‘Ayushmaan’ – A real life story on the greatest journey of hope

“Through ‘Ayushmaan’ I wanted to address the social stigma and discrimination associated with HIV patients”: Director Jacob Varghese. “Ayushmaan is a stirring take on the journey of two 14 year old HIV positive under privileged boys from rural India, who takes up a liking towards running marathons to steer through all the social stigma and discrimination that exists in the society against HIV patients and there by spread positive change and hope around them”, said Director of the film Jacob Varghese.

Sharing about the inspiration behind making the documentary the director said, “ the boys and their sheer motivation to never give up in life has in turn motivated and inspired me as well. They stopped complaining about the agony they are in, instead took up a challenge and won hearts.”

Throwing light on the journey which took almost 6 years to finish, Jacob Varghese said he came across the boys, Babu and Manik, who were 12 years old then at an orphanage designated for HIV positive children. “One among them was abandoned at birth and other was fighting to overcome his fears in connection with his family and of the future .When I met them, who are born as HIV positive with no fault of theirs, the first thought that struck me was how will they lead their life, how will they survive and how long they will be alive,” he said adding, “We don’t have answers to this questions.”

But to his great surprise these boys had shown great courage and resolve to fight for themselves by doing what they like the most, i.e., running, said the director. According to him, the boys who took baby steps in their pursuit to excel in the larger goal, opted for 10 kilometre running first and later on graduated to doing half marathon, which is of 21 km of distance.

Sharing the nuances of canvassing their journey, Varghese said they started on a small scale. “As we set on sail with the flow, I started growing with them too and their mission took them to 5 continents and 12 countries. I simply followed them and documented their life,” he said.

When asked about the physical health of the boys which plays a critical role in their goal, the director has this to say: “Taking up sports acted as medium in building confidence and stamina for them. But above all it is acting as a catalyst in helping them to overcome the stigmas associated with the disease. It is also helping them in a very positive way in terms of right nutrition and work out as well. ”

Asserting that the psychological aspects of the stigma causes far larger consequences than the physical ones posed by the disease, Varghese said the psychological side is highly demanding since they are growing with the fact that their families have abandoned them for no fault of theirs.

Specifying how the societal stigma and discrimination associated with the disease is taking away even the little joys of life from them and how misinformation plays an imperative role in doing so, Varghese said there is lack of right information about diseases like HIV, leprosy which raises a wall in front of these people to experience life in its full form and even deprive them of them the rightful things. “

Detailing the transformation of the boys whose story became the greatest journey of hope, Varghese said the boys are a role model for other kids of similar stature in their orphanage and exuded confidence that the boys will keep on running till their last breath as the greatest inspiration to many.

Director Jacob Varghese is an award-winning Indian film director, producer, and writer known for his sensible, commercially successful and high value cinematic entertainment in the Kannada film industry. Varghese who is often inclined towards making movies on subjects that leave a lasting impression on him by touching his heart, said the subject and the personality you are following are the only motivations for him to make such films.

“You can’t even recover the money you have spent on such films and there are no avenues to showcase them as well except festivals,” he asserted and said the story of Babu and Manik is real, so I wanted to give real facts. Thus I made it as a documentary.”

Ayushmaan was screened under Indian Panorama Non-feature category at the 53rd International Film Festival of India in Goa.

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Ministry of Culture organises State level final competition for Delhi under Vande Bharatam at India

Ministry of Culture partners with Kathakar under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to take storytelling among the people India should be proud of its cultural heritage and storytelling is part of Indian tradition: Smt Meenakshi Lekhi

Smt Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture graced the 15th edition of Kathakar and State level Delhi finals of Vade Bharatam at Central Vista, India Gate today.

This year Kathakar partners with Ministry of Culture under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and the event took place at Amphitheatre Central Vista India Gate from 4pm to 7:30 pm as Kalanjali.

The festival Kathakar showcased in its pristine physical form amazing stories and music by Indian and International storytellers from several countries including United Kingdom; Australia; Mongolia; Sierra Leonne; and India.

In the Vande Bharatam state level finals of Delhi, 165 participants including 25 walk ins participated today. The State level selection of Vande Bhartam Nritya Utsav-2023 dancing artists came from Delhi Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut . The participants were in 18 dancing groups and 19 solos. A large number of spectators watched the competition and appreciated the performances.

On the occasion Smt Meenakshi Lekhi said that the process of selecting dance groups for the Republic Day National celebrations has been made more transparent broad-based involving Jan Bhagidari which is the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. She also said that India should be proud of its cultural heritage and storytelling is part of Indian tradition and Kathakar celebrates this tradition. She said that sabka saath and sabka pryas will make India a developed country and Vande Bharatam aims to enhance Jan Bhagidari.

‘Vande Bharatam’ is a dance competition event being organized by the Ministry of Culture on behalf of Ministry of Defence, under the aegis of Republic Day Celebration-2023.

It has been decided in consultation with the Ministry of Defence that the theme for the Vande Bharatam Event to be showcased on 26th January, 2023 at Kartavya Path, New Delhi will be ‘Naari Shakti’ which is one of themes for the Republic Day Parade-2023. The Vande Bharatam Nritya Utsav is being organized by Ministry of Culture to select around 500 participants from all across the country who would be part of a special choreographed presentation during the Republic Day Celebration, 2023 on the above theme.

The target dates for submission of entries by the participating individuals/ groups were prescribed between 15th October to 10th November, 2022. The entries were required to be submitted on MyGov.in Portal in the age group of 17 to 30 years in the genres of folk/ tribal, classical and contemporary fusion art forms. A total of 1201 entries (consisting of total 4112 groups/ individual artists) have been received during the prescribed period. It has also been decided to allow the walk in performances during the State finals.

State level finals for Tripura ; Bihar and Jharkhand; Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have been completed . State level final competition for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will be held at Hyderabad tomorrow in which 197 participants from the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would perform. Union Culture Minister Shri G.K Reddy will grace the occasion as Chief Guest.

The art of storytelling in India has many forms and utilizes many mediums. Despite differences in settings, genres, or cultures, all stories ultimately aim to convey something universal. They serve both an educational and entertainment purpose for audiences. It's clear that different sections of India's culture has its own distinct approach to storytelling. Puppets, dance, or even musical instruments are used as props to help the narrator make storytelling more impactful. Hence, Kathakar, the sole celebration of India's rich oral storytelling tradition, which was started under the umbrella of Ghummakkad Narain Travelling Literature Festival was launched in 2010.

Kathakar 2022—a marquee event to revive the traditional style of storytelling in a world dominated by hi-tech gizmos and gadgets—will thus feature professional and passionate storytellers from the country and abroad who will showcase their mesmerizing craft to underscore the fact that storytelling cuts across all boundaries of language and culture.

Since its inception, the festival so far has been addressed by prominent personalities including former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Sadhguru Vasudev Jaggi, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Vishal Bhardwaj, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Imtiaz Ali, Margaret Alva, Sunil Shastri, Nandita Das, Sushma Seth, among others.

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IFFI 53 witnesses Masterclass on Gender Participation in Hindi Cinema

Low Presence of women in creative decision making of films: Prof Lakshmi Lingam. Presence of women on movie sets automatically changes the behaviour of men: Pushan Kripalani. Bringing about gender rights has to do with carrying out conversations & putting out guidelines to follow: Rashmi Lamba. Representation is very important for power structures to change: Prof Shilpa Phadke

Swati Bhat from IFFI Campus

A Masterclass on Gender Participation in Hindi Cinema was held at the ongoing 53rd International Film Festival of India along with Tata Institute of Social Sciences today in Panaji, Goa wherein a presentation on “Breaking the Screen Ceiling: Gender and Work in Hindi Cinema” was held. Key insights from a quantitative research study on gender and work both on and off screen in Hindi cinema were presented during the masterclass. A total of 1930 characters from 35 films were analysed for their gender representation on screen, types of roles played by characters in various genders, their occupations and other parameters. The study also explored the most popular departments of film making for women crew members, the levels at which they work and the share of women winning film awards.

The panel comprised of Prof Lakshmi Lingam, Prof Shilpa Phadke and Ms. Rashmi Lamba from the TISS research team, National award winning film critic Ms. Meenakshi Shedde, and noted filmmaker Mr. Pushan Kripalani. The panellists shared their reflections on the topic ‘Gender Participation in Hindi Cinema’ and the findings of the study were shared and discussed. They panellists also deliberated on the steps that can be taken to productively respond to the lack of gender diversity within the Hindi cinema ecosystem and increase overall participation of women. Two short AVs/public service announcements, made by the students of TISS, were also screened and widely appreciated by the keen audience. One dealt with lack of bathroom facilities for women on the film sets and the other critiqued the beauty stereotypes perpetuated by cinema.

Prof Lakshmi Lingam, Dean of School for media and cultural studies while making her presentation stated that “Women are mostly present in the post production phase while their presence is comparatively low in creative decision making process. She highlighted the fact that the nation has had only 4 women Union Ministers of Information and Broadcasting in the last 75 years, only 4 female chairpersons of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in last 72 years and only 29% female board members in the last 13 years”. She further added that according to the study, professions of men and women are also stereotyped. She said “Purpose of the study is to initiate a conversation with the industry. A lot needs to be done to bring equality. Many films show that intimacy gets initiated only by men and it has no idea of consent, it shows illegal ways being used by actors to get consent which send the wrong message to society”. She further added that post ‘Nirbhaya’ lot of legislations have changed and a big shift has happened and films need to acknowledge these big shifts.

Mr. Pushan Kripalani, noted Director of film GoldFish, talked about the increasing percentage of women on his sets being a happy accident and how the presence of women on the sets has changed the behaviour of men in a positive way. He said “when we are communicating with the film crew we use a lot of words as punctuation and it has become the lexicon of communication. Swearing on the sets become part of the game and it shows camaraderie in a way but with women of the sets, this changes”. He also said they arranged creche for Kalki’s child. Talking about the misogyny in the industry, Mr. Kripalani remarked that “Every room I walked in as a cinematographer was drenched with misogyny and I didn’t want to be a part of it and that’s why I chose Independent cinema”.

Prof Shilpa Phadke, co-author of book ‘Why Loiter’ and co-director of the documentary film ‘Under the Open Sky’, highlighted the declining participation of women in workforce in spite of having high literacy rate. She said “Representation is very important for power structures to change. Just having them there will make a huge difference. Even in public space, women make other people more comfortable.”

Ms Rashmi Lamba, talked about the importance of providing woman role models in movies. She said “Why I volunteer with Geena Davis Institute is because I believe in her mantra that if you can see it, you can be it”. She said that she is truly inspired by that. The institute is studying gender equality and stereotyping of masculinity which also leads to stereotyping of women roles. Ms. Lamba further added that “In US, by using data, they have found that they have achieved gender neutrality with family films because people can identify with all the characters and our study will also help in making such changes in India”. She exhorted that “bringing about gender rights has to do with carrying out conversations and putting out guidelines to follow. Young professions should look at these concerns including cinematic language of the camera which is sexist”.

Ms. Meenakshi Shedde, who is winner of the national film award for Best Film Critic, talked about the actress assault case in Kerala. She mentioned that the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was spontaneously formed to support the survivor and fight for womens’ rights to a safe working environment in the film industry. But many in Kerala film bodies and mainstream Kerala film industry punished the WCC members by not giving them roles, isolating, shaming and trolling them.

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