Female non-fiction directors break glass ceiling, win hearts & awards

Kolkata: From Manjira Dutta’s ‘The Sacrifice of Babulal Bhuiya’ (1987) to Ranu Ghosh’s ‘Quarter No: 4/7’ (2012), women with Bengal connection have been quietly doing path-breaking work in the domain of non-fiction film-making. On International Women’s Day, most insist that the struggle to break the glass ceiling has been worth it.
Taking big strides in this world of non-fiction are veterans like Chandita Mukherjee, Madhusree Dutta, Vasudha Joshi, Paromita Vohra, Bishakha Dutta, Subha Das Mollick, Ananya Chakraborti and Gargi Sen.“On the first day of my shoot in 1988, I had to teach my crew who was the director,” said Gargi, the director of 22 documentaries.
Gargi Sen
When Gargi decided to distribute documentaries in 2009, male directors dismissed her idea saying ‘it won’t happen’. “I had to hire a young male assistant. For five years, I needed him as a front,” she added. Perceptions of her detractors changed when the films she distributed started bringing in money.
When no camera caretaker agreed to work with cinematographer Ranu Ghosh in the mid-90s, she trained a production boy who served tea on sets to do the job. This problem no longer exists today. “Manjira Dutta paved the way for the surge of female docu practitioners. Her work has been truly hard-hitting and inspiring. It is a pity that she is no more,” said Ranu, who recently directed ‘Dare To Dream’ on the impact of early marriage on education of women from Rajasthan’s Rawari community. In Ranu’s career, the likes of Soumendu Roy and Ranjan Palit have been extremely supportive. "But I had to struggle hard to prove my competence both in the fiction and non-fiction world. I was threatened during the making of ‘Quarter No. 4/11’. There were attempts to limit its Kolkata screening too,” said Ranu, who has co-directed ‘The Magnificent Journey: Times and Tales of Democracy’ with Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee.
Ranu Ghosh
In 2022, she was the only Indian to be selected for the Film Independent & The US Department of state’s Bureau of Education & Cultural Affairs (ECA). Strangely, this recognition has also led to heartburns among some of her co-filmmakers. “Celebrating the success of a female film-maker is still not easy,” she said.
Balaka Ghosh
Others in the circuit including seniors and newcomers like Putul Mahmood, Madhabi Tangella, Debalina, Farha Khatun, Indrani Chakraborty, Kasturi Basu, Swapna Dutta, Sangeeta Dutta and Moupiya Mukherjee have had their share of interesting experiences. Contemporary makers feel the non-fiction world is now more gender-neutral than ever before. “I started very young. All I have personally experienced is love, protection and respect,” said Balaka Ghosh, who faced risks while filming a documentary on Bihar’s former chief minister Rabri Devi titled ‘A Mother, Media and Landmines’. Chutni Mahato, the protagonist of Balaka’s ‘Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost’ was once a victim of witch-hunting and now spreads awareness about witchcraft, received the Padma Shri in 2021.
According to Debalina, the director of ‘Gay India Matrimony’, ‘... And The Unclaimed’ and ‘Joy Run’, “As a photojournalist and mainstream filmmaker, I was subjected to gender discrimination. But my peers in the documentary fraternity never made me feel that I’m “inferior”. Sometimes people in the interiors assume that my male camera assistant was heading the unit while I was his assistant. But that was an impact of their years of social conditioning.”
Farha Khatun
The problem of the male gaze, however, remains. National Award-winning Farha Khatun, who made ‘I am Bonnie’, ‘The Jungle Man... Loiya’, ‘Holy Rights’ and ‘Ripples Under The Skin’, remembers how at a forum, someone had said she had made a good film and her “charm” had “flattered” everyone. “I didn’t understand the connection between making a good film and my charm. In friendly banter, someone patronizingly said: ‘you are an exception among beautiful women who are mostly brainless’. I’m tired of fighting this gaze. The situation will only change when the number of female film-makers increases,” she added.