HYDERABAD: With 98 per cent of rapes being committed by people known to the victim in India, a short filmmaker from Visakhapatnam has come out with a hard-hitting 12.32 seconds film which has just been released. The motive of the film is “Stop rape” and has been made based on real-life incidents of marital rape and incest reported in newspapers across the country.
Soumya Bollapragada who has penned the story, written the screenplay, directed and produced it released the film titled "I AM ...
SHE!"
The provocation for the film comes from the fact that India stands at the third place in the world going by rape statistics. Moreover, every hour at least two to three rapes occur in the country.
According to Souwmya, the film highlights stories of horrific incest rape and objectionable sexual advances a woman faces at her workplace and at home. The woman in the movie is subjected to daily brutal marital, including incest rape and her urge to survive. “I wanted to highlight these very issues and I thought this movie could bring it to the forefront of conversation,” Soumya said.
But it is not just one woman’s desire to change the conditions for women in the country. Shivani Rai, from Hyderabad, who plays the rape victim in the short film gives a sterling performance. While in the film she is a symbol of suffering, he says in real life women have to speak out against being subjected to physical abuse.
“Sadly even educated women are keeping quiet. They have to overcome their inhibitions and speak out,” Shivani Rai told TOI. She pointed out that in the Indian society, women cannot dare think of raising their hand against the husband. “This has to change. The society has to change and also come to the aid of such women,” she said.
The attempt that the director, actor and other actors have made to drive home the point that marital rape, incest or any kind of abuse should be met with resistance is well understood. Not a single word is spoken in the short film and it is the music that conveys the mood.
“In today’s world, people have become numb. They do not react because they think they are safe and that it is happening to someone else,” Shivani Rai said. So when such incidents are reported in the media, in newspapers and television, there is no indignation shown. The short film against rape is a forceful voice against what women are subjected to and crying for a change.