Short Film Ek Chup Featuring Mona Singh Sheds Light On Shadow Pandemic

In 2020, the United Nations Women projected the grim reality of a ‘shadow pandemic’, brewing beneath the COVID-19. They witnessed an uptick of crimes against women, the particular intensified was domestic violence. For people in abusive relationships, the nationwide lockdown was nothing short of a disaster. While the entire world had been advised to take comfort inside their homes to curb the spread of coronavirus, for women at the receiving end of domestic abuse, home was hardly a ‘safe space’.

Meanwhile, in India, Sonal Mehta, Regional Director of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), noticed a big drop in ringing of helpline numbers for domestic abuse during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Every helpline number will tell you that the calls have gone down. A spike in helpline number will tell you that they are still trying to connect. But if the number going down, especially during a lockdown, it tells you that the situation is worse. One of the biggest reasons why violence perpetrates is because of silence,” she said in 2020.

Nothing is more dangerous than silence, and that is what encapsulates the theme of Mona Singh's recent short film, Ek Chup. Produced by Amrita Mendonza and Sonya V Kapoor, the short film narrates an incident that occurs during the onset of pandemic, and a mother-daughter's fight to escape from domestic abuse.  Domestic violence shot up around the globe during the pandemic induced lockdown in 2020 and 2021 , leading the United Nations to label it the shadow pandemic.

Singh, who was last in Laal Singh Chadha, plays an upper middle-class doctor, who's silently suffering abuse. Her husband, also a doctor, is a manipulative abuser who constantly targets the mother-daughter duo. His 'excuse' for the violence has been underlined as the stress that he has been facing at his workplace due to the pandemic.

In an interview to SheThePeople, Singh and Kapoor (who has also directed the short) opens up on the subject of their film, how it came to  be, growing need of women allies, and more.

Mona Singh Interview

The short takes us back to pandemic, a tough time for most us. However, like how the film highlight, it was especially difficult for women? Mona, tell us, how did you get involve in the film?

Mona: This pandemic has changed a lot of things for many of us. You know, we were reading a lot of articles on domestic violence, abuse across our neighborhood, in high class societies, lower strata, everywhere. So when Sonya approached me with film, I remember finishing reading the script, and calling the team immediately to mention that I am onboard. Being Punjabi, we have always heard this phrase, “Ek chup, sau sukh,” something which goes very well with the theme of the film. It portrays how Dr Radhika chooses her silence, her weakness and uses it to her own strength. So I am very glad that I was a part of this project, which is a very hard-hitting subject, often considered taboo. And I glad we are addressing it in our own subtle way. I hope in some way, it tries to change the perception of people, where people at least begin to have a conversation about it.

Sonya: Ek Chup, Sau Sukh, when roughly translated to English changes to, 'Silence is golden.' It is a global phenomenon and usually it is the women who are being told to stay silent, to avoid confrontations. This idiom resonates with the entire ethos of the film.

Your protagonist Dr Radhika is not someone who would put up with abuse. She is silent, but probably more scared to confront the dire consequences. Her daughter acts like a ally in the film, she encourages her to take a stand. In real life, how important it is for women to have trustworthy allies?

Mona: Dr Radhika does from a background where she is not encouraged to speak up on domestic issues and there are a lot of women who go through a similar phase, for instance their own families don't support them. They ask women to stay back assuming the husband will change, saying absurd things like he is behaving like this only because there’s some stress going on at home. What they fail to understand is we don’t change as individuals. We need to take a call for ourselves. We do need someone to show us the mirror, and tell that ‘Boss, you are independent, you can have a better life only when you decide to.' And that is what the daughter does here for the mother.

Sonya: The daughter was crucial to the entire journey because she prompted her mother to think about it, who told her it is not an acceptable thing. She was the actual catalyst for the protagonist to take this step.

Despite the abuse, there's a scene where Radhika tries to defend her husband's abuse, sidelining it with "He is stressed." Why do you think women do that?

Mona: That’s how our society is. People make us believe that it is okay for a man to behave a certain way. But that is not the case, maybe he is just like that, maybe that's his character. When women are stressed, they don’t react like that. It is the patriarchal society that has conditioned us to pretend that it okay for women to be treated like that.

Sonya: Honestly, it is an excuse. Everybody knows what they are doing. It is an excuse which is used across to pass on the abuse, and should never be treated as a reason.

The pandemic also rushed in a surge of storytelling opportunities. OTT changed the game altogether. Do you think we are in the golden hour when it comes to content?

Sonya: Yes, we are in the golden hour and I hope the sun doesn’t set. It is absolutely the best time for all creators, actors, and everybody associated with the industry. Viewers bring the biggest participation, where they want to see the good stuff.

Suggested Reading:

Why Are We Still Not Enraged By Instances Of Domestic Violence?