BENGALURU: Words have always flown freely from Maulik Pandey’s pen, except when it comes to one topic: Women. “I’m usually at a loss of words,” says the city-based theatre practitioner and actor, who also publishes his writing on social media and personal platforms. A month ago, however, Pandey managed to pen a poem about the duality of women, which will now be released as a video featuring three city-based theatre persons: Archana Mittal, Anshulika Kapoor and Shatarupa Bhattacharyya. Directed by Sandalwood actor Surya Vasishta, the video aims to show women who are self-aware and are vocal about their strengths and limitations.
The Hindi poem, titled Dwi, took Pandey 10 days to write, with the first draft running to 7-8 pages. “I wrote every thought that came to mind as I observed the lens of what the women in my life must feel, and used that to highlight the omnipresence of women in a man’s life,” says the 29-year-old, who adds, “Men are always vocal about their problems, achievements and even in passing the blame. What would happen if women did the same?”
After fine-tuning and editing, Pandey eventually produced the final poem, which focuses heavily on the duality that women face, with lines that translate to: I am real as well as a figment of your imagination, I am the blame for all your wrongdoings and failures, I am the unseen face of all your achievements, I am the reason behind all your helplessness and yet at the same time I am the leading lady in all your sexual fantasies, Not merely a woman, I am someone with mettle.
Not wanting the video, which will release sometime this week, to be a mere narration of the poem, the team decided to artistically express Pandey’s words. “We decided to do this through a range of activities that are largely associated with women, like cooking, dancing and dressing up,” points out Bhattacharyya. Agrees Vasishta, who has previously acted in films like Badmaash and Gantumoote.
The director of the video explains, “For example, in activities like dressing up or cooking, we show both the end result and then slowly backtrack to the beginning – revealing the core nature. For example, we see Shatarupa completely dressed up and then back-track to show her bare-faced as well. Similarly with Archana’s sequence with cooking, you see the final dish and all the ingredients coming together too.” The idea behind this, he says, was to portray duality through both expectations and the core nature of something, to show how they can co-exist.
“The video showcases femininity in all its forms and demonstrates how men can meaningfully collaborate with women to depict the lives of all women,” says Bhattacharyya. Vasishta echoes a similar thought, even though he admits that he was initially hesitant to be a part of the project. “I’ve seen so many videos where men try to tell a story about women and it does no justice. But it’s also important that such narratives are attempted and I wanted to try this too. Telling these stories in the first place is the only way to get better at telling them,” he says.