The Hindu Business Line : It's their point of view!

Is a `Made By Women' stamp enough reason to see a movie? Point Of View, a Mumbai-based organisation, held a three-day festival `celebrating women filmmakers around the world' in New Delhi last week. Judging by the number of people who streamed into the Stein Auditorium at the Habitat Centre, it's found takers. On a rain-spattered evening, even the balcony was bulging.

"It's grown three-fold in one year," says Pramada Menon, "not just in terms of the number of movies we're showing, but in the media attention we've been getting." Pramada works with Creating Resources For Empowerment In Action (CREA), which focuses on women and empowerment, and is Point Of View's partner for the event in New Delhi. "Last year, we had to beg the media for coverage. This year, they have been arriving in droves."

Sure, the numbers have grown, but it isn't just the sheer quality of movies that's drawing them in... there were several reputed offerings from around the world (Iran, Finland, Israel, Norway, France, Australia, England, Germany, the US, and India) which droned and stated the obvious, and which nearly swamped the few outstanding ones. According to Aditi Mittal, one of the five Point Of View persons responsible for the selection of movies, they cast their net wide, trawl the Internet, and get recommendations from buffs and experts. But like all festivals, what you get is not everything you are promised. "The main thing is," she says, "we get to turn a spotlight on films made by women, which would otherwise go unseen."

What's clear is that the festival was a success because it was sharply targeted at people who want to see something other than the routine fare. Audiences now are not just demanding, they are discerning. Though the scope of these film festivals may seem tiny now, as compared to the vast majority which tramps into movie halls for their fix of `masala' every Friday, films and film festivals which offer another point of view have only one way to go: Up.

Does this mean a return of interest in all kinds of creative outpourings by women? By no means is the fervour reminiscent of the kind of buzz women's organisations were generating a couple of decades ago, but then those were the days of trying to get off the ground, and a long, hard grind of struggling to survive. Twenty years down the line, you don't have to work as hard when you tell people, like Point Of View does, "you're seeing less than half the picture without the point of view of women".

One eagerly anticipated film made the festival noteworthy. Sancharram, directed by Ligy Pullappally, tells the story of two young women in rural Kerala, the vivacious Delilah and the quieter, more intense Kiran. Inseparable as kids growing up in next-door homes, one Christian, the other Nair, their affection turns into a full-blown affair. As the town gets wind of it (Kiran writes lyrical love letters to Delilah, and they meet in secluded places to kiss and caress), there is outrage. A suitable boy is found for Delilah, the more biddable of the two; it is Kiran who walks off, to start a journey (sancharram) of her own.

Chicago-based Ligy has come up with a sensitive film, which, strikingly, does not pull punches. The passion between the girls is given not a cowardly metaphor (two entwined flowers, for example), but is shown for what it is. The physical attraction and its consummation have been delicately handled, but is explicit enough, an extremely unusual feature in our movies.

The other thing is the way the two react when people start berating them. Delilah and Kiran do not pretend or lie. They acknowledge their relationship, and are willing to stand up, and be counted. Sancharram, both by virtue of its theme, and its handling, can easily come out of the folds of festivals. The director, whose first feature film this is, should work on finding distribution and exhibition avenues in India.

Young and `powerful'

There is a demographic segment out there, which will see movies regardless of what else is going on in their lives, preferably on the opening weekend. The 14-25 year-old band is coveted the world over, for various reasons, chief among them being their formidable power to `open' films. For example, XXX2, the sequel to XXX, was as eagerly awaited among a certain section of the audience in India as in the West, for its lead actor-rapper Ice Cube's cool moves, and its non-stop action.

It's not just Hollywood, which depends upon those with `pester' power to fatten its coffers. The latest Ekta Kapoor production exhorts youthful viewers to find out how cool they are in Kya Kool Hain Hum, whose chief ingredients are sex, sex and more of the same.

Ekta, whose previous flirtation with the big screen has resulted in a string of flops, has not taken any chances this time. The film's focus is on how to get people to laugh at dirty jokes, and risqué lines, and keep them laughing. Tusshar Kapoor, who is still far from being a big name in Bollywood, gets another chance, courtesy sister Ekta; his partner in crime is the politically connected Ritesh Deshmukh, who has also been on the fringes of success for some time.

The script is proudly flimsy and silly, and full of the kind of fastback chat and sexy rap that youngsters in school and college find so cool these days. Will it work? Early indications, after the first weekend, show that it is doing average business in the metros, and not much in the smaller towns.

Up next, a whole slew of movies aimed at the summer holiday crowd, in the mood for fun and games.

Response can be sent to life@thehindu.co.in

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