly, due to the advocacy work Dr. Giri and others do, creating awareness of women’s human rights, and the importance of gender equality.

NS: What are the future events that will be conducted with Guild for Change? What is it that you like most of the organization?

MW: We are currently working on a three-part South Asian conference series on the Empowerment of Widows, which would include attendees/speakers from all of the SAARC countries and bring together SANWED members. The first phase would be a conference in Delhi where discussion/workshops would lead to recommendations required for a change towards the empowerment of widows. The second phase would be to take those recommendations/document to the 58^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (March 10-21, NY) as hosted by the UN-NGO branch. The third phase would be to begin implementation at the grassroots level of such recommendations, starting June 23 - the International Day of Widows. We are currently at the funding stage, have confirmed one sponsor, and are working to find additional funders for the project.

What do I like most...I think it’s the motivation I gain by working in the field. Working on such causes from Canada is removed and it’s easy to go home at the end of the day and go about your life, and although work-life balance is important, working on the ground makes it real. Very. Real. Without being removed from the issue time becomes rapid - things must change now and you must work hard to do that. Sometimes the results are instant, which makes you work harder because you want to see increased change. Increased change = increased motivation. Community development, advocacy, and activism can be exhausting and de-motivating on the best of days. Though what I like most is also the most challenging part of my internship, it’s also the lesson everyone in the field must experience. I am lucky enough to have this experience with an organization and group of individuals that are hard working and truly believe in what they seek out to do each day.

So...there you have it! I will be in India next month and will document and hope to do a follow-up blog with Dr. Mohini Giri and my dear friend, Melanie Walker - so proud of you! 

Image sources: courtesy of Melanie Walker and Facebook 

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

Domestic Violence In India : Critical Analysis of A Forgotten Film - Ashok Gaikwad's Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1997)

Rani Mukherjee who has been known for as one of the penultimate Indian actresses of Bollywood started her career in very low-budget films that spoke of glaring women's issues in the 90s. Her debut film entitled "Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat" or "Prince's Wedding Procession Will Arrive" is reportedly said to be a "commercial failure" in India's million dollar film industry. Recent discourses both in various social media outlets, newspapers, and even university classrooms have been hinting towards the increased sexual violence in India - one of the themes that both hinges upon on me emotionally and intellectually as I try to work through both my coursework term papers and attempt to unpack the current discourses that speak to the troubling violence of women in India.

I am no "feminist" and do not identify my politics with the term after having studied the historical discourses that have shaped the Western discourses since the suffragette movement began during the industrial revolution period in England. I hold a MA degree in Women's Studies from Western and a graduate certificate in Women's Studies from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Suffice to say, I have had time to think and shape my politics as a 1.5 generation woman of color who identifies herself both as an Indian and an American but strongly as a post-colonial scholar who is concerned with the status of women (and other marginalized others) in India.

I do believe in gender (and "other" studies) that speak to the politics and subjectivity of the subaltern (Read Gayatri Spivak's Can the Subaltern Speak?) - the marginalized - be it a man, woman, or any other person who belongs to a part of the society who is oppressed by socio-political-economic systems that have been in place for the less-privileged. However, I do consider my self a post-colonial scholar who is deeply concerned about the discourse that is centered upon the (sexual) violence of women in India as one of the major concerns that have shaped my intellectual and personal passionate study of the topic.

While there are other issues I hope to discuss in my blog in the future including acid attacks, dowry, the fairness debate, and other things that shape a middle class Indian woman's subjectivity in India. I will begin with this forgotten film, which I hope to resurrect from the "dead" and encourage people to watch it again (forgetting the low-budget production but focusing on how astutely and arguably "accurately" the director has brought about many important issues that continue to be hush-hush in India)! The film link that I have posted is with English subtitles but divided into parts. A full version is available but without any subtitles.

Raja ki Aayegi Baraat stars Rani Mukherjee, Shadab Khan, British-Indian actor Saeed Jaffery, and Mohnish Bahl - all of these actors (sans Shadab Khan) have made an international name for themselves but I give them props for being associated with a film that centered so heavily on domestic (and sexual violence) of women in India at a time when these realities were not even discussed or brought to light (which explains its supposed commercial failure). Today, I view their efforts as a gem and hope to use it in my pedagogical teachings in the future.

This film has three instances that I find are especially relevant when we discuss today's subjectivity of an Indian woman. Rani Mukherjee's character, Mala, is outspoken and strong. She angers Raja (Shadab Khan) when she arrives at his friend's wedding accusing his friend of abandoning his pregnant ex-girlfriend. Insulting and breaking the ceremony, Mala, a school teacher is then pursued by Raja who rapes her and leaves her naked and vulnerable in the classroom she teaches in. Humiliated but still resilient, Mala returns home to her father and a court case ensues. The court eventually sentences that Raja and Mala should be married in order to maintain the "honor" and "reputation" of both families. While the marriage takes place in a hush-hush manner, neither Raja nor Mala are happy with the arrangement. While Mala gradually starts to accept her role as Raja's wife, Raja and his family continue to despise her because of the fact that she belongs to a lower class and would not have been their daughter-in-law had Raja not raped her. Throughout the story, the family members attempt many schemes in order to literally remove Mala from their lives - anywhere from using physical violence (a scene where Raja tries to hit her with his belt) to a poisonous snake her uncle-in-law leaves in her honeymoon lodge when she is by herself to her sister-in-law leaving the gas on so that she can catch fire and lastly, her father-in-law hits her violently with a vase at the climax of the film. In all these instances, Mala comes out unscathed. The snake ends up poisoning Raja instead and she as a "heroic" figure sucks the blood out of him and like a true lover and wife saves his life and the film ends on a "sweet" note when the older brother (who supports Mala finally lashes out at this villainous wife who is no longer evil after her husband's rejection of her ideas) and when the lawyers and cop intervene, Mala lies to them that she had fallen from the staircase saving the "reputations" and "honors" of both her natal and marital home. The film wraps up nicely as both of them are shown getting married with celebrations and pomp.

Yes, the film is embedded with problematic issues and instances and perhaps the most glaring to an unfamiliar eye of India's cultural complexities and nuances will be a) a woman marrying her rapist b) silencing and forgetting all the moments of brutal violence against her - she is only accepted within her society if she remains silent and forgives and forgets all the attempts her in-laws and husband attempted to get rid of her. However, my argument as someone who is familiar with these complexities will suggest that the film was not a commercial success and is now among the forgotten films still alive in Youtube's search engines because it drives home the important points of silence and honour that continues to be so relevant to the society. There is always an uneasy silence that surrounds domestic violence in India (among other countries). The decision that the court did that encouraged the rapists to marry the victim is something that by no means that I endorse but it calls into question the ethics behind why the law would ask for such a decision and that is where it gets sticky. This is a practice that has been done for centuries but truly it makes you question WHY that is the case!

 You also have to give credit to Mala for everything that she does - she attempts to find a happy medium between her vocal and strong character and her choice to still comply with traditional customs that is expected of her. Her husband eventually too gains respect, stands for her, and is even willing to take revenge for her against her perpetrators. The filmmaker's attempt to make a controversial film in the late 90s when Yash Chopra musicals were enjoying commercial success is something to think about. These are issues that no one wants to discuss or hear about. Furthermore, this film is definitely produced with a low budget even for its time. Lastly, I really like this film because it suggests that there are many women like Mala who exists who I would argue choose silence (from the law and the outer society) to enjoy a peaceful life with their families. she could have easily complained to the law and gotten her in-laws and husband jailed for their continuous brutal violence upon her but why did she choose not to speak to the law? Why was this the director's choice? Would the film have given the same message if the ending had not been the way that it was? I would suggest that because the film's ending was an eerily "sweet" one, it allows us as viewers and consumers of the film to take up the issues that are unresolved within the framework the film. Although the film speaks of issues we want to close our eyes to, I think the film makes a remarkable impact on the broader repertoire of Indian films that represent domestic violence and beg us to take a look at them again.

Kudos to the filmmakers who attempt to make movies that compel us to rethink glaring issues that impact the status of women in India.

Source Image:  upload.wikmedia.org, static.indianexpress.com, static.ibnlive.com, i.smash.saavncdn.com 
Video Source: Youtube 

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose.