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Short Punch

November 06, 2013 06:53 pm | Updated 06:55 pm IST

Awareness can be spread in many ways, in this case it took only 20 minutes to send the message across, writes Prabalika M Borah

Be the change: A still from ‘That day after everyday’.

‘You are ready when you think you are ready’ was all that it required the three girls to take on their neighbourhood teasers in the latest short film — That day after everyday.

The 20 minute long video revolves around the sensitive issue of eve teasing and molestation and the short film stars Sandhya Mridul, Radhika Apte, Arannya Kaur, Geetanjali Thapa, Mahesh Balraj, Akash Sinha, Alok Pandey and Ravi Choudhary. Produced by Sankalp Acharekar, Jayanti Saha and Showhouse Films, That Day After Everyday is directed by Anuraag Kashyap and is written by Nitin Bhardwaj Varun Grover.

The movie revolves around the bold step they take towards their freedom. Freedom from being teased on their way to walk, from being pushed and brushed in public transport, being captured on cell phone videos while on their way to work and at work.

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According to newspaper reports, the film already hit the 4 lakh mark within 2 days and is still going strong on social platforms.

What made the movie so real to relate to is the way, the girls had to deal with pressures at home and work and still make a choice. Going out to work, as the film suggests isn’t an issue of daily livelihood, but a choice of what they like to do. As the film progresses, it shows how the women decided to put an end to a torture which they didn’t want to put up with. And the power was within themselves.

Attention to minute details by the writer and director has made the film even more close to real life. Some of the incident are: one of the girl’s slices cucumber for her tiffin and pops a slice or two in her mouth, in the other house hold the mother checks her child’s fever and doesn’t shove the thermometer back in the cover, instead she washes it with water etc.

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This movie incidentally comes close to Juhi Pandey and Kalki Koechilin starrer, a teaser on the patriarchal society ‘its your fault’— a common reaction to girls’ complain of unwanted incidents from the opposite sex while on their way to work, college or just like that. ‘Its your fault’ is a mockery to the reaction to incidents of rape or molestation when reported and the first thing almost every news listener or reader asks in his mind is ‘so where was the girl?’ And if the report confirms to their basic doubts like ‘in a pub,’ ‘at the cinema,’ ‘late night movie goer etc.’ Then the discussion brews to what she was wearing, what was she doing so late at night, where is she from etc. From here comes suggestions like address them as bhaiyya , avoid chowmein, don’t wear provocative clothes etc and when nothing work, ‘its your fault.’

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