From Aparna Sen to Nandita Das and Anjali Menon - author Nandita Dutta chronicles the lives, work, and challenges of Indian women filmmakers

The Indian film industry has been largely male-dominated but a few women have shone through with brilliant thinking, powerful storylines, and intricate art. A set with women calling the shots is, thankfully, no longer a rarity in India. They have risen beyond stereotypes, gender discrimination, and a strong “boys club” to at least become a part of seven out of the 116 Bollywood film releases in 2018 - still an abysmal six percent.

F-Rated – Being a Woman Filmmaker in India by Nandita Dutta looks at the handful of women filmmakers challenging the status quo in Bollywood with meaningful cinema.

These include diverse stories of 11 women filmmakers in India – Aparna Sen, Mira Nair, Farah Khan, Meghna Gulzar, Nandita Das, Shonali Bose, Tanuja Chandra, Anjali Menon, Reema Kagti, Kiran Rao, and Alankrita Srivastava.

Though these are not biographical, Nandita shows them for what they are – the work they do and what they had to fight to reach where they are today. Whether it’s a filmmaker battling depression or facing a lack of cinematographers or producers, or yet another attending film school with her two-week-old baby, these women have braved them all.

In an interview with HerStory, author Nandita talks about F-Rated, women filmmakers, and why they need to be celebrated.

HerStory: What drew you to cinema and filmmaking?

Nandita Dutta: I have always felt that cinema, as a medium, has enormous power over us, and this will only keep growing given that people are increasingly watching more and reading less. In my formative years, so much of what I understood about love, intimacy, and even family were drawn from the movies I watched.

Having said that, it is really sad that we don't see many complex female characters with rich inner lives on screen. It is also sad that the men we see on screen, more often than not, are portrayed as hyper-masculine and misogynist. So, I was always curious about what kinds of stories we watch and what effect they have on us.  

HS: How did the concept of this book come about? It’s interesting - there’s not much work regarding women directors.

ND: The germ of the idea just came from being very interested and drawn towards films made by women. On another level, I wanted to explore the question of why are there so few women filmmakers in India. I also wanted to write a book that would look at the intricacies of being a woman and a filmmaker. 

HS: How did you choose the women directors in the book?

ND: The filmmakers featured in the book represent a cross-section of women filmmakers out there: from indie cinema to mainstream Bollywood, from the ones who were making films in the 80s to the ones who have started just now. These are also filmmakers whose works I personally admire. Another factor is that these are women who committed a lot of their time to this project unconditionally. 

HS: Do you think women tell stories differently than men? What do they uniquely bring to the table?

ND: Women certainly bring a unique perspective to storytelling. Let me put it this way. Gender is a crucial factor in determining how you experience the world, and how you move through it. For example, men and women don't experience a dark and deserted street at night in the same way. So, what women filmmakers bring to the table is experiences of women. In my opinion, women also create more well-rounded characters, be it male or female. You will find that the men in their films are not afraid of showing affection or vulnerability.

HS: Throughout the book, you have not only spoken about their successes but also their challenges.

ND: It is important to look at challenges because women face different kinds of challenges than men. There are very few male filmmakers who would have to organise a shoot around the needs of their child or who would have a cinematographer on the set that refuses to listen to them. A very crucial part of understanding how gender interferes with filmmaking is to understand the challenges that women face.

HS: Among the women directors you have profiled in the book, whose story is closest to your heart, and why?

ND: It’s difficult to answer. All of them are very close to my heart for different reasons. Some for their complexity, others for their honesty. I am not being diplomatic here. I really love each and every filmmaker in the book.

HS: Who among the new crop of filmmakers do you admire the most and why?

ND: Someone I find very promising is Anjali Menon. She has made three films and all of them stand out for their honesty and humour. She has a very delicate understanding of human nature. 

HS: ‘What’s gender go to do with it’ is a pertinent question asked in the book. What do you feel about it personally?

ND: Gender's got everything to do with it. I do not understand women who get away with saying things like "I am gender agnostic" (Just read it in an interview with a well-known actress). Can someone tell me what it means? If you stop believing in something, it ceases to exist? Does it stop being a social reality?

HS: Can you tell us a little about yourself…

ND: I spent the first 16 years of my life in a small, nondescript town in Madhya Pradesh called Sehore. I have to tell you that the son preference and treating daughters as second-rate citizens was commonplace here, which led to my feminist awakening at a very early age. Later, I moved to Mumbai to study journalism. As a journalist, I wrote on independent and regional cinemas of India for five years. Then, I did an MA in Gender Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Since the completion of my master's, I have been working at the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality at Ashoka University, Sonipat.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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