Girl interrupted: Eye-opening, public funded film 'Laapata'

Someone once said, a woman subjected to rape is a victim twice over: Once when the crime actually takes place, and then again when she decides to speak out about it. Laapata questions just that.

Made by a young team based out of Bengaluru, this eye-opening, public funded film is making its way to film festivals across the country. Its director, Devanand Mahakud tells us more.

Raising over Rs 40,000, the group who has everyone from a 25 to 40-year-old, sought to take on all the women who are turned away and shamed by their families and are fighting alone.

Originally from Orissa, Devanand says, “I have come across many women from Odisha to Bengaluru who are highly educated professionals, but are victims (or should I say survivors?) of abuse, domestic violence, marital rape and harassment. They all suffer in silence for fear of the society.”

Shot in two days over four locations in the city, and with an empathetic plot, Laapata aims to get people to think and question. “We wanted to make a film for the society at large that questions — does a person remain the same person after such an incident? Are they accepted? Judged? Or rejected?” adds the director.

Devanand may have a master’s degree in economics but jumped into filmmaking, training at Ratan Thakore’s Misf!t realising the power films had to change the society. His earlier film Koshish — A Beautiful Day also takes on a social message of the increasing divorce rate in India.

According to Devanand, although the Garden City embraces change, knowledge and modern technology better than any other city, it has become one of India’s most unsafe cities.

“Incidents of minor girls getting raped in schools, young students being kidnapped from colleges and raped brutally, working women molested and harassed on their way home after a late night shift has become very common in Bangalore. The authorities may be trying their best, but the task falls to the society to be a strong pillar of support,” he says, deciding to involve the people of the city. “That was one of the reasons to make this a public-funded film — if you donate, you are most likely to watch it and our goal is to spread the message,” he says.

The film is now making its way to several film festivals including the Mumbai International Film Festival, Bangalore International short Film Festival, International Documentary and Short film festival of Kerala and Gujarat International Film Festival.

“This is a global issue, people just don’t know about it. The social stigma still prevails and it’s worrisome. We hope to explore several untold stories about rejection and denial of rape survivors to bring about a positive change,” says Devanand, hoping to end the circle of a crime upon a crime.