Girl power!

For television serial maker Vinta Nanda, her latest project, a 15-minute documentary on Indian women, begins with a long hard look at grou...

For television serial maker Vinta Nanda, her latest project, a 15-minute documentary on Indian women, begins with a long hard look at ground realities. Hitting the dust trail on April 3, Nanda will travel by road through villages in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to Delhi and then back through Gujarat and Rajasthan, in an attempt to mirror how fundamentalism and communalism hamper the progress of women in different parts of this country.

Fruits of a two-day seminar organised by the United Nations Education and Cultural Organisation UNESCO and TVE in Paris, these films are a global attempt by broadcasters, filmmakers and script-writers to not only reflect the state of women in their respective countries, but also to offer a solution. Once complete, the films will be broadcast on the BBC8217;s Life programme.

Nanda8217;s film hinges on four occurences which she feels are important examples of her contention: the landmark Shah Bano case where a government chose to side with the protest of religious conservatives instead of siding with a court judgement granting a woman her alimony; the government8217;s impotence to support Deepa Mehta8217;s attempt to make her film 8212; Water 8212; in the face of reactionary protest; the diktat of an RSS shaka in a Kanpur college insisting that women garb themselves in saris and salwars rather than jeans or skirts and the cloud of threats and insecurity that surrounded Taslima Nasreen when she visited the country to release a book. quot;What role can a government play if fundamentalism and communalism overshadow it?quot; she asks passionately.

quot;But hey,quot; Nanda cautions, quot;I8217;m not condemning the fundamentalists or communists 8212; I8217;m going to be interviewing many who are prominent among them for my sound bytes and I expect my opinions to be contradicted.quot; Her voyage through the country will also be an attempt to glean the influence of movements like the RSS and the Muslim league on the progress of women.

This year, Vinta also hopes to break into the world of commercial cinema. quot;This script is spun around violence that emerges from a misunderstanding in a relationship,quot; she reveals. Known for her success as a director/writer of serials like the hugely successful Tara, Umeed, Agnichakra, Sheila and the current favourite Aur Phir Ek Din, Nanda feels that writing for a documentary, television and cinema are all bound together by emotion. quot;I can8217;t say that they are very different simply because I can write for anything I feel passionately about,quot; Nanda says.

Also alive in her imagination is a second commercial film based on a truth that has shone up at her out of her own experiences. quot;Deep within my heart is a conviction that I am respected, accepted and admired as Vinta Nanda because of what I have achieved,quot; she states realistically. quot;When I was about 22 or 23 years old, my parents wanted me to marry 8212; be conventional 8212; but I chose to live free and because I was successful I could do what I wanted to 8212; select my lifestyle, adopt a daughter, make my own decisions.quot; Then, she adds, quot;If I hadn8217;t made it big with Tara at the age of 27-28, my life could have been hell.quot; The film which is currently on the backburner, is based on this very idea that quot;every woman needs to be her own person.quot;

8212; Joeyta Bose