Reality check
When someone was saying ‘you can’t have it all’, Devkanya Thakur was clearly not listening. Filmmaker, writer, poet, founder of Shimla International Film Festival and now member of Preview Committee for Best Debut Director of Indian Film Feature Award, International Film Festival of India, her plate is more than full. Biting into what others might find difficult to chew, she digests it all with a flourish. “All disciplines are not only interconnected, but feed off each other.” she observes.
Rather things in her life have been offset almost like a chain reaction. Her foray into journalism led her into filmmaking. As her thesis/ research paper spoke about absence of property rights for tribal women in Himachal Pradesh, she set out to take the message wider and made her first documentary, No Woman’s Land. The film earned a mention by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and found place in prestigious film festivals. As she delved into women’s rights and concepts like polyandry, a poem, Pahad Ki Aurat, acquired shape and so did a radio show by the same name, which won a National Award.
In 2015, her brainchild Shimla International Film Festival was born out of a simple desire to showcase her acclaimed film No Woman’s Land with likeminded enthusiasts. Often, she finds herself at odds with those who see cinema only as a means of entertainment. For, a short course on film appreciation at the prestigious Film and Training Institute of India, Pune, not only taught her how to approach filmmaking individualistically but also changed the meaning of movies for her. More recently, when she saw 117 films to shortlist five along with seven other jury members for IFFI’s committee, she was floored by the vision of many filmmakers, especially those from South India and North East. She says, “There were so many authentic voices. Since not all films can be part of IFFI’s selection, I have decided to include many in the next edition of my film festival in Shimla.”
Why northern region lags behind in making quality cinema? She finds government policies and lack of finances as major stumbling blocks. “In states like Kerala, producers are readily available. Here most of us end up dipping into our own pockets,” she adds. For her latest film Poutu, with which she has taken to fiction, she too had to seek the support of her partner in creativity, her brother Pushp Raj Thakur, also the co-founder of Shimla International Film Festival. Poutu, incidentally, is the name of the dress which Himachalis wear and is often woven by female members of the family. The film interweaves relationships and weaves of the state to impress upon its cultural traditions and changing social matrix. Being a woman filmmaker, the first challenge indeed is to overcome the inherent gender bias ingrained in our society. Then finding the right technical crew too is a concern and she quips, “Often I have to make-do with camerapersons whose only qualification is making marriage videos.” As a filmmaker, her singular mission is, “To show Himachalis as they are and their struggles, how vagaries of weather and climate change affect them adversely.” She has no issues with Bollywood makers who romanticise the hill state for ‘fantasy too is an integral part of cinema’.
A proud pahadi aurat, she can see many pluses in her state and natural beauty is only the tip of the iceberg. “One big advantage is how it allows me thehraav, ample time to pause and ponder,” she muses. It’s this leisured pace of things, which grants her the luxury to wear many hats at the same time. Only she is in no hurry to reach the top. Slow and steady is part of her Himachali DNA. As it is, to make a mark with dogged tenacity.
Among her many laurels is a community radio station through which she disseminates knowledge in a mix of Hindi and pahadi dialect. Films like Behind The Bars, a look at the life in jails, has won her first prize from National Human Rights Commission. Gleefully, this mother of two avers, “I am a modern woman. I want it all — career, husband, motherhood.” A classic case of having her cake and eating it too…. But none of it has been a cakewalk. As she writes, ‘Barfili hawaon se ladi hoon mein…. samay ke chakr ko chupchaap bhedti mein pahad ki aurat. (I have braced the chill of winds….Me a hill woman quietly penetrating the cycle of time.)’
