TOI: Students shoot docus on city’s socio-cultural scene: Feb 21, 2008

Chinmayi Shalya | TNN
Mumbai: Three Muslim women—living in the circuitous, narrow lanes of Dharavi and Arab Galli in the Grant Road area and under the scornful gaze of mohallawallas—decide to chalk out a way to attain higher education and then get a career of choice.
   Taleem-e-Niswan, a 15-minute documentary film made by the students of the Social Communications Media (SCM) department at Sophia Polytechnic Institute, brings to the reel a real-life story of three women who decide to overcome the hurdles that stand in the way of their dreams. The young directors take a close look at the lives of Shirin (a young doctor), Saira (a social activist) and Shamshaad (a night college student) and, in the process, also gain a rare insight into how life can actually play itself out in Mumbai’s lanes.
   “While researching for an appropriate topic for the film, we found that for many Muslim girls a greater challenge lied in continuing with studies,’’ Smruti Mohan Kumar, director of the film, said. “So we zeroed down on these three women who have actually broken stereotypes through sheer strength of will,’’ she added.
   The film leads its viewers into the literal as well as the metaphoric journey these women embark on, from the small chawl rooms to the night college and a small clinic. “During the film, we realised how the Koran had been misinterpreted into not giving the girl of the family proper education,’’ assistant director Mudita Vohra said.
   Taleem-e-Niswan is one of the four documentaries that will be screened during the four-day long annual exhibition of Sophia Polytechnic that starts on Wednesday. The other three films are Das Nau Aath, Kar lo Baat on Childline, a helpline for street children. The film won this year’s Network 18 award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking. The other films are Shezwan Vada Pav, which talks of the Chinese community in Mumbai, and Khel Khel Mein on the Children Toy Foundation that runs a toy library for students in BMC schools.
   “I hope that my students would have started engaging themselves with issues larger than themselves after making the films,’’ SCM department head Jeroo F Mulla said. “They will hopefully be able to look through the glare of fashion shows and discos at issues that matter and to which we are getting anaethetised,’’ she added. The exhibition is on till February 24.