documentaries
BBC: The Modi Question
A two-part investigative series that examines Narendra Modi’s meteoric rise to the most important and powerful political position in the world’s largest democracy. The Prime Minister of India has consistently been dogged by allegations about his policies towards minorities. This series digs deeper into those questions and examines other aspects of his politics and governance.
Vice World News: Point Blank India
After the US, India has the world’s highest number of private gun owners. Not a statistic you’d believe from India - since it also has some of the strictest ownership laws. Still, the sheer number of gun related deaths, the scale of illicit trafficking, and in some cases, a deeply interwoven cultural signal of handguns seems to fly in the face of any efforts lent towards state control.
Point Blank is a series across six countries that reveals a subject rarely explored - an insight into where Asia’s untold fascination with guns lies. As correspondent, I immerse myself in the seedy world of hitmen who are motivated less by pay and more for glory, of those making their own makeshift guns, of god-women who can be above the law and of those who vouch for guns making this country a safe haven.
ARTE/ZDF: The Hargila Army
Aside from the anachronistic visual of something akin to the age of dinosaurs, the Greater Adjutant, is the largest species of stork in the world. It is popularly known as the ‘Hargila’ in the local language of Assam, in north eastern India. Historically, the state had a large presence of the bird, but sadly, it is now an endangered species. Some estimates suggest only 1,200 remain worldwide.
But in villages where the Hargilas live, an unlikely cultural revolution has slowly gathered storm. Rural women are mobilizing to save the Hargila from disappearing. Over the years, their tireless and imaginative work has not only resulted in the population of these birds stabilizing, but also served as a direct challenge to the patriarchal structures within which they all exist. For this fight that continues above and beyond the lifeline of the bird, these women have aptly decided to call themselves The Hargila Army.
SPICEE: Irom Sharmila - The Iron Lady of Manipur
Until late 2016, Irom Sharmila was on the world's longest hunger strike. In this way, at the cost of great personal sacrifice, she protested non-violently against the government of India's draconian army law in her state, in the north east of india.
This story looks at her life and struggle in isolated imprisonment in Manipur, India where I was given unprecedented access to her and her life story. By carefully garnering her trust, she allowed me access to her vulnerability. I wrote, shot, and directed this short film about her struggle, her ethos, and the history of what happened in her home state.
Deutsche Welle: Forbidden Love
Love is indeed a battlefield, and all tools are fair game. In India, the practice of arranging marriages goes back centuries, and has resulted in what many would consider happy, productive marriages and families. But as expected, there are those who choose to not follow that path, sometimes treading a path that can lead to cutting ties with family, community, and economic support: the "love marriage".
In this film, we track how two couples live and love on their own terms - one choosing to have an arranged marriage, the other not - presenting a unique take on what underpins the decision they have made, and just how high the stakes can be when you dare to veer from the well trodden path that society has expected you to follow.
France2: The Red Brigade
Usha Vishwakarma was sexually assaulted by her co-worker when she was 18 years old. But she chose to stay silent, for fear of being blamed for the incident. It was after her 10 year old neighbour confessed that she had been molested by her uncle, that Usha decided she would teach women to fight back. Thus began the story of The Red Brigade - a coalition of young girls - many of whom are sexual assault survivors.
The Red Brigade teaches young girls self defence - at times aided by Krav Maga teachers from around the world - to help women feel safer, and be able to retaliate if attacked. Our documentary weaves the personal stories of members of The Red Brigade with the work they do, and how they take life head on, in the urban slums of Lucknow city - the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Envoyé Spécial: Messengers of the Earth
They are considered the first environmentalists of the world. The Bishnois are a community that lives primarily on the border of the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India. For five centuries, twenty-nine commandments have laid out their way of life. And the most important rule is that humans, animals and plants are all equally sacred and vital to life. The destruction of a tree is as grave as the death of a human. Particularly in an arid area, where plant life is ever more precious.
Our documentary explores the Bishnoi way of life, and its manifestations in the 21st century.
Arte / SPICEE: No Country for Women (2013)
The 2012 gang rape in New Delhi transfixed not only a public in India given the horrific boldness, violence, and entitlement it suggested, but also the world. For all the wrong reasons, it did serve to amplify a signal that exists in the global imagination of the Indian subcontinent: that women are simply not safe, and perhaps never can be. While extreme as an assessment, it is sadly not entirely without merit or truth, as the society remains deeply misogynistic.
This documentary explores the contours of the sentiments, concerns, and lived experiences of women across the socioeconomic spectrum of India - to be seen, not heard; to be blamed for fomenting and triggering the nature of "how men just are", to be expected to follow a path as dictated by generations of subservience to men, but most importantly, to survive and be heard within a culture that slowly is opening up to listen.
Arte : Bonded Labour in India - Form of Modern Slavery?
Bonded Labour - perhaps a euphemism for what is truly modern slavery - exists. It is estimated that there are over 300 million bonded labourers world-wide. As shocking a number as that seems in the 21st century, and despite legal prohibition, these practices continue unabated. In India it is estimated that 8 million people live and work in such forced conditions, unable to access their constitutionally enshrined rights and freedoms nor find the means to recourse and redressal.
This documentary explores how and why this practice exists in India, and how systemic discrimination and legacy feudal dynamics across class, caste, and gender lines fosters an environment where despite efforts, it is often impossible to break free.