At a time when countless women in India are daily becoming victims of male chauvinism and gender discrimination, two women of the country have made Indians proud by winning coveted prizes on the world stage with their sterling performances. Payal Kapadia and Anasuya Sengupta have brought laurels from the Mecca of cinema – Cannes. Payal became the first person from India to win the prestigious Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, while Anasuya won the Best Actress in the Un Certain Regard section for her role in Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless.
The spectacular success of Payal is not simply a triumph of art, but it also carries important messages for different spheres of life in India. It is a resounding slap on the face of the country’s political establishment and mainstream cinema. Her film – All We Imagine As Light – is the first Indian film in three decades to compete at Cannes in the main competition.
As the director herself stated in her acceptance speech, the film is about friendship among three very different women. She underscores the unfortunate social reality that often women are pitted against each other. But for her “friendship is a very important relationship because it can lead to greater solidarity, inclusivity and empathy.” That is the central point made in the film and it assumes significance in the current political context of India where intolerance and communal divide have become the main socio-political-cultural narrative. Its depiction of the romance between the main character Prabha and her Moslem boyfriend is a bold critique of the current situation of the country which has become increasingly polarised along religious lines.
The irony is many who are intolerant towards an inclusive society were among the early ones who showered praise on Payal’s stellar achievement. It was the authorities in the government run film institute that was responsible for the persecution of the director when she was a final year film direction student of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Her “fault” was she took a stand against a gross abuse of power by the government proposing the name of a popular, but mediocre small screen actor as the chairman of the prestigious FTII. In December 2016, Payal was among six students who had qualified for the foreign exchange programme, in addition to being one of eight students to receive a scholarship set up by private donors for students at the top of their class. However, she was unable to enjoy either of these coveted opportunities. The FTII administration disqualified her, along with several other students, for participating in a students’ strike in 2015 against the proposed appointment of actor-turned-politician Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the institute.
Chauhan had become popular primarily for playing Yudhisthir in the television adaptation of Indian epic Mahabharata. This television serial, along with another based on the epic, Ramayana, had played an important role in moulding public opinion in favour of the proponents of Hindootva as preached by the BJP. The government’s proposal to appoint Chauhan as the FTII chairman sparked the longest protest in the institute’s history, as students said he lacked “credentials and vision” and felt that his appointment was “politically coloured.” Payal was in the forefront of the 139 day-long protests. For this she was named, along with 34 other students, in a complaint registered by then-institute director Prashant Pathrabe that said a group of 50 students had forcibly detained him in his office. The case is still pending nine years later and is set to be heard in Pune on 26 June.
The congratulatory message posted by the FTII for Payal’s feat sounds like the height of hypocrisy. For, the then-director Bhupendra Kainthola remarked in 2017 that the FTII believes an academically bright student must also “learn to function within the framework of institutional rules and good behaviour.” Predictably, the FTII message has received an immediate backlash. Indian Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty wrote in social media wondering whether the FTII has got anything to do with this win.
The lesson that the government should learn from the singular honours won by the two Indian women is that it should not meddle in liberal pursuits of art and literature and allow unfettered freedom of speech and expression. Taking credit for achievements of individuals and hijacking their successes seems to be the only way this government and politicians try to partake in glory on international platforms.