GULABI GULABI

SHORT FILM CORNER, CANNES 2009 'The Gulabi Gang' is a documentary on a social movement in the villages of Bundelkhand- a group of women committed to protecting themselves and other women against social malpractice, abusive husbands and corrupt administrators. So called because of the bright pink saris they wear, the movement is led by Sampat Pal, a forty five year old semi literate village woman who was married at twelve and became a mother at fifteen. Since 2006, when the Gulabi gang gave themselves a name and an attire, they have intervened in several cases of domestic abuse,prevented child marriages and exposed governemnt scams. As a young woman having grown up in urban India, I am keenly aware of the privileges that have been mine by virtue of birth. However, I also question the freedom that is apparently mine, wondering if a scratch in the surface of my thoughts and relationships will reveal old beliefs that I and other people around me have applied coats of unconscious polish to. To travel then, from the urban landscape to the rural, in the face of the ever growing urban rural divide, is to travel, in a way, from the present to the past, to wonder what the future holds. To travel is to negotiate the space that stretches between 'us' and 'them' in order to know if we really are different, irrespective of the glaringly obvious gaps in terms of the externalities. For me, this film is an act of love. Love for women who are fighting against the odds in circumstances I can barely even begin to imagine. Therefore, it is also important that this film be, not just a work of art for my own self, but a film that communicates clearly who these women are and what they are fighting for, in order for it to be a useful tool.

Role: Producer, director, editor.  on CURRENT TV : MORE: I am now working on a follow up documentary on the Gulabi Gang. Visit: www.thegulabigang.blogspot.com ( in progress )