HER STORY

These contemporary female directors def ine what it means to be making f ilms in a world with a changed social and gendered vocabulary

- ARMAN KHAN

The amount of literature and films lost to us by would-have-been female creators, who were otherwise confined under the triple yoke of patriarchy, religion, and imperialism, is unfortunate.

Fatima Begum is widely considered as undivided India’s first woman filmmaker. With her 1926 fantasy film, Bulbul-eParistan, she pioneered the art of modern filmmaking as we know it. While Jaddanbai, Nargis’ mother, successfully bankrolled her own films, making them commercially viable too. She was also among the first female music composers in India. And then there’s Devika Rani, who challenged the kind of structures few creators would have even acknowledged. She starred and produced Achut Kanya (1936), a reformist masterpiece that put the atrocities of caste firmly in the limelight.

Unfortunately, no prints of Bulbul-eParistan or Achut Kanya survive today. Female filmmakers slowly petered out post-Independence. Later, with the advent of filmmakers like Sai Paranjpye, Aparna Sen, Kalpana Lajmi, among others, there was some hope of a feminist revival. But the momentum couldn’t be sustained.

But now, the advent of democratisation of the digital space and unhindered creativity afforded by producers of OTT platforms has ushered in a new wave of female storytellers. Their point of view as diverse as the Indian mind, their characters more nuanced than ever before, and the gaze of the film camera (finally) more empathetic.

How important is it then to nurture and protect this reformation of sorts, a movement of its own? Or should the celebrations already begin?

WARMTH & EMPATHY