After a lapse of a few years after "Slumdog Millionaire," a Film from India has again won an Oscar. This time it's in the best short documentary film category. The film "Period. End of Sentence" was produced by Guneet Monga. He is the executive producer, and Iranian American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi directed the film.
Short film
The short film, set in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, is based on taboos that surround menstruation. In the subcontinent menstruation is a taboo period and in Nepal, a menstruating woman is asked to live outside the house in a hut.
In a tragic case a few days back a woman with two children died in a hut after being ostracised by the family due to the severe winter.
BBC has reported that the present film is based on a true incident and concerns a young lady named Sneh who helps make sanitary pads. Sneh now 22 attended the Oscar awards which in 2016 had Priyanka Chopra as one of the presenters.
Akshay Kumar's 'Padman'
The documentary comes close on the heels of Akshay Kumar's "Padman" who starred in "2.0" with Rajinikanth. This film was made on a similar subject and offended quite a few. The movie was a hit in India, but, Pakistan banned the film as it went against Islamic principles.
The pad project
The film came into being as a part of the Pad Project, started by students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton.
She was at the stage along with Rayka Zehtabchi to accept the award.
The group had traveled to the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh and shot the film at Hapur which is a mere 130 km from the Indian capital New Delhi. The city is modern with shopping malls and broad avenues, but Hapur was steeped in superstition and taboo. It was as if it existed in another world.
The team shot the film there and never expected they would be nominated for an Oscar, let alone win the coveted award. The Tribune has reported that Zehtabchi while accepting the award broke into tears and said that she never expected that a film on menstruation would win an award.
Melissa Berton has dedicated the award to her school.
She also informed that the project was born because of her students in LA as well as people in India who wanted to make a human rights difference. The director Zehtabchi also had a special word of praise for the producer Guneet Monga.
Future
It's been a long wait for an Indian film to have won an Oscar. For decades Indian films never won an Oscar but now there is international recognition and Bollywood is looking up. It is the second largest film industry in the world and produces the most number of films.
