The Gender Lens: Filmmaker Nisha Pahuja On Masculinity, Oscars And Beyond

Growing up as an Indian immigrant in Canada, documentary filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, 56, was exposed to two very distinct gender narratives. One unfolded outside her home where she encountered women who were socio-politically, economically, and sexually liberated. She was told that men and women had the same rights. But inside her house, she knew her father was in charge. Despite being a strong and independent woman, Pahuja’s mother remained a ward in her father’s care, just like she was. It was perhaps this dichotomy in gender narratives that compelled her to look inward, to India, in search of the source of these skewed gender dynamics.

Today, Pahuja who has been in the business of documenting women and their lives for nearly three decades is in the fray for an Oscar in the ‘Documentary Film’ (Feature) category. Her film, To Kill A Tiger (2022) tells the story of a father’s unwavering resilience in his fight for justice for his 13-year-old daughter who survived a gang rape in 2017 in Jharkhand. Through the story of Ranjith and others like activist Mahendra leading a mission to reform male youth, the director explores themes of masculinity, sexual violence, gender norms, and identity politics and how they operate in the Indian context. 

In a country where gender-based violence has been growing (4 per cent rise in crime against women in 2022 as per National Crime Registration Bureau data), Pahuja’s film raises important questions about gender justice, the Indian legal system, and the role of the ‘man’. “There is an essential need to include men in conversations about gender and women’s rights if we want to produce constructive results,” Pahuja states. 

This is not the first time Pahuja has worked on the theme of gender-based violence. In her 2012 documentary film The World Before Her, the filmmaker adroitly explored the intersectionality of gender, violence, urbanisation, and religion by braiding together the stories of two women—Prachi Desai, an instructor, and member of Durga Vahini, the militant women’s wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Ruhi Singh, an aspiring young beauty queen from Jaipur who was participating in the Miss India pageant. Pahuja was inspired by the story of a former beauty queen (Femina Miss India 2009) Pooja Chopra who had told her how her father had wanted to kill her when she was an infant of three weeks because he did not want a girl. 

The Emmy-nominated director is among the growing list of Indian documentary filmmakers who have been making a splash internationally and, indeed a pioneer in the field. To Kill a Tiger has already bagged 19 awards from festivals, including a Nomination at TIFF, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Doc Aviv, and the Canadian Screen Awards. She has also won the 2007 Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series for her film Diamond Road. 

The World Before Her won the Best Documentary award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012; Best Canadian Documentary award at the Hot Docs Film Festival 2012; TIFF Canada Top Ten 2012; and Sundance Film Forward 2014 awards, among others. Amnesty has also awarded her for her short film on the Delhi bus gang rape case. 

The themes that Pahuja works with are very personal to her, not only as an Indian filmmaker but as a woman. However, she feels that her gender has never confined or defined her work. Speaking of To Kill A Tiger and the Oscar buzz, Pahuja says that all of it still feels like a dream. “It has been a whirlwind of phone calls, flights, and interviews since the news came,” she laughs over a telephonic chat. For the filmmaker though, the real stars are Ranjith, the protagonist of her film and member of Srijan Foundation, the NGO that works for gender equality in rural Jharkhand. “As a filmmaker, my top priority is to protect my subjects from exploitation. It is something all filmmakers need to be careful of when working in the documentary format,” she states. Pahuja filmed in India for three and a half years and feels that “Gaining the trust of the family was one of the most difficult but rewarding parts of the process.” The film took about eight years to make.

Pahuja’s narrative documentaries underscore important themes that affect Indian women and men. Her stories humanise the characters in their subjective pain, joys, fears, and aspirations while fusing these stories with universal themes of injustice, inequality, resilience and courage. With an Oscar nomination under her belt, the director is content that her film has led to debate and discourse about gender-based violence not just in international film festival circles but also in India, where crimes and sexual violence against women continue to be endemic.