A new short film spotlights the caste-based sex work tradition still trapping girls in Madhya Pradesh

In an aboriginal country from Khilawadi, manager Shobhita Thakur’s debut abbreviated film, 12-year-old Sapna stands extracurricular a superior wellness centre, transfixed by a woman doc done a window. The glimpse offers a glimpse into her aspirations, but the corporate individuality of her assemblage stands betwixt her and those dreams.

Khilawadi premiered astatine the FascinAsian Film Festival successful May, wherever it won the Audience Choice Award astatine the Calgary limb of the festival and the Best abbreviated movie grant astatine the Edmonton leg.

The 26-minute movie follows Sapna, a young miss from the Banchhada caste successful Madhya Pradesh, a assemblage known for its “tradition” of family-based enactment work. As she grapples with caste identity, she besides faces mounting household unit to wage disconnected debts done her ain exploitation.

Originally from Bhopal, filmmaker Shobhita Thakur says she has been acquainted with the Banchhada assemblage since puerility and knew she wanted to research their stories erstwhile making her debut film. “The thought of women being pushed into a assemblage due to the fact that of wherever they are calved and the caste they beryllium to stayed with maine for a agelong time. The information that specified exploitation is upheld successful the sanction of contented makes it adjacent harder for women to flight these systems,” says Shobhita, who besides belongs to a Scheduled Caste community.

“Coming from a marginalised background, I faced challenges successful pursuing my passion. I americium lone the 2nd pistillate successful my extended household to gain a degree, aft my elder sister. My parent was forced to discontinue schoolhouse aft Class 8 due to the fact that of her caste, contempt coming from a financially well-off family,” says the filmmaker, who graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, successful 2012.

Shobhita began her probe with documentaries and books, including India’s Child Sex Highway, produced by Al Jazeera, Mahendra Jakhar’s Diary of a Prostitute and Anuja Agarwal’s Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters. She aboriginal travelled to Neemuch successful Madhya Pradesh, wherever galore members of the assemblage live.

“There, I connected with Akash Chauhan, laminitis of Jan Shaurya Social Welfare and Development Society, an NGO moving towards the rehabilitation of Bedia and Banchhada communities. I besides met educated women who lived successful fearfulness of being dragged into prostitution and past pressured to find a man,” she says. “Many FIRs shared by the NGO yet recovered their mode into the film’s dialogues.”

Shobhita, who has worked arsenic an subordinate with filmmaker Anurag Basu connected advertizing projects, adds, “They told maine radical often garbage to prosecute them due to the fact that of the stigma attached to the community. Some person secured jobs lone by concealing their identities, portion galore person changed their surnames.”

Khilawadi besides draws attraction to the value of caste certificates, the papers required to entree assorted authorities privileges designed to beforehand societal equity, highlighting however galore assemblage members deficiency them due to the fact that they bash not cognize their fathers’ identities.

Beyond the challenges of tackling specified a subject, Shobhita says 1 of her biggest tasks was striking a equilibrium betwixt fabrication and documentary. “Many films that travel retired of FTII thin to beryllium metaphorical. I wanted this movie to consciousness rooted successful reality, close down to the accents, diction and adjacent the cuss words,” she says. “I was determined that the women successful Neemuch should beryllium capable to ticker the movie and spot themselves successful it.”

Khilawadi volition beryllium screened astatine the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival successful Italy, scheduled to instrumentality spot from July 12 to 19.