Disclaimer. It is not my intention to brag even though that’s what this is going to sound like. If I were to get Rs 10 each time someone called Qarib Qarib Singlle, ‘delightful,’ I would end up with a giant stash of bucks. At a restaurant, there was a lady who along with calling it that, wanted to hug me. (We did, by the way).
It’s not a word I’ve heard before for my work because I’ve traditionally been a ‘blood n action’ kind of filmmaker. This open-hearted laughter in cinema halls, the smiles on people’s faces as they walked out after the end credits rolled, it’s all a new experience for me. And it compels me to say – every director must try making a ‘happy’ film at least once, it brings a sparkle into one’s soul.
I’ve always gone theatre-hopping to watch the response to my films but this film, I sheepishly confess, I saw the maximum number of times. It’s crucial research and many times it doesn’t go as one would like, but no director’s job is done without experiencing a live audience reacting to one’s film.
A large, dark room of strangers who have taken the effort to step out of their homes to come enjoy a ticket’s worth, where you, who engaged with the story as if your life depended on it, have been relegated to an outsider’s position, left to soak in an alchemy you mistakenly thought you knew something about, watching in awe, your own film, those throwaway moments you didn’t think would elicit laughter — it’s shattering in the way any intense, unpredictable, full-blooded tryst with life is!
Six weeks of showing in theatres is a sweet end to a tough year. And, I cannot help but feel it’s a triumph for the smallish group of women directors in the film industry. I began writing and directing two decades ago and even though we don’t count names of woman helmers on one hand as we did then, the number of us in the movies is still painfully low, nowhere close to where it needs to be.
Women storytellers, women’s tales, women’s perspectives — these are vital for a diverse, rich entertainment culture. Surely, there are a staggering number of stories that haven’t been touched upon, women characters waiting to be written, plots light and serious awaiting their turn under the sun. Complex, captivating women of many shapes, sizes and shades of dusky, with all the madness and fury of life, flawed and fascinating, electric and imaginative minds, hot blood in their veins — what a treasure box waiting to be unlocked!
But where are these storiesIJ And why aren’t more women making moviesIJ I’m not sure what’s stopping them because most of the women I’ve worked with are hardworking and meticulous. They take nothing for granted. They get the job done, with softness or aggression. They like getting their hands dirty instead of receding into the background where it’s probably safer but also unadventurous.
They retain their sense of humour through uncertainties. Most of them are emotional, even the ones who say they aren’t. They pull out strength from their core, they draw from something deeper because they’re looking to satisfy an urge that doesn’t begin and end with a project, theirs is a search which will only find a temporary resting place when a change has come about, a change in their lives but also some shift in life itself. And this longing isn’t something that’s happened by accident.
Many of us in the film industry are independent, urbane women, but when a voice has been muffled for centuries, when an entire identity has been made to feel that it’s best valued when it’s subdued or, perhaps, altogether unexpressed, then making a film, or designing a set, or styling characters or applying make-up — this would mean something vitally more than just being part of a project.
Even for women who have largely unobstructed lives, social conditioning is always at play in some corner of their personalities. It’s ever-present in one’s stride, tenor, smile and sorrows (Oh don’t be such a chick, wipe those tears!) So, it will take all the resilience one can muster to swim against a tide that’s been flowing in the same direction for thousands of years.
While a director isn’t consciously trying to create equality or justice while setting up a shot or instructing an actor — at that time, she’s simply setting up a shot, there is an undeniable charge in the atmosphere, something propelling her to push more, to endeavour for more. To have her voice heard. That’s because, it simply hasn’t been singing long enough.
I have no doubt that if the woman’s perspective starts its ballad in as full-throated a way as possible, it will change the movies. It will change storytelling. And there is but one way to make this happen — having more women participate in the business of writing, directing and producing. Simple. That’s how we will ever know what an inclusive vision is. Although I can hardly imagine what the results might be, one thing is certain, it will look fresh, feel fresh and be fresh. like the tributaries of a mighty river, stories will go in all possible directions with no preset structure or set pattern, discovering themselves as they forge ahead, excited, intrepid and uncontrolled. What could be better for a business that has had something of a disastrous year!
But for this to inch towards reality, woman storytellers will need to hunker down in front of their laptops and write, write, write. After which, they’ll need to wear off the soles of their shoes, pitching, pitching, pitching. Then they’ll need to use formidable persuasive powers to form teams that will follow them like foot soldiers. And then, they’ll need to go out there and embrace the unknown with just an urgent dream knocking at their hearts. No impediments in their way will stop them nor long nights of doubt. For, their magnificence will propel them forward and just a little way ahead will lie that wondrous time of storytelling.
