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Acid Truths

Documentary filmmaker Megha Ramaswamy proposes a multi-dimensional approach to deal with the rising cases of acid violence in Punjab and rest of the country.

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It is not just about the external disfigurement. Neither it is about the unimaginable physical pain. What acid violence does is snatch away the identity of the victim, even from herself. The society ceases to be an anchor and life gets constantly punctuated by self-guilt," says filmmaker Megha Ramaswamy, whose documentary Newborns, which looks at the lives of women coping with the aftermath of acid violence in India, premiered at Toronto Film Festival this year.

Ramaswamy, who co-wrote the Bollywood film Shaitan, produced by Anurag Kashyap, says Newborns was never meant to be a film in the true sense of the word but in fact a "visual notes taking" exercise for a fund-raiser after the Preeti Rathi acid case that happened in Mumbai in 2013. "I was working with the Mumbai-based NGO Stop Acid Attacks (SAA) and met Rathi's family when she died a month after the attack. I did not want the campaign visuals to have a sensational or journalistic gaze, but offer an insider's view as I was closely attached to the victims, thanks to the NGO," says the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune graduate, who was in Chandigarh recently to attend the Panchkula Literature Festival (PLF).

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Citing the case of Harpreet Kaur, who had acid thrown on her face in a beauty parlour in Ludhiana last year, and who later succumbed to her injuries, the 33-year-old filmmaker says acid violence is not limited to any economic section or a particular area. "This sickness is equally prevalent across the metros and the interior most regions. Many cases do not even get reported or grab headlines," she says.

Blaming successive governments for doing little to stop acid attacks, the filmmaker, citing acid attack victim Laxmi's case, elaborates, "It took her eight years to get her case to the High Court. What has the government done? Has it been able to stop over the-counter sale of acid? Also, look at the state of burn wards in the country, except those in some top hospitals. And we should not be even talking about the indispensable psychiatry help that the victims need, especially in a country where getting treatment even for common diseases like anxiety and depression can be a taboo."

Ramaswamy, who is currently working on her next film, Girls, which deals with social dissatisfaction, politics of love and affection and peer pressure, says she got into film writing and direction so as to comfortably express her honesty and dishonesty in creating reality. She, however, adds, "Well, initially it was more about honesty."

Currently writing a collection of short stories for children, the writer-filmmaker feels there is a big void when it comes to tales for children. "This is despite the fact that we have such rich folk tales like the Panchatantra. We Indians have always underestimated our story-telling prowess unlike the rest of the world, which has always held our mythology and folk tales in high esteem. Not just that, look at the kind of praise that alternate Indian cinema is inviting at festivals across the country," she says.

Talk to her about her absence from the Bollywood circuit after Shaitan and she says, "The short stint in Bollywood helped me get a personal experience in an impersonal world but I guess I am not meant for Bollywood. And frankly, Bollywood does not miss me either."