Films Through Women’s Eyes | Mailthili Rao and N Manu Chakravarthy

An anthology by its very nature and definition is eclectic: in the choice of direc tors, the essayists’ perspective and preference for the kind of films that their subjects make. The directors belong to different generations and the conditions they faced changed with time. The filmmakers chosen do not flaunt a feminist agenda or share a predilection for a particular narrative form. A feminist way of looking at people and their vulnerabilities is part of the subtext, if it not the main theme. Each one of them is an individual, with a different film aesthetic and they chartered their own journeys through a world resonating with the command: camera, lights, action.

The essays are in alphabetical order of first names. This dispenses with the charge of creating hierarchies. It is wonderful how we relate to film personalities, actors mostly and directors too, with the affectionate familiarity of first names. As if by letting us enter the world they create, they allow us to lay claim to this familiar intimacy of referring to them by their given names. The film creates a family to which the viewer belongs by the act of viewing and absorbing it through invisible osmosis – visually, aurally and subliminally. It is a magical process, this process of getting lost in a film, in spite of our critical antenna always on the alert.