Ajeeb Daastaans: Neeraj Ghaywan Directed Film Is Based On 'Intersectionality'

Neeraj Ghaywan, the director of the Geeli Pucchi segment of the upcoming Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans said that the movie's theme is intersectionality.

“The way we approach movies and things in India is that we always see things in silos, in isolation… Subalterns are also seen as a whole but they are always intersectional in nature. That’s what I wanted to do in this film. Intersectionality is the theme of this film,” he said.

Ajeeb Daastaans comprises four different stories, each being directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta and Kayoze Irani. It will release on Netflix on April 16.

Neeraj Ghaywan Talks About His Segment in Ajeeb Daastaans

Ghaywan's segment in the film tells us about how two women (portrayed by Konkona Sen Sharma and Aditi Rao Hydari) build a friendship while working in a factory full of men. One of them is upper-caste, newly-married, and has a desk job, while the other being a low-caste woman is denied the same job. Hence, she is forced to work as a factory hand. Their close bond is tested against their surroundings and their respective backgrounds.

Neeraj Ghaywan revealed that he wanted this story to be one of the sub-plots for Masaan, but felt that it was too 'radical' at that time.

He then spoke about how he was surprised to see a conversation about intersectionality in Hindi cinema, which he called 'quite rare'. He referred to Abhishek Chaubey’s dacoit film Sonchiriya to drive his point.

“I have not seen that kind of thing again, how each of your identities kind of rubs into another. What privilege you derive from one identity may be a deterrent for another identity that you live with," he said.

He then added that he has always strayed away from 'what is good and what is evil' in his cinema. He justified his point by saying that everyone makes different decisions and have different dilemmas which pertain to their surroundings and conditioning.