Gaffer Hetal Dedhia, jockey Rupa Singh and commando trainer and close quarter battle specialist Seema Rao defied gender biases to blaze a new trail in challenging domains. The three pioneers speak to Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena about the highs of exploring predominantly male territories.
HETAL DEDHIA
LIGHING THE WAY
Clad in a top and jeans, the slim Hetal Dedhia strides into her studio with a natural confidence, completely at home amid all the lights, wires, grips, cartons of nuts and bolts and the miscellaneous equipment of her trade. Born to the business — her father Mulchand Dedhia is perhaps Bollywood’s best-known gaffer (head of lighting and electrical) — she has earned the honour of being the first female gaffer in the Hindi film industry. Her appearance in the family-owned workshop triggers an instant alertness in the staff, who exchange greetings with their boss, before continuing with their tasks. Later, while interacting with them, her voice is soft but authoritative — she commands respect, after years of experience.
The 31-year-old Dedhia — who has worked on projects like Luck By Chance and Karthik Calling Karthik and international productions like Eat Pray Love, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol and Un Plus Une — can still recall her first impression on the sets. Although young at that time, she states, “I was around 11 and the film was Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen. Even at that age I knew that I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a gaffer. I was lucky that he helped me fulfil my dreams.” Interestingly, her two elder sisters, Minal and Jinal, run the office of their family business, Light & Grips Equipment Hirers (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Growing up on a diet of movies, the film buff moved from watching them for entertainment to keeping an eye out for visual subtleties. “As I grew older, I became more aware of my father’s role in film-making. That sparked my interest in lighting. I am lucky that over the years my father has passed on his vast knowledge to me.”
This story is from the December 2016 edition of Verve.
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This story is from the December 2016 edition of Verve.
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