Mid-Day Anniversary: How this arts collective is helping marginalised with media literacy

Nandini Kochar (second from right) and Sapan Taneja (extreme right) at the community space in Jogeshwari. Pics/Satej Shinde; Nazaria Arts Collective

Even as we write it, a new India is irreverently, and with sass and humour, asking questions of its predecessors. The clear-eyed vision, practical humour, and language is something Nandini Kochar and Co., are familiar with. Over the last four years, Kochar has been overseeing the Nazaria Arts Collective which began in the hamlets of Shankarwadi in Jogeshwari East. "It started in 2022 with a colleague, Riddhi Samarth and myself, during a Teach for India fellowship. "We were passionate about bringing media education to the students, because we felt a systemic absence of creative education in the public system," the co-founder shares.

The absence of media literacy to a generation embedded in new media felt contradictory to them. "They [youngsters in marginalised communities] engage with media on a molecular level, and yet, there is close to no access in formal training in media fields," she explains. At a time when Oxfam India reports reveal that 90 per cent of leadership roles across the media industry lacks diversity and representation, it is not surprising. While accessibility has eased, education remains expensive.

Moments from their summer film school

Film programme lead Sapan Taneja explains that the gap between a media perspective of a young person on the margins of society, and media pedagogy needed bridging. "When designing programmes, you cannot design it in the same way you would for a larger private institution," he explains. The programmes are also designed to focus on technical education - from lighting, camera operations, and sound equipment. "The work has to start ground up, among the community, otherwise it is merely tokenism," he adds. It helps that the team is young, and is closer to these teenagers in terms of world view.

Having worked with over 500 children across 50 urban and rural communities across India, the programmes have made a mark. One of the students from Jogeshwari, Iqra Shaikh, showed her film Hijabi Hacker at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala in 2025. Kochar shares, "A girl who was not allowed to travel from Jogeshwari to South Mumbai to attend college, received permission to travel by flight to Kerala. It has now given her the confidence to exercise agency in the smaller decisions of her life." Many of the first cohort of students have used their internship earnings to fund their future education. The co-founder admits, "Economic mobility was not our primary objective when we started, but it was a wake-up call. Now, this generation is inspiring the next to choose a dignified self-sustaining income."

The collective is now moving towards institutionalising their programme. If things stay on track, their Basti Media programme is set to be the first diploma of its kind in the city by the next academic year. Kochar's point lands with emphasis, "Ultimately, the problem we are responding to is a systemic one."

Did you know?

Over four years, the Collective has supported 1000 films and short films, and trained 500 teenagers and women in media studies.