There are MANY (believe me, MANY) things that annoy me about the discussion about this documentary. The following are a few points I need to express after watching a lot of the news debates on the topic of bans and specifically the Nirbhaya documentary.
What I find the most IRONIC about the debate that is happening in our country is that policy makers, politicians and people in power who condemn the documentary HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM AND AT THE MOST HAVE READ TRANSCRIPTS (e.g.: the BJP’s Shaina NC and Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court Dushyant Dave)
Secondly, the people as mentioned above believe that interviewing the rapist, Mukesh Singh provides him a platform to justify his actions. Let’s all not forget that this man is on death row. No matter what he choses to say, he will die. The point of interviewing him was to expose the SICK minds of these men and also to highlight the fact that EVEN REGULAR INDIAN MEN SOMETIMES SHARE THE SAME OPINIONS TO THOSE OF RAPISTS. Javed Akthar drove this point home VERY well in Parliament. Let us ALSO remember that the movie DID NOT GLORIFY THE RAPIST OR HIS OPINIONS. If you misinterpreted it that way YOU ARE SIMPLY WRONG AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND RHETORICAL FILMMAKING.
Some people at this point say that the film portrays ALL Indian men as rapists (sound familiar to that ‘not all men’ topic) and ALL Indian women as poor helpless victims. As a woman of this country I honestly AM afraid of MOST men in my country and their overbearing attitudes have FORCED women to become helpless. This is a Feminist issue, and WOMEN’S SAFETY should be at the forefront, not the reputation of men. If the men of India feel that they DO NOT think of women so poorly then they need to PROVE IT. There were 35 onlookers when Jyoti Singh and her friend were found naked and bleeding to death but ONLY ONE POLICEMAN helped. If the men of India had taken her to the hospital then maybe I wouldn’t be bringing this up at all. In india we teach women to AVOID rape rather than men not to rape. So I think Indian men have a poor reputation to begin with anyway.
Speaking of reputations, the Indian government claims that the documentary is an international conspiracy to defame India. This stems mostly due to the cause the Leslee Udwin is not Indian and that this is a BBC documentary. To this I would like to say, did ANYONE fight so hard to ban Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire? His movie (albeit based off a book) showed largely India’s slums, poverty, underworld and corrupt policemen. Did anyone think that that would defame India? Nope. Was Boyle Indian? Nope. In fact we CHEERED when the movie won an Oscar. India didn’t worry that post Slumdog, a LOT of people from the West viewed India simply as a country of slums. Then it didn’t matter. So why does it matter now…especially since this film is based on FACTS and not fiction.
What truly defames India is a regular ‘Let it go’ (“Chalta Hain”) attitude. Didn’t the security exposes post the 26/11 terror attacks defame India? Don’t ministers of parliament who watch PORN DURING ASSEMBLIES defame India? Don’t politicians who bribe and threaten their way to power defame India? There are MANY MANY MANY more things this country needs to worry about. If India wishes to be seen in a good light then the Government needs to STOP pushing things under the carpet in the form of bans and actually start changing the lifestyle of the average Indian. And just to be clear— the “western countries” the Government is so scared of already know that India is unsafe for women. Delhi has been nicknamed the RAPE CAPITAL OF INDIA. Isn’t THIS something we should be ashamed of?
Now regarding Censorship, a lot of people in power have said there is a limit to freedom of expression and that it is social responsibility. To that I say, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Banning ANYTHING in India is undemocratic. You cannot claim to be an inclusive country and then impose a ban (this would apply to the idiotic beef ban as well). Also bans are futile because Youtube and Tumblr and Torrents exist. Any person with a cellphone and a data connection has access to these “banned” films. If you ban a documentary on rape and intend to “curb the internet” then I hope that popular WhatsApp video of a girl’s gang rape is ALSO banned because I don’t see anyone doing anything about that.
With censorship, I find hypocrisy. The Censor Board and Government claim that films like India’s Daughter will INCITE rape. Do these people really think the average Indian is THAT STUPID? If we were, then (like the ‘smoking is injurious to health’ warning Indians see EVERYWHERE) there should also be trigger warnings and violence warnings. News channels should stop reporting murder for fear that it will INCITE people into committing murder. Shouldn’t item numbers THAT REGULARLY OBJECTIFY WOMEN also carry warnings as well?
On the other hand I DO AGREE with those who say the NAME of the documentary is problematic. For a film that aims at empowering women, the name India’s Daughter only puts India’s girls into another tighter box. The only way to feel empathetic for her is to find some relation to her like a sister, wife, mother or daughter instead of viewing her as an individual W O M A N. However, this is a very small pitfall in comparison to the other points I mentioned above.
In conclusion, what I worry about here is not just the horrifying situation of women’s safety in India but also the attitude of our government to these topics. On one hand we want to uplift women but are in fact shutting them down. I don’t need to go into detail and enumerate the number of politicians who have all preached that Indian women who do so and so, or wear so and so should be kept at home or worse, raped and punished.
It is alright for someone to not enjoy the film or have their opinion about it— but a healthy discussion (which is what India lacks) is not possible if no one has SEEN the film…and this applies to any topic.
The ban on India’s Daughter needs to be lifted and the Nirbhaya story discussed. It has been the push India needed to start a powerful protest movement, not unlike those of Ferguson and Je Suis Charlie. Moreover it is the hot iron rod India needs to push her into FINALLY taking action and bettering the safety for women. After all, how can I be a well informed, empowered woman if I’m made to sit at home and have a blindfold over my eyes?
#nirbhaya #documentary #India'sdaughter#Delhigangrape
What I find the most IRONIC about the debate that is happening in our country is that policy makers, politicians and people in power who condemn the documentary HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM AND AT THE MOST HAVE READ TRANSCRIPTS (e.g.: the BJP’s Shaina NC and Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court Dushyant Dave)
Secondly, the people as mentioned above believe that interviewing the rapist, Mukesh Singh provides him a platform to justify his actions. Let’s all not forget that this man is on death row. No matter what he choses to say, he will die. The point of interviewing him was to expose the SICK minds of these men and also to highlight the fact that EVEN REGULAR INDIAN MEN SOMETIMES SHARE THE SAME OPINIONS TO THOSE OF RAPISTS. Javed Akthar drove this point home VERY well in Parliament. Let us ALSO remember that the movie DID NOT GLORIFY THE RAPIST OR HIS OPINIONS. If you misinterpreted it that way YOU ARE SIMPLY WRONG AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND RHETORICAL FILMMAKING.
Some people at this point say that the film portrays ALL Indian men as rapists (sound familiar to that ‘not all men’ topic) and ALL Indian women as poor helpless victims. As a woman of this country I honestly AM afraid of MOST men in my country and their overbearing attitudes have FORCED women to become helpless. This is a Feminist issue, and WOMEN’S SAFETY should be at the forefront, not the reputation of men. If the men of India feel that they DO NOT think of women so poorly then they need to PROVE IT. There were 35 onlookers when Jyoti Singh and her friend were found naked and bleeding to death but ONLY ONE POLICEMAN helped. If the men of India had taken her to the hospital then maybe I wouldn’t be bringing this up at all. In india we teach women to AVOID rape rather than men not to rape. So I think Indian men have a poor reputation to begin with anyway.
Speaking of reputations, the Indian government claims that the documentary is an international conspiracy to defame India. This stems mostly due to the cause the Leslee Udwin is not Indian and that this is a BBC documentary. To this I would like to say, did ANYONE fight so hard to ban Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire? His movie (albeit based off a book) showed largely India’s slums, poverty, underworld and corrupt policemen. Did anyone think that that would defame India? Nope. Was Boyle Indian? Nope. In fact we CHEERED when the movie won an Oscar. India didn’t worry that post Slumdog, a LOT of people from the West viewed India simply as a country of slums. Then it didn’t matter. So why does it matter now…especially since this film is based on FACTS and not fiction.
What truly defames India is a regular ‘Let it go’ (“Chalta Hain”) attitude. Didn’t the security exposes post the 26/11 terror attacks defame India? Don’t ministers of parliament who watch PORN DURING ASSEMBLIES defame India? Don’t politicians who bribe and threaten their way to power defame India? There are MANY MANY MANY more things this country needs to worry about. If India wishes to be seen in a good light then the Government needs to STOP pushing things under the carpet in the form of bans and actually start changing the lifestyle of the average Indian. And just to be clear— the “western countries” the Government is so scared of already know that India is unsafe for women. Delhi has been nicknamed the RAPE CAPITAL OF INDIA. Isn’t THIS something we should be ashamed of?
Now regarding Censorship, a lot of people in power have said there is a limit to freedom of expression and that it is social responsibility. To that I say, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Banning ANYTHING in India is undemocratic. You cannot claim to be an inclusive country and then impose a ban (this would apply to the idiotic beef ban as well). Also bans are futile because Youtube and Tumblr and Torrents exist. Any person with a cellphone and a data connection has access to these “banned” films. If you ban a documentary on rape and intend to “curb the internet” then I hope that popular WhatsApp video of a girl’s gang rape is ALSO banned because I don’t see anyone doing anything about that.
With censorship, I find hypocrisy. The Censor Board and Government claim that films like India’s Daughter will INCITE rape. Do these people really think the average Indian is THAT STUPID? If we were, then (like the ‘smoking is injurious to health’ warning Indians see EVERYWHERE) there should also be trigger warnings and violence warnings. News channels should stop reporting murder for fear that it will INCITE people into committing murder. Shouldn’t item numbers THAT REGULARLY OBJECTIFY WOMEN also carry warnings as well?
On the other hand I DO AGREE with those who say the NAME of the documentary is problematic. For a film that aims at empowering women, the name India’s Daughter only puts India’s girls into another tighter box. The only way to feel empathetic for her is to find some relation to her like a sister, wife, mother or daughter instead of viewing her as an individual W O M A N. However, this is a very small pitfall in comparison to the other points I mentioned above.
In conclusion, what I worry about here is not just the horrifying situation of women’s safety in India but also the attitude of our government to these topics. On one hand we want to uplift women but are in fact shutting them down. I don’t need to go into detail and enumerate the number of politicians who have all preached that Indian women who do so and so, or wear so and so should be kept at home or worse, raped and punished.
It is alright for someone to not enjoy the film or have their opinion about it— but a healthy discussion (which is what India lacks) is not possible if no one has SEEN the film…and this applies to any topic.
The ban on India’s Daughter needs to be lifted and the Nirbhaya story discussed. It has been the push India needed to start a powerful protest movement, not unlike those of Ferguson and Je Suis Charlie. Moreover it is the hot iron rod India needs to push her into FINALLY taking action and bettering the safety for women. After all, how can I be a well informed, empowered woman if I’m made to sit at home and have a blindfold over my eyes?
#nirbhaya #documentary #India'sdaughter#Delhigangrape
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