📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
‘More than 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday’. ‘250 million before age 15’. ‘One third of these child brides live in India — UNICEF’. These are the facts that first appear on the screen, when one watches Driving With Selvi, a 74-minute documentary, which takes us into the world of Selvi, a child bride who got married at the age of 13, and then went on to become South India’s first female taxi driver.
The documentary, directed by Canadian filmmaker Elisa Paloschi, has been shot over a period of 10 years. “It was in 2004 that I came to India. I was hoping around but, while I did the whole tourist circuit, I felt a deep disconnect with the community at large. I happened to become a volunteer at the shelter Odanadi in Mysore. They help those affected by human trafficking. That’s where I met Selvi,” says the filmmaker. Driving with Selvi has won many awards, and it was recently screened in Delhi and Mumbai.
Selvi escaped her abusive marriage and ended up at Odanadi, where she learnt to drive and helped herself to a path of freedom. The documentary has extreme close ups of her face, as she keeps her eyes pinned on the road, and her hands on the steering wheel of an omni van. She started ferrying a team of health workers who ran workshops. She listened in, and eventually joined their team.
The story of Selvi’s redemption is reflected in Paloschi’s own life as well. Paloschi had come to India for a yoga experience after a successful career as a content producer for a studio in Italy. “I was just so done with the whole media and film world. I had sworn to never make another film. But when I met Selvi, and as her story and life kept unfolding in front of me, I, who had not touched a camera in 10 years, was forced to share her incredible tale,” adds Paloschi.
The film follows Selvi as she runs errands, and has interviews with her, her friends and colleagues. She asks the camera, “Why did my mother never ask me what I wanted? I was just 13. She married me off and never looked back. My own brother — he tried to help me, but his wife threatened me. I couldn’t ask him for help anymore.” But none of these demons haunt Selvi when she drives. She was aware of the gender norms and disparities in place. But she trudged along with abundant support from her caretakers at Odanadi. “Other male taxi drivers respect me. They help me out. When I started out, I was nervous, I even got my co-passenger injured as I drove into a ditch. But that accident made me even more careful,” says Selvi in the film.
She adds, “I have had so many women come up to me and say how hopeful they feel after watching Selvi’s story. They feel empowered, and they also want to learn how drive. Driving oneself , especially for us women, is now a necessity,” says Paloschi.
