Panelist in the session ‘Women Writing Women’ at Dehradun Literature Festival 2024.

Introspection around sexuality, women’s agency, patriarchy and bodily autonomy became the main theme of sorts in the three-woman panel discussions at the recently concluded sixth edition of the Dehradun Literature Festival. Spanning three days in the smog-shrouded capital of Uttarakhand, the festival featured over 100 speakers from diverse backgrounds including literature, film, wellness, performing arts, history and education, engaging the audience in around 45 packed sessions.

Inside the tented confines of Cedar Court, one of the festival’s two venues, no topic was off-limits, be it the binary dichotomy between heroine and villain, the lack of comprehensive sex education in the country, the limitations of the body positivity movement. , and the inherent sexism in the literary and film industries.

Doctor and sexual health influencer Tanaya Narendra aka Dr. Kateras, who was in conversation with festival executive director Jiya Dewan Ahuja in a session titled ‘Body, Agency, Autonomy’, said that the definition of agency and autonomy arises from the self. Investigation. “You will eventually develop your own understanding and meaning of what agency is for you. And I think that’s the beauty of having that mind,” he said, addressing the teenagers and young women in uniform.

Doctor and sexual health influencer Tanaya Narendra aka Dr. Cutes.

gender and storytelling

However, screenwriter Atika Chauhan, in another discussion titled ‘Women writing women – owners of our stories’, lamented the erosion of women’s agency in recent times. Chauhan, who shared the stage with other cinematographers, said, “Ever since Trump came to power, boys in American schools are telling girls, ‘Your body, my choice’… Reproductive laws have gone back… Abortion is something we are rethinking in India.” Celebrities like filmmaker Leena Yadav, writer-producer Sutapa Sikdar and actor Namita Dubey.

Do women write better about women than men? Is the term “woman-writer” inherently sexist because it implies that a writer is, by default, male? Why did Hindi cinema evolve into hero-centric narrative? Does gender impact how a filmmaker pursues body politics and displays sexuality? How does being bold on screen affect your image off screen? What impact did the Angry Young Man trend have on actresses in the film industry?

All these questions and more became the focus of both the above ‘Women Writing Women’ panel and the panel that followed, ‘The Dawn of the Female Goddess: Power, Perspective and a Female Gaze’., In which film critic Anupama Chopra and actor Sandhya Mridul interacted with Miley Ashwarya of Penguin Random House India. “Let us accept that the film industry is a part of the society. Storytellers, writers and directors are all coming from the same society, right?” Chopra said, pointing to the inseparability of art and life.

(Left to right) Penguin Random House India’s Mili Aishwarya, actor Sandhya Mridul and film critic Anupama Chopra.

She believes that the film industry around the world has historically been male-dominated, with positions of power primarily held by men. This, in turn, affects the narrative and characterization. For example, Leena Yadav agrees, “A director reveals himself completely in his film,” adding that the way male and female directors portray intimacy on screen is very different. The same scene, said Yadav, who has directed films such as: “There will be a world of difference between what it is saying and what the politics of it are.” word, teen patti And Dried up.

Filmmaker Leena Yadav

Although these creative avenues and the larger world have a long way to go by default when it comes to gender equality, Chopra sees a ray of hope. “It’s amazing for me as a journalist to see how women have reclaimed their place in the last 15 years,” she said. “It’s a long road; we’re nowhere near equity, but we’re a long way from when I started in the ’90s.”

preti.zahariah@thehindu.co.in