How important, for a mother, is her daughter’s first period? Very, as actor and debutante director Divya Unny found out to great surprise. “Last year, when I was shooting for Tikli and Laxmi Bomb , a co-actor recalled how she had missed out on her daughter’s first moment because she was out shooting in Germany. As she described it, her eyes welled up,” says Unny.
Not being a mother herself, Unny confesses she hadn’t realised how pivotal the moment was from a maternal perspective. “There was raw emotion there, something only a mother could have. I told her then that I would write a film based on it,” says Unny. Cut to May 10, 2018, when Unny’s maiden short film Her First Time makes its India release after having made it to about 15 Indian and International film festivals. “The film has also been picked up by Breakthrough India, an NGO that works with young adults in Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” informs the filmmaker.
It’s a simple story, about a gynaecologist who handles a medical emergency even as her daughter, at home, gets her first period. The girl is out of sorts and the father struggles with the situation, while the mother, played by a calm and collected Veena Nair, handles both crises with ease. “I wanted to show a working mum, someone who does not always feel guilty about not being around their child,” says Unni, adding that she sees many working mothers struggling with guilt every day. “Not a lot of fathers go through this, though I think we’re just conditioned that way,” muses Unny, adding that she had toyed with the idea of depicting the father as an empowered one who handles the situation by himself. “But it would have been a little too unrealistic in the Indian context. The father was, by and large, seen as the most endearing character. In that one evening, he grew a little bit too,” she says.
Played by Satyajit Sharma, the father, Naveen, realises the gravity of the situation, but is completely thrown by it. He texts his wife in panic, and goes through a mental list of female relatives who can handle it in her stead. Eventually, though, he turns to the Internet for guidance, and is ready — with hot water bottle and ice cream in tow — to be by his daughter.
This ignorance, well-meaning or otherwise, is what the film tries to address. “It is supposed to be a coming-of-age moment. But while holding auditions, I was surprised by how many urban young girls, accompanied by their parents, shied away from this. As a director, I cannot teach them how to deal with this; that is the parents’ job. I tried telling a mother that the child should be aware of all this by now, but she just shrugged it off.”
Her First Time is the first in a series of women-centric short films by Divya Unny on Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films digital platform.
