The tradition of Jogini - marrying a woman to a deity - is prevalent even today in several states including Andhra Pradesh, despite being banned in 1988. What initially started out as a religious practice of a woman devotee willingly tying herself to God and His temple, taking upon the responsibility of a caretaker of sorts, has degenerated into a heinous practice wherein the ‘Jogini’, as she is called, is forced into prostitution to serve the local village elders of the higher castes.
Shyamala Devi is a well-known activist who started the Sahaya Jogini Welfare Society in the city, a rehabilitation centre for women repressed by the custom. What sets her apart from similar NGOs is the fact that she herself is from a family of Joginis.
Given her background, director Vemuganti approached Shyamala to play a pivotal role in his forthcoming film, Veerangam that is set in a rural village that practises the unfair tradition of Jogini.
“This is a serious matter that needs attention. The tradition is still very much prevalent in states like ours, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa. Though it is illegal, having been banned in 1988, the law is not stringently followed or enforced throughout the country. These women’s lives are destroyed because of superstitious beliefs that marrying a woman to a deity will appease that God, while it actually happens under the pressure of village heads who then use these women sexually,” says Vemuganti.
The director, who won a Nandi award for his previous film Ganga, is hoping for an encore. “I am a film-maker at the end of the day, and I knew that I had to find a hard-hitting topic if I hoped to make it at the nationals. However, that should not diminish the importance of knowing and spreading awareness about the injustice that is being meted out to these women,” he explains.
Agreeing with him, Shyamala says, “As part of Sahaya, I’ve come across many people and many lives destroyed by this practice. There was this one time I was talking to an old woman and was generally asking about how the father of her children supports them, and she very casually replied, ‘Who do I tell or ask?’ It was a heart-wrenching answer.. she had been exploited by so many men that it had become a fact of life that she had no idea who the father of her children was.”
The movie, which marks Shyamala’s debut in the industry, also finds herself in a controversy with rumours circulating that she’s a transgender.
“It’s a controversy that surrounds me. But I most definitely am not a transgender!” she clarifies firmly.
Produced by C L Srinivas Yadav, Veerangam also stars actors Suman, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kota Srinivas Rao, Akshay and Sandeepthi and will hit screens on January 26.