ASHWINY IYER TIWARI
between one’s own aspirations and social and family expectations. “It takes a lot out of you, especially for an independent film-maker. Women often have other responsibilities, for instance family,” she says. And the gap is there the world over.
For herself, she says the first discrimination she experienced was once she turned director. And that, she says, had more to do with the kind of film she was making than her gender. “I think the biases really are if you are making an independent film versus a mainstream film,” she says. Shrivastava recalls the first day of shooting for Turning 30. “For two months I had been asking for a particular camera because I had to do hand-held shots with it. And the production guys didn’t send that camera on the first day of the shoot,” she says, adding, “Even at the post-production stage, the studios would give me 3am and 1am kind of slots, when you are really not at your creative best.
“So for me the bigger battle is content,” she says. “The kind of films I make always put you at a disadvantage. Distributors are not interested in this kind of film. It’s a deep level of discrimination – it’s both small budget and not star-driven and about the lives of ordinary women, so it is seen as having no commercial potential. The experience of making a Kahani is quite different from that of making a Lipstick… in that respect.” don’t like being tagged as a woman director,” says director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. “No one tags a male film director as such. And unlike fourfive years back, there are enough women in the industry now.”
The director feels gender tagging is an outside phenomenon and does not exist within the industry and among the fil fraternity. “Even in the past there w
Sai Paranjpye who was making all t lovely films,” points out Tiwari. “Bu back then there was little focus on th film-maker. Now because of the social media, there is more interest in who is the person behind the film – yes, it does lead to the film-maker and writers being celebrated which is nice, but it also leads to the tagging.”
Tiwari feels it is especially unfair to restrict a filmmaker by her gender identity because “it’s not as if women filmmakers are only making films that are women-centric. My next film is a quirky, entertaining comedy set in small town India.”
Tiwari, who is married to Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari, agrees that it is true that for a long time there were few women in filmmaking. And the reason, she feels, is that till recently films were not really a profession. “It was very family-oriented. Only those who were born into film families would take it up. But now that it has become a proper profession – filmmaking is something that is taught in schools now, the number of women entering the profession has also gone up. Not just on the floor, the number of women producers has gone up. There are very good women editors and cinematographers,” Tiwari says.
And if the percentage of women filmmakers as compared to male filmmakers is still low, the reason, feels the mother of two, is that it’s a tough job. “You are out of the house for 12-14 hours while shooting. There are outstation shoots. If you have a family, it becomes difficult. But there is no gender discrimination or insensitivity,” she says.
The experience might be different with people who are not part of the main industry. “When you are out for a recce for example, the line producer who is a local guy from some small town might initially have a m accepting you – because they are ed to seeing women in these roles. Sometimes they address even women directors or seniors as “sir”. But once they get used to seeing you in that role, they are quick to adapt,” she explains.
What matters finally, feels Tiwari, is the story .–“If you have a good story, you get a studio on board and everything sorts itself out.” Cinema goers have also evolved. “There is appreciation for good stories and they are not only being critically acclaimed but also doing well commercially. Every movie doesn’t have to earn 100 crores to be successful – recovery, success and appreciation are related to the investment of key people involved,” she says.