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India's Forgotten Women (DVD)
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(DVD)
Product code: 5019282620283
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| Genre: Documentary |
| Year of Release: 2010 |
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In stock
Web price: £8.99
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The fourth in a series of documentaries, director Michael Lawson explores the outrageous plight of millions of women oppressed in India today because of their caste identity.
The documentary, filmed in towns and villages in and around Hyderabad, Bengalaru, Belgaum and Mumbai portrays comprehensive claims of caste oppression, and in some cases outright persecution. Presenter, Anjali Guptara, unearths astonishing, never-seen-before evidence of domestic violence, dowry crime, sex selective abortion, female infanticide, bonded labour, rape, temple prostitution, and human trafficking. Some of the most shocking yet moving episodes are interviews with temple prostitutes, the dark scenes of squalor in Mumbai’s red light district, and the simple dignity of women whose whole bodies have been burned and scarred by unprincipled and heartless caste violence.
After sixty years of Independence, and India’s enormous economic growth, surprisingly little has changed for women on the lowest rung of the caste ladder. In a society where freedom, democracy and wealth are so highly prized why is it that Dalit women are still so shockingly abused, exploited and oppressed?
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Reviews and Comments
Rating:
Posted by:
Neil Povey
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This shocking documentary, narrated by Camden Town resident Anjali Gupatara, is being screened next week in Leicester Square. It is nothing short of a call to arms for the international community to stop standing by while the world’s biggest democracy turns a blind eye to the plight of literally millions of women who suffer unspeakable violence and oppression in modern-day India.
It takes us into the homes and communities of women called the Dalit – the lowest members of the lowest caste – and outlines the issues facing them. As well as unbelievable poverty, they face a tripartite thrust of discrimination: not only their caste and financial situation, but the mere fact they are women.
Anjali, a former drama student, was asked to narrate the film by charity The Pipe Village Trust, who make films highlighting social issues in India.
She says that even though she was prepared for what they would discover, she still couldn’t help being shocked by the scale of the oppression.
“It is comparable to South African apartheid,” she says. “Caste remains the iron fist of religious dogma.”
Once you look at the figures the film flags up and the suffering caught on camera, this is a very raw form of apartheid. In Mumbai alone, there are more than 100,000 women who have been forced into prostitution.
The film uncovers the terrible secrets of how at some Hindu temples there are women who work as prostitutes for the priests and worshippers.
While this practice has been supposedly outlawed, they have been removed from the interiors of the temples and put into nearby communes so the men of the community can continue to abuse them.
The film is littered with similar shocking facts, ranging from the practices of sex-selective abortion and infanticide, terrible domestic violence and murder. It is uneasy watching, but vitally important this story is told.
Review by DAN CARRIER
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