Women-oriented films dominate Indian panorama at IFFI

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: Renowned film-maker Mrinal Sen says "women are wiser than men", a confession reflected by several directors in the Indian panorama section dominated by women-oriented films in the 33rd International Film Festival of India here.<br />Sen, whose <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Aamaar Bhuvan</span> was the inaugural film of the Indian Panorama section, said he felt "in society it is women who are wiser than men....They are more responsive in situations."<br />He was answering questions about men being shown as "weaklings" in his film.<br />Anwar Jamal''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Swaraaj</span> revolves around the experiences of four women in Rajasthan though it is based on a woman named Leelavathi in Madurai.<br />"My film is an act of faith in the power of grassroots democracy, in the resistance of women and in the indomitable strength of those called low caste."<br />The cast of the film actually went through the hardships of people in Rajasthan during the shooting.<br />T V Chandran''s Malayalam film <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dany</span> questions the father''s social role in narratives of masculinity, while Girish Kassaravalli in his award winning <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dweepa</span> describes the main female protagonist, Nagi, as water. "Nothing can discourage her forever and nothing can stop her".<br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Jameela</span>, a Tamil film directed by Ponvannan, is about the impact of the word <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Talaq</span> on Muslim women and Jameela''s preferring death to the Muslim custom of marrying another person in order to remarry her divorced husband. </div> </div>