Want people to look past gender in cinema: filmmaker Shonali Bose

Mumbai, Mar 8 (PTI) Filmmaker Shonali Bose, known for acclaimed films such as “Amu”, “Margarita with a Straw” and “The Sky Is Pink”, says women characters in cinema should be written as “three-dimensional beings” without gender being a limitation.

The director’s latest work is the Prime Video series “Ziddi Girls”, created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy under the banner of Pritish Nandy Communications. Shonali has co-directed the eight-part series with Vasant Nath and Neha Veena Sharma.

“Women should have a voice and just be three-dimensional beings… You should not always have to represent your gender. In our cinema, what we would want is to look past the gender… She can do anything that men do,” Shonali told PTI in an interview.

The director also expressed her anguish over the never-ending questioning around the gender of a filmmaker.

“Every International Women’s Day, I’m asked about women’s issues. I was like, ‘Yeah, hello!’ You are always asked, ‘As a woman filmmaker, what do you feel?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m a filmmaker’ Please don’t say I’m a female filmmaker’,” Shonali said, adding that once she and fellow filmmaker Leena Yadav walked out of a jury because they had to look at “women’s films”.

Rangita, who has also backed critically acclaimed films “Chameli”, “Pyaar Ke Side Effects”, and OTT show “Four More Shots Please!”, echoed a similar sentiment.

“Let’s look past that (gender) and just look at your skill sets,” she said.

Rangita credits streaming platforms for enabling better representation of women.

“You need to be able to tell authentic stories about women. Most makers are not women, so they tell stories, but very often they don’t land in terms of honesty.

“Also, if you look at cinema, traditionally, female characters have been on the fringes; you have a villain, you have a woman character. It’s (happened) only now because streaming has allowed you to take chances. So, we’ve always done strong women characters. So, ‘Four More Shots Please!’ and ‘Ziddi Girls’ come into that same universe,” she added.

“Ziddi Girls”, which was premiered on Prime Video on February 27, is a new young-adult series featuring a fresh cast comprising Atiya Tara Nayak, Umang Bhadana, Zaina Ali, Deeya Damini and Anupriya Caroli, who are on a journey of self-discovery.

The fictional series is set in a Delhi college, Matilda House, and is referred to as MH, the short form often used for Miranda House, a premier institution for women students.

Last month, the show courted controversy after the principal of Miranda House said the trailer tarnished the image of the college.

“You cannot just have a knee-jerk reaction to a two-minute marketing piece, which may not show the whole picture. How can a marketing piece show the whole picture? I want everybody who has raised their voice, who has boycotted, and has called me a betrayer, to watch our show,” Shonali said.

Actors Simran, Nandita Das, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Lillete Dubey and Revathy feature in pivotal roles in “Ziddi Girls”.