THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The oppression and discrimination that the women in our society are subjected to have been tellingly brought out in the documentary ‘Bepurdah’ which was screened at the 8th International Short Film Festival of Kerala being held here.
A Muslim cleric in Ahmedabad once refused to give an interview to Rishika Namdev, director of the documentary, because she was a woman. He also insisted that she should visit him in the company of another male, which she could not do.
“I wanted to interview a ‘maulana’ for this documentary and when I sought his permission, he asked me to meet him in the company of a male. Since I was staying away from home and didn’t want to associate a stranger with the film, I went along with my cinematographer, a female. We waited for three hours, but he refused to meet us,” Rishika said.
This was one of the many problems faced by this PG student of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, during the shoot of her debut documentary, which deals with the oppression of women and explores the purdah system among Muslims and ghunghat among Hindus. (Ghunghat is a veil or headscarf worn by women to cover their head).
Rishika, who was assisted by her cinematographers, Shivaranjini Nair and Madhuri Ravishankar, was often asked to stop the documentary as many felt that the topic may hurt religious sentiments.
However, she listened to her own voice and talked to many women who had refused to come out of their homes. In purdah, they felt that they lacked an identity and, therefore, considered themselves odd and weird.
A girl, Amreen Banu, 15, says in the documentary: “I wore it for a short time and then I stopped. When I step out in the burqah, I feel a little awkward.” This awkwardness has forced her to confine herself to her home.
