NYC based film-maker Vaishali Sinha’s movie is based on the work of sex educator Dr Mahinder Watsa
In 2012, Mumbai-born New York- based film-maker Vaishali Sinha was looking to make a film about sexuality and sex education through character driven stories. “I decided to seek out a counsellor who would be my window into this world,” she says. Enter ‘sexpert’ Dr Mahinder Watsa, a Mumbai-based gynaecologist and obstetrician (and author), who has been writing medical advice columns and articles on sexual health in newspapers and women’s magazines since the 1960s.
“Dr Mahinder Watsa’s work fell squarely within what I was looking to explore,” says Sinha. “What interested me, besides his personality, was the sheer volume of people he deals with daily through the media, his private practice and through phone calls and emails. It is quite astounding.”
The aim was to forefront questions, curiosities and even fantasies of people of all ages about sex, relationships and their bodies, in context of health and rights. The project took four years —“which is a normal timeline for an independent feature length documentary,” according to Sinha.
The result is the movie Ask the Sexpert which releases internationally on May 1 at Canada’s Hot Docs film festival and will potentially come to India with MAMI in October later this year.
In addition to hours of interview time with the inimitable Dr Watsa, Sinha also talked about sexuality and reproductive rights with organisations such as TARSHI in New Delhi, interviewed people on the streets of Mumbai, school children and the elderly in the parks.
At 93, Sinha found that Dr Watsa makes himself to any number of people and strangers who want to discuss the topic of sex education or have any questions.
“And he’s also sharper than you or I,” she exclaims. What Sinha hopes the film highlights is that sex education is a universal story, though her film is based in Mumbai, and that there is a bit of it for everyone.
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