Tanuja Chandra weaves tapestry of women’s struggles
Nonika Singh
Director Tanuja Chandra’s acclaimed docu-series ‘Wedding.con’, which uncovers matrimonial scams, is quite an eye-opener and a shocker, to say the least. Even though she prides herself as rather well-informed, Tanuja was stunned when BBC Studios pitched the idea. “Even I was oblivious to the scale on which these frauds operate. This only proves how the issue has been under wraps,” she says.
As some of her women subjects decided to not show their faces, she understood their need to not come out fully in the open. Being a woman, her gaze was empathetic and she approached her subjects with zero judgment. Rather, they, executive producer Neha Khurana included, did their best to put them at ease, and even had a therapist on sets. “Art can show the way and start a dialogue,” Tanuja opines.
“Besides the perpetrators of crime, we need to blame the culture that treasures the institution of marriage and considers it the ultimate goal. Single women are made to feel incomplete,” the director says. The law and order machinery must step in, too. “But, the law is woefully behind, the way urban society has changed in the last few decades. Our understanding of the issue is skewed. Instead of putting our heads together to catch the culprits, we indulge in victim shaming,” Tanuja observes
zero judgment.
On similarities between ‘Wedding.con’ and ‘Dahaad’, as well as ‘The Tinder Swindler’, she begs to differ and asserts that her docu-series is specific to India, arising out of the norm of arranged marriages. ‘The Tinder Swindler’, in particular, dealt with dating issues. Interestingly, back in time, her film ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ also had dating as a peg, even though a minor one. In hindsight, with the newfound knowledge which she has about how unsuspecting women are conned on dating and matrimonial sites, would she have dealt with the issue differently? “Perhaps,” she quips. Yet, for the woman who co-wrote ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’ and ‘Qarib Qarib…’, two differing notions of romance, her idea of love is: “One that rings true and everyone can relate to.”
Tanuja would like her next to be a love story based on her mother Kamna Chandra’s story. ‘Qarib Qarib…’ had been fleshed out of Kamna’s radio play as well. Writing is in the genes of her family, which includes her brother, renowned author Vikram Chandra, and sister, celebrated critic Anupama Chopra. Incidentally, sister dearest is not her best or worst critic. Kamna, an indulgent mother, likes all of Tanuja’s works, and acerbic criticism comes from brother-in-law Vidhu Vinod Chopra. As she is looking for a producer to green-light her next project, she is unlikely to approach him. A family working together, she believes, can be a tricky situation. But women banding together is an ideal that ‘this immoveable believer in equality’ has devoted her life to. She will continue to tell stories of women, as seen recently in the series ‘Hush Hush’.
Much has changed for the better since she started out 25 years ago; both how cinema is perceived and how the world views women directors. Yet, the ideal situation where women on screen and behind the scenes will constitute 50 per cent remains a distant dream. “Women writing has a freshness, an anxiety-filled hopefulness, which would one day lead to seminal, commercially successful work, putting an end to the endless debate about women writers and directors not making enough money,” she insists. Whether a woman can write an ‘Animal’, she nods, “They can, but I hope they wouldn’t.” She agrees that art imitates life, but adds, “Makers can’t be absolved of their responsibility. Cinema does shape perceptions, be it gender politics or how we live our lives.”
The language of cinema she would like to hone is an intimate one. “Nothing sustains without heart,” she states and has no hesitation in admitting, “Women’s heart beats with greater passion.” Not surprising, even revelatory exposé turns into a touching human story in the delicate and deft hands of a woman director like her. Driven by ambition this ‘proud liberal’ might be, yet that infectious smile never leaves her face. Cinema makes her come alive, and she transfers and transforms the same feeling for her viewers.
