The World Before Her

Patient and painstaking are the two words that best describe the efforts of an Indian-Canadian documentary-maker and her Canadian backers in completing and releasing The World Before Her. It started rolling in 2008 and was completed in 2012. The next year, it was released in the US, and now, on 6 June 2104, it hits five Indian cities, on 17 cinema screens, coupled with a travelling campaign to increase awareness of women’s rights and female foeticide/infanticide (the makers call it ‘gendercide’).

Nisha Pahuja’s film is 90 minutes long and has been given a For Adults Only certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification. The ‘A’ rating could be for the provocative religious/fundamentalist/political content or for the skin show of the Miss India contestants or both. No amount of deletions could have saved the film from the Censors, and none was called for. The film speaks to adult audiences, in adult language.

The World Before Her shifts between the fascinating worlds of the Miss India pageant and a Hindu fundamentalist camp for girls, organised by the Durga Vahini. Durga is a Hindu Goddess, known for her strength. This is the female wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, VHP. (On its website, the VHP says, “By taking up issues like Shri Ramjanmabhoomi, Shri Amarnath yatra, Shri Ramsetu, Shri Ganga Raksha, Gau Raksha, the Hindu Mutt- mandir issue, the religious conversions of Hindus by Christian Church , Islamic terrorism, Bangladeshi Muslim infiltration etc, VHP is proving to be the indomitable force of the Hindu society for the protection of its core values- beliefs and sacred traditions)”. Prachi Trivedi is a young, militant leader at the camp, where she preaches violent resistance to Western culture, Christianity, and Islam. Competing in the Miss India Pageant is Ruhi Singh, a small-town girl, awaiting her ticket to stardom.

Although the film positions itself as a study of two Indias and the status of women in 21^st century India, it is bound to face criticism on many a front. Why these two stereo-types as lead characters? How much (if any) of the footage was staged? Isn’t the film itself an example of the West transgressing Indian cultural space? Having chosen the theme that comes with strong possibilities of ruffling some feathers, and having spent two years persuading the Vahini to let her shoot inside the camp, Nisha Pahuja should be able to take all such pugilistic thrusts on the chin. (Nisha Pahuja co-wrote and directed Diamond Road, a three part series on the global diamond trade. Bollywood Bound, about a quartet of Indo-Canadians who travel to India to make it big in Bollywood, came next. This is her third film).

In terms of genre, it might remind you of the kind of films Anand Patwardhan has made. But this one is half the length Anand might keep and is a much more structured effort. Skin-show, Botox, gun glory, aspiring small-towners, heart-breaks, winning crowns, female foeticide--you may be pardoned for getting the impression that this is a regular Hindi masala flick. That it is surely not. It is a well-made documentary film, brightly shot, crisp in framing and editing. Most scenes appear to have been included unedited, but some show signs of retakes and minor excision. Since it is a documentary, there are no ‘performances’, but it was nice to see Sabira Merchant (TV personality and diction coach), Marc Robinson (model) and Pooja Chopra (former Miss India) as themselves.

Rating: ***

Trailer: http://bit.ly/WorldBeforeHer