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The 21st century saw a vast improvement in the lives of women around the world. Much of the world saw a change in areas of sexuality, billions of mothers going out to work, acting as single mothers, women breaking stereotypical roles and taking on gender role defying careers. But let’s face it, what appears to be gold is simply a gold plated lie. Women continue to be oppressed by the torch bearers of the so called modern society. Patriarchal societies continue to dictate the way women operate in and out of their homes. On the eve of International Women’s Day, Producer Babita Modgil shares a similar recent experience where she was pressurized and threatened for doing her job right.
Such is the hypocrisy of the so called flag bearers of our culture, they throw their own little girls in the flesh trade, covering up their greed in the name of tradition. The flag bearers pretend to be the gate keepers, protecting these girls. And behind this garb the agenda is to make a lot of money. It’s sad we don’t empower them. As we force them to sleep with men (most of the time men much older), we rob them of their choice to live life with dignity and respect. We use them as commodities. And it’s a shame.
Filming ‘Sudden Cry’ was life threatening. It was just impossible. We are completely exhausted. It took us more than 3 years to finish this. It was like fighting a monster.
Anywhere we went people wanted to beat us, kill us. In Mandsaur, MP, at the Local Government Hospital, when we asked hospital staff about the statistics of HIV infected girls under the age of 18. The staff said, there’s none. We told them we know that in the hospital girls have been dying of AIDS and we have solid proof supporting this. The entire hospital staff gathered in crowd to beat us. Even the local police were involved with them. Men threatened that they will rape me in front of the cops. I asked for help but it was all in vain. I consider this to be the darkest day of my life. It could have very well been my last.
Child prostitution and human trafficking has been a curse to our society. Vested interests have designated very dangerous people for doing this job. It is almost impossible to infiltrate the network as this is a very close knit network. The shockingly disturbing aspect of the network is that it involves local politicians as well. Just the thought makes you feel helpless. I didn’t like this feeling. Government’s policies and projects are just lame and serve no purpose. It’s sickening that they are only pencil pushing about these matters. I wanted to speak up and give them a voice.
‘Sudden Cry’ will expose the nexus of child trafficking and prostitution in India. ‘Sudden Cry’ will defend their fundamental rights, protect their freedom of choice and give them empowerment. I feel privileged to be able to do this through film making.
Through Babita’s story, we are able to see a small part of the invisible shackles which continue to bind women across the globe. IT really makes one wonder, are women truly free? Are they the equals they are made out to be? ‘Sudden Cry’is a small effort to unveil the harsh reality of women who are still slaves to their gender identity. Check out the trailer of ‘Sudden Cry’ and share your thoughts about the film here with us!
