Vinta Nanda, the director of #Shout, a feature-length documentary about feminism in India, produced for One Life Studios, takes us through the evolution of the film and her insights from making it.
Tell us about the genesis of #Shout.
Vinta Nanda: It came to me out of the blue. I got a call from Siddharth Kumar Tewary – one of three producers, with Gayatri Gill and Rahul Kumar Tewary – that Gayatri was toying with the idea of making a documentary on the #MeToo movement. This was in 2019, when the movement was smouldering. Gayatri and Siddharth were understanding about where I stood, personally, on the issue. The first draft of the write-up I gave to them was a clincher and we were ready to sail.
While the #MeToo movement did several things to empower women in general, it also didn’t do other things that it could’ve done. I was clear in my mind about what I felt about the movement. My approach was to put the #MeToo movement in perspective to the attitudes and behaviours of Indian men and women towards women’s rights and also in the context of the many other movements that have dotted the gender landscape over the last 50 years or so. Without understanding patriarchy, without applying the context of feminism to the #MeToo movement and without discussing rape, there could only be a voyeuristic offering, and that meant we would be feeding the monster. Rape, patriarchy and feminism are discussions that belong to the same discourse.
(Retd) Justice Sujata Manohar says, succinctly, in the film, ‘We live in several centuries at the same time.’ This was also our primary challenge when we started working on the film. How do we make a film which will resonate with people from all walks of life — urban, rural, young, senior, everybody?
My DOP, Shanti Bhushan Roy, and I were aligned perfectly. Puloma Pal, the editor of the film, did a brilliant job. With the first cut, Siddharth, Gayatri and I knew that the soul and the scale we had imagined was there. Then, Puloma divided the film into parts, a process which gave #Shout its form and rhythm. Sound supervisor Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee’s conviction was compelling and the experience of building the soundtrack was magical. Then we went to Kolkata to record the song with Usha Uthup, which was composed by Raja and written by Amy Singh.
The documentary shows how all-pervasive the malaise is; we seem to be a country united only by the way we mistreat our women.
Vinta Nanda: It is true that if there’s one factor ubiquitous, it is the way women are treated in our country. It is no secret that women are second-class citizens wherever they are and whichever profession and hierarchy they belong to. They work as hard as men, often more, but they are not called breadwinners. That is just one of the problems. Moreover, as some of the speakers in the film have said, rape is about power and about how power is expressed in our world. It is political, it is feudal and it is the harshest face of the deep patriarchy that defines our culture, our society.
Irrespective of the progress we make, irrespective of the several revolutions of the past centuries, industrial, information-communication or technology, the system remains feudal. The culture that drives behaviours and practices, across economic and social divides, is inflexible. It is designed to keep women in control, guide the course of their lives.
The system is neither fair to women nor to men. Why should men be forced to bear the burden of women’s safety on their shoulders? When a system can deliver vaccines to two billion people, why can’t it deliver a message, a powerful idea, to every corner of the earth? Obviously there’s a lack of intention and political will. And, moreover, the world still cannot see the advantages, dividends and profit in doing that!
It’s only in recent times that women are beginning to find a voice, and the credit for it goes to the feminist movements that have taken place in India and the rest of the world over the last 50 years at least, at the grassroot level as well as in metropolises. The #MeToo movement would find no ground to keep its feet on if it wasn’t for several battles fought by women for their rights as equal citizens.
Bollywood cops a lot of blame for the way we treat women. Do you agree that our films are to blame?
Vinta Nanda: Bollywood is to blame to some extent. Yet, the question will be a conundrum because it is more complex than what can be taken at face value. In our film, Tara Kaushal, the author of Why Men Rape, asks a pertinent question. “Stalking is akin to love for some men, whereas for women who are stalked, it is harassment. So, how will the two paradigms meet?” Do we blame Bollywood for making stalking an expression of love, or do we blame society for Bollywood adopting stalking from it. We can blame films for all the evils in society, but where does that take us? Fact is that it is important for women to feel safe at home and in public spaces, irrespective of what they wear. Their ownership of their bodies is non-negotiable.
I don’t believe it is the item number, so to say, which is wrong. Our classical culture and folklore is full of provocative expression through art, dance, theatre and music, and all of us enjoy the performances as viewers and as actors. It is every man and woman’s right to dress the way he and she wants to, and feel beautiful, be admired and appreciated. It is the angle of the camera and the lens through which the item number is presented to audiences, the positioning, in the most unaesthetic and distorted ways, that must change. Bollywood does need to be careful of what it promotes as acceptable and appropriate behaviour.
One startling statistic that is referred to in #Shout pertains to the #MeToo campaign – that only 159 cases actually came up despite all the uproar. Would you say that the movement failed?
Vinta Nanda: We can’t say that the movement didn’t make a difference, in the sense that the implementation of POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) was made mandatory at all places of work, and committees were constituted, but that is where it also ended. The #MeToo movement brought attention to something that was difficult to speak about. Unfortunately, it lasted for too short a while. Before the movement could go further from urban to rural India, it was over.
Manisha Mashaal, a Dalit leader and women’s rights activist in Kurukshetra, Haryana, says, “We don’t know when the media will have a #MeToo movement for us. We are invisible to the world.” In my understanding of things, she is a feminist. But did she participate in the #MeToo movement? Was she even a voice? Obviously not!
I shudder to think what the girls who were abused by film director Sajid Khan, and had dared to speak out against him during the movement, go through when they watch him on national television. How will women find the courage to speak out against injustice in the future when the whitewashing of Sajid Khan and the feting of the many predators at lit fests etc is the overarching reality they face?
More than a couple of interviewees in #Shout mention that in the new generation of women, we have hope of the tide turning. That every generation builds on the battles the previous generation fought.
Vinta Nanda: Yes, that’s right. As I enter the 60th year of my life in 2023, I realise that many of the battles fought by us have given courage to the new generation of women. I also understand that many of the battles fought by our mothers is why we could leap ahead from where we were stationed previously. But we must not ignore the roadblocks that the new generation of women will also face. Women of the present generation have to become a part of politics, of administration, of policy and decision making – they must enter the boardrooms and take positions of power in greater numbers to bring about the desired change.
If there is one takeaway from making the film that you were asked to pinpoint, what would that be?
Vinta Nanda: The one takeaway would be that we need to invest in our allies as we go forward. There are so many men who supported and encouraged us during the making of #Shout. My own experience during the #MeToo movement makes me aware that against every detractor, I have at least 10 allies in both men and women who I can name. While making the film, the experience was the same. There are more men who wish for change to take place than there are those who don’t. And it is now time for us to tap into this resource.
(Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri is a film and music buff, editor, publisher, film critic and writer)
