| Sasha John, producer of ‘Everything Is Fine’, was schooled in Dubai. |
It’s not often that a film which touches upon the subtle emotional abuse of women in Indian homes and the lasting scars it leaves behind on a survivor is made and becomes the toast of film festivals.
Sasha John, a UAE-based filmmaker who recently graduated from Columbia University in New York and attended primary school in Dubai, has gone out on a limb here and backed a short film about silent abuse.
Eroding self-worth
Fortunately, there are no bra-burning scenes or propaganda here, but a poignant portrait of a harried mother attempting to tell her independent daughter of her patriarchal marriage with her father.
His snide remarks and constant gaslighting erodes the mother’s self-worth on a daily basis, which is overlooked by everyone around her.
The short film titled Everything Is Fine, starring Seema Bhargava Pahwa (Ankhon Dekhi, Dum Lagake Haisha, Ferrari Ki Sawaari) and the National Award-winning Palomi Ghosh (Dance to the Rhythm, Mukti Bhavan/Hotel Salvation), premiered at the New York Indian Film Festival on May 10 after its successful outing at the Brussels Short Film Festival, where it won the Best Film in the Next Generation International category.
It packs quite a punch.
Subtle oppresion
So what prompted the 26-year-old to be a part of this project, which was headed by a cast and crew that was mostly women?
“When you read a script like that, you get reminded of women from your own family and the story resonates with you on a personal level … This kind of subtle oppression of women in their own homes by members of their own family is a part of our culture … It’s so ingrained in Indian society,” said John in an interview over the phone from New York.
At every screening, viewers invariably came up to them and told them that the deeply personal tale reminded them of someone they knew in their lives.
Directed by Mansi Nirmal Jain (who studied with John at Columbia University), Everything Is Fine is set in Delhi and chronicles the vacation of a set of middle-class Indian parents who visit their daughter at her apartment.
Pahwa plays the 58-year-old woman, who has been a subject of silent abuse by her husband who’s sexist and deeply misogynistic.
She wants to move in with her daughter Natasha (Ghosh), but her daughter’s apathetic reaction to her plight unsettles the mother.
The film ends on an open-ended note, hinting towards the mother taking charge of her own life.
“Often, housewives are expected to earn, tend to their children, cook meals and run the household. They are always on double duty,” said John.
Her own mother gave up her career as a professor when her board exams were looming and a few strands from the film resonated with her on a deep, personal level.
“Both the director and me were focused on telling the story in the most authentic way possible … There’s this scene in the film where the mother wants to buy a pair of shoes, but her husband hurries her on … that has happened to the director too,” said John.
Full-length feature
While the short film was primarily financed by the Katharina Otto Bernstein Production Grant, which was awarded to the film in 2015, the team is now working on a full-length feature around the same plot.
The casting is yet to be decided, but it’s going to be a ‘dramedy’ set in New York. Telling correctly represented Indian female stories is her goal.
Growing up in Dubai and studying in New York opened her eyes to the immigrant experiences that would make for good, riveting cinema.
“There are so many rich immigrant stories that I am interested in telling … In today’s times there’s a lack of authentically portrayed female stories. Either it’s told from the gaze of another male character or their male counterparts. It’s unfair and can lead to stereotype tropes of women.”
While there’s a raging debate on women being a robust part of the workforce in the entertainment industry worldwide, how difficult was it to make things happen in Delhi as Everything’s Fine was dominated by young women?
“If you are on the lookout for an instant location for your film and the location owner is male, he looks at you, your age and that you are a young producer from somewhere else … So as a producer, it helped me to have a line producer who was male. But I think the industry on the whole is trying to deal with that problem and come to terms with it … I want to push against stereotypes.”
