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1-8 of 8
- An impressionistic biographical look at Siddheshwari Devi (19081977), the classical Indian singer whose voice was appreciated by the maharajas and public alike. She was from Varanasi, India, known as Maa (mother). Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi. She won many accolades during her career, including "Padma Shri" by the Government of India (1966). Despite living in a musical household, Siddheswari came to music by accident. Rajeshwari had arranged musical training for her own daughter, Kamleshwari, while Siddheswari would do small chores around the house. Once, while the noted sarangi player Siyaji Mishra, was teaching Kamleshwari, she was unable to repeat the tappa that she was being taught. Rajeshwari ran out of patience, and started to cane Kamleshwari, who cried out for help. The only person to help her was her close friend Siddheswari, who ran from the kitchen to hug her cousin, and took the thrashing on her own body. At this point, Siddheswari told her weeping cousin, "It's not so difficult to sing what Siyaji Maharaj was telling you." Siddheswari then showed her how to sing it, performing the whole tune perfectly, much to the amazement of everyone. The next day, Siyaji Maharaj came to Rajeshwari, and asked to adopt Siddheswari into his own family (they were childless). So Siddheswari moved in with the couple, eventually becoming a great friend and support for them. This moving incident was very vivid in Siddheswari's mind, and is detailed in the biography Maa, co-authored by her daughter Savita Devi.
- Bonnie(33) is again on the run. He has been on the run from his family and sports fraternity since failing 'sex test' before the Bangkok Asian Games, 1998. A born intersex, raised by poor, illiterate and confused parents as a girl named 'Bandana', s/he became one of the finest strikers of Indian Woman's football team in her/his short career. A Sex Reassignment surgery later transformed her/him to a man but left him without home or career. He left home, took up idol-making for a living.He met Swati(F24) then, married soon but moved once again fearing social backlash. His fight to establish his identity, struggle for existence met by a sarcastic society yet to learn to take 'other genders' seriously.
- 'Ripples Under the Skin' is a story of contestations - contestation of space, resources, claims, narratives... of a community struggling to carve out a living out of a dying profession contending with a city that both embraces and marginalizes, of a profession that thrives of supplying water to homes... water that doesn't discriminate yet over whom many wars have been fought... wars of caste, class, religion... of muslim migrant workers supplying water to homes that are inviting and uninviting, of homes that they are sustained over the labour of these people, yet homes that the same people can never claim as their own, of memory and forgetting, of dreams and spectres... above all, this is a story of struggles... the daily struggles of Nazim kaka as he tries to make a living in this city, the struggles of a Calcutta that is home to Nazim kaka, a Calcutta of hand pulled rickshaws, trams, of immigrant people that is fast fading away amidst the glitz of the 'smart city' that is getting built over the blood and sweat and corpses of shadow people.
- The heart-warming short-film "Kab Tak" portrays the story of a rag-picker and his everyday life. "Kab Tak" was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF 2012) as a competition film.