BENGALURU: The makers of a short film, Laapata, on the aftermath of rape, now in post production, came up with the idea for it when Aruna Shanbaug died.
Shanbaug, a nurse who was in vegetative state for 42 years after she was raped, breathed her last in May 2015. She had no family support, something essential for survivors to deal with their denial and rejection, says Devanand Mahakud, Laapata’s director.
“It becomes difficult for a victim to fight alone when she doesn’t have family support. The society looks at a victim differently. They blame her for the crime,” he says.
They speculate on whether the survivor was wearing a short dress, whether she was accompanied by male friends, he adds.
“Laapata questions who should be held responsible for the crime. Both the victim and criminal are people of our society,” he says.
The team, comprising mostly theatre personalities, met several rape and domestic violence victims. Some, they found, were educated and working in big firms. Through their survey, they learnt that survivors are not open about it and mostly feel ashamed to talk about it in public.
Rakhi Bose, who plays the role of a rape survivor, says it was an emotional experience hard to get over.
“It was method acting as otherwise it would have been otherwise difficult to get into that emotional zone,” she recalls. “Once I got into it, I took 40 minutes to break out of it. I was doing a hospital scene.”
The film talks about how the father-daughter relationship changes after her character gets raped.
The team wants to send its nine-minute film to all the leading short-film festivals in India, including Mumbai Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, Bangalore International Short Film Festival and International Documentary and Short film festival of Kerala.
The budget of the film is `80,000, and the team has received `40,000 through public funding. People from across the country have supported the film that has been shot in the city, says Rakhi.
“We have received support from states like Hyderabad and also Arunachal Pradesh,” she adds.
The makers are depending on social media and word of mouth to market the film.
“Even rape survivors have come forward to contribute. They are happy that we are making a film about them,” says Devanand.
Why crowdfund it? “If people even contribute a rupee, they would want to know how their money was utilised. And they would want to come watch the film,” he replies.
“That way, we can spread the message.”
The film will be screened in the city for contributors on May 29. Private screenings in other parts of the country will follow.
Laapata, originally in Hindi, will also be dubbed in Kannada for screenings here in the city.
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