10 cases of violence against women by husband and in-laws are reported every hour in India. This is the most reported crime of all gender based violence. What is strange about this in a society that is as close knit as ours is the fact that there always will be a spectator to gender based abuse, especially domestic violence. Neighbours hearing the screams, family members keeping mum throughout. There is an aura of silence that surrounds the institution of marriage and the right that society and religion gives a man over the woman in a family. Teaching men from young that they are meant to protect and control, the passive, submissive woman. In such a scenario, it is not just the man who thinks using coercion and violence to control a woman is normal and the norm, but it is also society that further sanctions and empowers this behaviour as the typical masculine way of treating a woman. There is no sense of guilt or shock or remorse attached to domestic violence, with an attitude such as 'it is none of my business' surrounding the issue, what is much more important than stopping it and spreading a message to victims and perpetrators, is to spread the message of 'breaking the silence' among onlookers. There is a dire need to stop domestic abuse, marital rape and give women liberty and basic rights within their personal space. It is a battle that men and women alike must come together to fight. When more and more people talk about it, know of it, there will be a general awareness of the issue and that is a starting point. A starting point to change.
We chose the visual medium to do what we do best and send a powerful message to the world.
This film has a little piece of our heart in it.
This is how it began.
We were very keen on doing a film for Women's Day. One afternoon our Producer, Mahesh Karunakaren sat still on the couch and said, "So listen, just imagine..." and he narrated what now is the film. Moved by the idea, Sarah approached the brand that we were closely working with on another project, equally touched by the script, the idea was brought to life in the next ten days. The brand, Strawberry Lenceria, trusted us completely with this and gave us complete creative control over the film.
This film brought so many lovely people together. A crew of 70 members who believed in the idea and wanted to see it to fruition just as much as we did. Each giving it their all. Many came up to us and said, "I've worked on so many films, I don't look forward to sharing them, as much as I'm looking forward to this." We had employees from the brand's side help us with the extra cast.
After 10 days of work from start to delivery, the film was out and seeing the views go up every minute, having newspapers contact us, magazines and viral portals share the film we knew we had made a difference, a little ripple.
Here is what went on BTS.
