Honour Killing is universally a social malaise
- Avantika Hari
Avantika Hari, the winner of Foreign Correspondent Association’s (FCA) Purple Orchid award for Best Film and the Best Script/Screenplay award organized by the Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore, for her maiden feature film “Land Gold Women” which was also showcased in MAMI and IFFI, Goa, landed in India after winning fresh laurels in Singapore and was caught by Jyothi Venkatesh at the airport, where they chatted over coffee.
Excerpts
Q: How relevant and topical is the issue today?
A: I started on a rickety bench when I read an article on the topic of honour killing in a newspaper and was intrigued that this kind of a thing was actually happening. When I first started researching the issue, I came across large sections of literature that pointed to the idea that honour killing exists today because it is condoned by certain interpretations of religious texts, especially the Quran.
Q: When did you first come to know about honour killing?
A: Though I am a South Indian, having been brought up in the Middle East and raised as an Indian, the first time I came across honour killing was when I was studying the UK, because frankly when I was in Dubai, I had never heard of honour killing. With the rise of a new found awareness and fear of Islam, honour killing just seemed to be another issue that was swept under its extremist tendencies.
Q: To what extent do you think honour killing is a universal issue?
A: Research underlines that honour killing happens not just among Hindus in Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan, among Sikhs in Punjab and within their immigrant communities in England and Canada, but also among Christians in Jordan, Syria and Brazil, among Druze and Yehidis in Iraq and Kurdistan. It is shocking to know that honour killing is rampant in progressive countries like U.K and Canada
Q: How did the concept of honour killing emanate?
A: The idea emanates from the concept that the women in the families should be protected from the clutches of men outside their clans. I came to know that in Karokari system, both men and women are killed if they dare to rebel and marry outside their clans.
Q: How often these cases are reported by the victims?
A: On an average, a victim suffers 35 times before a FIR is registered by the cops, if at all she reports about the abuse to the cops in U.K or Birmingham.
Q: Why so?
A: That is because the cops said that it was a domestic case in Birmingham, when a 15 year old girl was assaulted in broad daylight by her two brothers, because she had run away from her home where she was being beaten up regularly for no rhyme or reason.
Q: You mean to say that it is not just an Islamic or a religious problem?
A: I would say that honour killing is a social malaise, one that is instigated and encouraged by people who refuse to accept that progress entails an acceptance of new ways, of new relationships, of new methods of social interaction. It stems from fear - pure and simple. Fear of the possibility of the blood line being infused by unfamiliar DNA, which might, in their minds, weaken the tribe, dilute its purity. Fear of new persons that might claim their right on the tribes’ possessions, its land, its gold and its women.
Q: Do you mean to state that religion has nothing to do with honour killing?
A: Religion is always used as a scapegoat to kill, whether it is terrorism, communalism, bombing or for that matter riots. No religion preaches violence. Muslims have come to me after the screening of my film and told me that they liked the film. The characters depicted in the film are not true Muslims in the sense that they do not pray five times or attend the mosques.
Q: Why were you seized by the strong compulsion to make the film?
I have a very close relationship with my father. I cannot even imagine what would have made a doting father kill his darling daughter. I felt the strong compulsion to make a film on the subject when I came to know that a father was arrested in U.K for having killed his own daughter
Q: Did you meet the victims or their families before you set out to make your film?
A: Yes. I started meeting the victims who were abused, but luckily did not die, and their families.
Q: What was your approach to tackling the subject when you set out to make your film?
A: While writing the story, I was very conscious of its message. I wanted to move away from religion, and concentrate on people. I wanted to show how the actions of people impact everything that they claim to be associated with - their families, their communities and even their macro beliefs, their religion, their country and drive home the point how their actions cause outer perceptions regarding these communities and these religions to be skewed, how judgments passed in favour of murderers in these cases affect these perceptions and ultimately fuels the fear that prevents social, religious and inter cultural harmony.
Q: What message do you drive home through your film?
A: The message that the film drives home is that killing is not an easy solution to any problem. What is honourable about honour killing? How can you save your reputation by killing your own flesh and blood?
Q: How apprehensive were you about controversies when you set out to make the film?
A: The film’s message and our tenacity of purpose kept fear at bay while the film was in production. But once our film was ready, fear kept the distribution circuit at bay. At private screenings across the globe, we had audiences consisting of moviegoers; film buffs cry and shake their heads in shock and shame at the end of the film. Moviegoers were touched by the simplicity and power of the message. Film buffs were convinced that they had seen the festival darling of the year. Even recently when our film was showcased in MAMI International Film festival, satisfied pats rained on our backs and the applause was never too far away.
Q: What is your motto as a filmmaker?
A: I started my cinematic career with a belief that cinema must enlighten and entertain. It must help clear misconceptions, and make people sit up and think about the world, its people and the choices they make.
Q: How long did it take you to make the film?
A: We shot the film in 24 days in Birmingham. We shot for 10 hours day, 6 days a week in a span of four weeks.
Q: Does it mean that you want to make only thought provoking films in future too?
A: The people who want thought provoking cinema are few and far between. I understand now that my notion was naïve, because I have now realized that audiences, of which I’m a part, want only to be entertained. They come to the theatre to switch off, relax and unwind. Just like the actions of a small group of people impacts the way we think about their communities, their religious beliefs and their societies, I shudder to imagine how our attitude towards entertainment impacts the way we think about us, our communities, our people, our world. Does it allow us to progress and be challenged by new ways and new belief systems or entrench us more in our comfort zones so that we forget how to think for ourselves and allow for social conditioning to rule our every choice?