Women’s rights documentary finally sees big screen in India
‘The World Before Her’ released after receiving acclaim at Hot Docs in 2012
Hindsight has provided no clarity for director Nisha Pahuja.
Would it have been better to release her documentary The World Before Her in India in anticipation of the recently concluded elections?
Or has the fact that her film is finally getting a limited release in India this weekend worked in her favour?
“It depends on who you ask,” says Pahuja, in a phone call from her Mumbai home, one of many midnight calls as her film’s release was delayed three times and came close to being banned.
“Some people say it’s a real shame it didn’t release before the elections. They say it could have had an impact, before it was clear that (now Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi would win.”
“Some friends have said that it’s actually a really good time now. Because it could have looked like I was being manipulated by some (political) party and maybe I would not have been taken very seriously. It may have become volatile. It’s India and things can go any which way. People are so emotional, and it’s still such a sensitive time.”
The World Before Her focuses on young women vying for the immensely popular Miss India beauty pageant and Hindu fundamentalist activists who oppose the event.
The camera goes behind the scenes at two boot camps — one for pageant contestants and the other for Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of a militant Hindu fundamentalist movement.
Of the many voices, two stories stand out. DurgaVahini participant Prachi Trivedi is unabashed in her dislike for Western culture and Gandhian values, while former Miss In- dia winner Pooja Chopra’s mother was told to abort her daughter.
Modi, whose Hindu nationalist BJP party swept into power in a landslide general election victory, has been accused of sanctioning a pogrom against Muslims in the Indian province of Gujarat in 2002.
(The Indian Supreme Court found “no substantial incriminating evidence” of his role as a leader, but he continues to be criticized for his “inaction and negligence during the violence,” according to reports.)
Pahuja had been approached by rival Congress party supporters to use her film as part of an anti-Modi campaign.
“You don’t need to be somebody else in order to have some kind of self-worth, that’s what I think this film stands for.” ANURAG KASHYAP FILMMAKER
“A few times in Goa, when the film was screened at IFFI (the annual International Film Festival of India) last year, and over the course of the following six months, people said to me — ‘We can use this,’ ” she says.
“Without question my beliefs and politics run counter to the (Hindu nationalist group) RSS and the BJP. It is a terrifying time to be a minority in this country, especially if you can’t hide behind money and power. . . .
“But on the other hand, I made a film that was primarily about women’s rights, and was very balanced and non-judgmental. My fear was that it could have been co-opted, and taken out of context.”
Pahuja knew pitching a documentary on women’s issues in a country where the main cinematic expression continues to be popular Indian cinema such as Bollywood wouldn’t be easy.
“I knew . . . large distributors would not take it on. I had no money, and releasing a film in India is expensive. Bollywood has so much money just for publicity,” she says. Married to Indian cinematographer Mrinal Desai, Pahuja splits her time between Mumbai and Toronto, and is all too aware of the vagaries of everyday life in India. However, she’d always intended for The World Before Her, which won the best Canadian feature award at the 2012 Hot Docs and was one of TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Films of 2012, to release in India. Late last year, she got an unexpected email from Shimit Amin, director of critically well-received Bollywood movies such as Chak De! India and Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. After outlining how her documentary had moved him, Amin concluded the email with an entreaty, “I feel that everyone here should see the film . . . You must have gone through so many obstacles trying to get people to watch your film. Can I help you in any way?” Amin had chanced upon The World Before Her while scrolling through Netflix. “There are many people who come to India and make documentaries . . . but Nisha’s film is one of the most honest portrayals of the current culture,” he says in a phone interview from his Mumbai home. “Usually (documentaries) have an outsider’s point of view, or they are too insider. Her film told a compelling story.” Amin’s email gave Pahuja a renewed sense of vigour. However, The World Before Her came very close to being banned. When she first screened it for the Indian censor board, she was told that she could not show the film publicly. Period. By this time, however, Pahuja had support from Anurag Kashyap, one of India’s current crop of top filmmakers and a TIFF regular. They took the film to a review committee, which cleared it, asking for two minor changes. “The film affected me a lot because I come from a small town,” says Kashyap, in a Q&A session that Pahuja conducted. “I come from a town where kids end up doing what their fathers did, and women are supposed to get married. The women walk with their head down, they are ashamed of growing up even. I know these girls.
“It stands for, you need to be you. You don’t need to be somebody else in order to have some kind of selfworth, that’s what I think this film stands for . . . Preparation for women today comes either from beauty or some kind of external power. Otherwise, the world doesn’t allow them to be.”
For her part, Pahuja is planning a national tour, organizing screenings in university campuses and, with the help of NGOs, at gatherings in rural towns.