Breaking free, for a minute

It is evident even over the telephone that 14 yearold Vaishnavi Markand likes to wait and watch while you work out all things implicit in a conversation ldquoIf as a resident of a village you go up to the woman sarpanch with a problem and she is shifty when it comes to signing an important document steals glances at her husband and doesnrsquot sign on the dotted line what do you think it meansrdquo she demands Markand doesnrsquot wait for an answer Vaishnavi Markand second from left Sonu Gedam third from left and Sapna Jadhav extreme right shooting their films at the Film and Television Institute of India Pune Pic Krunal Gosavi Her tone gets more vehement with every sentence and she says her short film Mera Gaon Kiske Haath Mein will answer some difficult questions on gender discrimination and ask some too while at it Markand who lives in Kopara in Yavatmal district and 19 other girls from other villages in Maharashtra spent time editing one minutelong films on gender discrimination at the Film and Television Institute of India FTII campus Pune Yesterday the films were screened at The Xavier Institute of Communications XIC in association with FTII and UNICEF who work on empowerment programmes with the 20 girls back home Markand in her characteristic intense tone says that the moment she was selected to make a film and was told about the theme she knew she wanted to take on the issue of how women sarpanchs in many villages across the country are titular heads ldquoHaving a woman sarpanch is a sham in many villages Mostly in such cases the sarpanchrsquos husband takes most decisionsrdquo says Markand ldquoAnd it ishappening in my village right nowrdquo she adds Markand attends UNICEFrsquos Deepshikha programme in Kopara which empowers adolescent girls to become efficient leaders through education lifeskills HIV and AIDS awareness and workshops on handling finance During one such workshop Markand learnt about how their village was actually run by their sarpanchrsquos corrupt husband ldquoI went to the sarpanchrsquos home and told her about how we needed a water tank in the vicinity She seemed unsure of what to do and asked me to come someu00a0other timerdquo Three days later when Markand and her friend went to the sarpanchrsquos home they saw her husband sitting on the sarpanchrsquos chair while she scrubbed the floor ldquoA local woman handed him some papers and he forged the sarpanchrsquos signaturerdquo says Markandu00a0Markandrsquos film too ends right at the same point She says she didnrsquot want to show a happy ending with the sarpanch fighting her husband ldquoThere are no happy endings in my village and I want to shock people into actionrdquo says Markand simply ldquoIt is a fact mdash we girls are still second class citizens We can elect women sarpanchs but it is hogwash and I want to tell it like it isrdquo Sanjay Chandekar FTIIrsquos 47 yearold community radio incharge says he is surprised at how nuanced the girlsrsquo films are It was Chandekar who brought this project to FTII after he met UNICEFrsquos Maharashtra coordinator Swati Mohapatra a few weeks ago ldquoI met Swati to gather some research and statistics for my radio shows and ended up agreeing to conduct radio and media workshops for girls from rural Maharashtra Gradually this project took shape and I agreed to help the girls with equipment and mentorship to make genderbased filmsrdquo says Chandekar This is the first time that FTII has tied up for a social project such as this one says Chandekar This meant choosing the simplest shooting and editing software for the girls who do not have any prior experience in filmmaking training them for the process from scratch and ensuring that the quality of their films is not compromised To train the girls Chandekar invited filmmaker Anju Uppal who has made genderbased films Neelkanti Patekar to train the girls in direction and TV and media expert u00a0Samar Nakhate FTIIrsquos students adds Chandekar have always seen and aspired for the glamourous side of cinema ldquoThis was the first time students came forward to help these girls with cinematography and editing and I am glad they got a chance to see that films can be a powerful toolrdquo says Chandekaru00a0Mohapatra agrees ldquoFTII is the countryrsquos premier film institute When the girls see their films they will know that their cause is out there to be debated upon and discussed and that they can be role models for other girlsrdquo Fourteen yearold Sapna Jadhav who lives in Davargar in Jalna has made a film Chhaya about a girl who is married off as a minor and later divorces her husbandu00a0ldquoIt happened in a village near mine I was only six years old then but I remember the hullaballoo that arose when the girl took the drastic step People spoke about it for years and I would pester my mother to tell me more When I got a chance to hold a camera and tell a womancentric story I knew what I had to dordquo Through her film Jadhav wants to spread the word about what an early marriage can do to an adolescent girlrsquos mind and body She speaks of pregnancy emotional trauma and psychological pressures lucidly and her understanding is beyond her years ldquoShow me how many boys in my village understand these basic issuesrdquo Jadhav says she was always optimistic about her subject but not so much about her technical skills ldquoI had never held a camera forget working with it zooming in and out with itrdquo she giggles Over the past week Jadhav says she learnt how to direct her actors the girls play roles in each otherrsquos movies how to write strong dialogues and ldquohow to get the best anglerdquo Sonu Geda a 20 yearold resident of Dechkheda in Yavatmal district has made a film on dowry ldquoI was almost married off last year but I rejected the boy because he demanded dowryrdquo Geda admits that her face contorts with rage when someone mentions the subject of dowry ldquoItrsquos like selling your daughterrdquo ldquoMany women just refused to speak when I approached them with my camera One has to doggedly pursue a subject as insidious as this or risk getting nowhere with itrdquo she says u00a0