I'm not blaming fathers, but...'

‘I'm talking about that predator in your house, And how one should protect one's children from him.’

Sexual abuse of children by family members is rarely discussed in India, especially in our films.

But Director Saif Hyder Hasan chooses to go where other directors would hesitate.

In his new film, Yes Papa, he tells the story of a girl who is abused by her father.

"My lawyers told me about this incident where a girl was raped by her father but her mother refused to believe her and packed her off to a hostel. A few years later, another daughter was born to the mother. This time, she caught her husband red-handed," Saif, who has directed plays like Ek Mulaqat, Gardish Mein Taare and Dearest Bapu, Love Kasturba,

"I was so moved by this incident that I incorporated it in the script."

A lot of people are calling me brave for making Yes, Papa. But there is nothing brave about it.

Indian cinema has always stood against social ills.

There was a first film against dowry deaths, a first film against sati, a first film about the caste system, communal disharmony, rape, child sexual abuse... There is always that film which goes against the tide.

Yes Papa, I think, is that first film about incestuous child sexual abuse, where the perpetrator is a father.

The newspapers have been talking about it.

There is a book by Pinky Virani called Bitter Chocolate.

So, as a filmmaker, I was sensitive enough to understand the problem.

It started with my wife visiting an orphanage and meeting a real life victim.

Do you feel we, as a society, are not sensitive or attentive towards a girl child's safety in our homes?

I think we need to stop putting them in gender boxes.

The day we stop labeling human beings based on their sexual organs, that is the day when society will make its children safe.