Film on Indian sexologist to premiere at Hot Docs
a six-year-old reincarnated as a rinpoche to a 93-year-old counselling on matters sexual, the 2017 version of Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, features an eclectic cast of characters in three films that are located in India.
These films, among a total of 230 documentaries from 58 countries, will screen at the 11-day festival that starts on Thursday. Among them is
Ask The Sexpert, about Mahinder Watsa, based in Mumbai and renowned (and reviled by some) for a column offering advice on sexuality and the author of the work of non-fiction, It’s Normal!
The feature-length documentary looks at how the nonagenarian delves into topics considered taboo by conservatives, filling a vacuum left by lack of sex education and limning his story with humour. The film starts with Watsa, considered one of India’s foremost sexologists, responding to an emailed query from a girl asking if her boyfriend wearing two condoms will give more protection from STDs and pregnancy. Watsa’s response: “Two condoms are more unsafe than one, they tend to break with the friction, so one condom used properly is safer.”
The film is directed by New York-based Vaishali Sinha, who was born in Mumbai and has worked on films on sexual and reproductive rights and health. She “thought it would be fun to make a sex film” and Watsa’s work offered “a refreshing premise”. Producer Mridu Chandra was attracted to the subject because it is “inherently interesting” and since “young people want answers” not available through traditional channels.
Watsa receives between 60 and 65 queries each day, and faces a charge of obscenity brought by an activist who considers his advice “disastrous”. Made candidly, with segments featuring clients consulting him in his homeoffice, the movie takes a light approach to a significant issue. “It’s a really smart look at the tension between tradition and modernity,” said Shane Smith, Hot Docs’ director of programming.