Indian Women Rising: Women-Led Cinema Gets A New Home

Producers Guneet Monga and Ekta Kapoor, along with author Tahira Kashyap announced the launch of Indian Women Rising, a new cinema collective touted to be for and by women. The enterprise claims to give a boost to women creators and female-led cinema in India, helping bring "unseen and unheard stories in the most democratic way." The collaboration will reportedly give a platform to Indian women worldwide. 

Sharing news of the launch, the official account of Indian Women Rising on Twitter says the collective's mission is to "discover and empower ground breaking narratives that disrupt the status quo." Its "sole purpose," the announcement says, is "to shift the spotlight on female creators because content is Queen!" 

See the post below: 

Our mission with @IndWomenRising is to discover and empower ground breaking narratives that disrupt the status quo.

The collective has come together with a sole purpose to shift the spotlight on female creators because content is Queen!

— Indian Women Rising (@IndWomenRising) January 22, 2021

The three founders promoted the launch announcement from their respective social media accounts as well. 

About The Founders 

Monga, an award-winning film producer, is globally renowned for backing projects like Jallikattu and Period. End Of Sentence, both of which have partaken in the esteemed Oscars run. Her production house, Sikhya Entertainment, is known to take on divergent cinema like Zubaan and The Lunchbox. In 2018, she appeared on Variety's International Women's Impact Report as well. 

Kashyap, an author, also the wife of actor Ayushmann Khurrana, is no stranger to women-led projects as well. In 2019, it was announced she was directing a film called Sharmaji Ki Beti. Kashyap, who is a cancer survivor, has been candid about her recovery journey on social media. She released her book The 12 Commandments of Being a Woman last year. 

Kapoor, meanwhile, is well-known across the country as a television producer who has helmed some of the small screen's leading daily soaps. As Joint MD and Creative Director of Balaji Telefilms Ltd, Kapoor has backed woman-centric projects like The Dirty Picture and Veere Di Wedding on the big screen as well.  

Why A Cinema Collective For Women? 

In a film industry populated majorly by men, there is a need for women's stories to be told honestly as well, the founders communicate. Zee News quotes Monga as saying, "Less than 5 percent of the total directors in India are female. It’s time we change these stats and double down on each other." 

Kashyap adds, "There is a limited amount of work represented about women and the scope reduces further when it’s by the women.... Since there is representation of limited material when it concerns women and their stories, we easily get stereotyped... We, as a cinema collective, are trying to address this in the scope of films." 

"Through IWR, our vision is to do that and empower independent women filmmakers and creators and give them a platform to showcase their talent," Kapoor says.