Meenakshi Shedde: Investigating Paradise

Im currently at the Berlin Film Festival and struggling to be Indian By which I mean that when Irsquom moderating postfilm questionanswers with directors and stars of world cinema including Indian cinema for the Berlin International Film Festival I like to wear a sari Now I love wearing saris especially handloom ones But when youre in Berlin and it is minus five degrees wearing a sari becomes a projectItrsquos bldy cold and windy and the occasional bouts of sunshine and blue skies can be very deceptive temperaturewise I figured the trick is to wear layers So first itrsquos inner thingummies Then leggings and a long warm slip that covers your midriff otherwise exposed when you wear a sariblouse Then jeans Then a sari petticoat Then the sari And finally a woollen overcoat a woollen cap and gloves are optional Then I can be somewhat comfortable being Indian This whole chukker can easily shave 20 minutes off your schedule I was discussing the challenges of being Indian in bitter cold with filmmaker Leena Manimekalai who suggested I make a DIY video on how to wear a sari in the cold HmmWe are past the halfway mark at Berlin at the time of writing and my favourite films here include Ildiko Enyedirsquos On Body and Soul Hungary Agnieszka Hollandrsquos Spoor Poland Sebastian Leliorsquos A Fantastic Woman Chile Oren Movermanrsquos The Dinner USA with Richard Gere Laura Linney Gurinder Chadharsquos Viceroyrsquos House UKIndia and Merzak Allouachersquos in pic Tahqiq fel djenna Investigating Paradise FranceAlgeriaThe last in particular was fascinating Directed by Allouache the Algerianborn French director Investigating Paradise is a fantastic funny and terrifying featurelength documentary on the impact of globalised Islam today Attractive Algerian woman journalist Nedjma interviews a number of people while investigating Islamic notions of paradise including Salafi and Wahhabi preachers who recruit jihadisAs she meets youngsters women preachers artists and political activists it becomes clear that paradise is a marketable product and that Wahhabis are spending big bucks to market their version of Islam worldwide through preachers televangelism books and online videos Man after man describes the 72 houris waiting for him in paradise mdash their black hair white skin its softness Algerian novelist Kamel Daoud calls it ldquoporno Islamismrdquo a fantasy and ldquoa cross between daycare and socialismrdquo When asked whatrsquos in paradise for women most people havenrsquot bothered to think about it Daoud speculates deadpan ldquoBigger kitchens Bigger washing machinesrdquo A woman reflects ldquoWhen their husbands are busy with the 72 houris the women here will finally get freedomrdquoModerate preachers and political activists underline how this notion of paradise has nothing to do with true Islam that compassion and doing good deeds will get you to paradise that the repression frustrations and denial in this life that are to be rewarded with sexual favours after death only show how urgently contemporary Islam is in need of reform But at the QA the director pointed out that while the journalist was actually played by an actress all the interviewees were real pushing this docufiction into an even more debatable spaceI canrsquot wait to see a similar documentary investigating Hindu notions of its glorious past history and identity Nisha Pahuja had already done a great job with her documentary The World Before Her somebody urgently needs to take it forward I bet it will be as funny and terrifying a mirror to ourselves as we have ever seenMeenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival awardwinning critic curator to festivals worldwide and journalist Reach her at meenakshisheddegmailcom