In December 2012, a 23-year-old woman and her friend were returning home from the movies, when they boarded a bus in Delhi, India. That fateful night would soon become to be referred to as the Nirbhaya case. That young woman was sexually assaulted by a group of men and later died of her brutal injuries. It was a crime that rocked not only India, but the world.
Now, more than 10 years later, filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, has taken on the same devastating subject matter in her documentary, To Kill a Tiger, executive produced by Mindy Kaling, Dev Patel and Rupi Kaur. Pahuja sat down exclusively with SheKnows to talk about this documentary which follows the aftermath of another horrifying sexual assault case in India. It tells the story of a father, Ranjit, who fights to get justice for his 13-year-old daughter, who was sexually assaulted after a family wedding.
Her assailants were all caught, but the family embarks on a bigger fight against the system and their own community, and their long-held beliefs that those responsible shouldn’t face justice. In fact, it is suggested by many, including the police, that to make things right, one of the assailants should marry the young rape victim. Thankfully, and not easily, her father decides to take on the fight of their lives to bring his daughter’s attackers to justice, while everyone turns against the family. According to the creators of the documentary, in India, a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, making the family’s fight for justice for their daughter even more rare. Pahuja shares with us how Kaling and Patel got involved, why she chose to tell this story from the perspective of the victim’s father, and how the documentary had already made a difference.
At the New York City premiere of the film, Patel told the audience, “To be honest, when I came across this film with Nisha, I’ve never been more humbled by a piece of cinema in my life, I’ve never been more proud to be associated with something in my entire career, that’s the truth.” Patel then revealed he had a visceral reaction seeing the film, and implored the audience to use their voices to spread the word about the film, “to give a platform to the voiceless people in India in the villages.”
SheKnows: This film is gutting. But sadly, necessary, to highlight these stories that a lot of people would like to forget. Why was it so important to do this project for you and bring attention to this?
Nisha Pahuja: It’s exactly as you said, right. I mean, this is, for me personally, this issue of gender justice is something that I have focused a lot of my sort of professional and emotional life on. It’s been something that’s been very close to my heart for a number of reasons. So, I’ve made films about this in the in the past. It’s an issue that just does not get – it’s an issue that’s not going away. We’re not moving the needle in ways that are significant enough in certain parts of the world. That’s my feeling. So, I feel it’s critical to continue to shine a light on these issues. I’m a big believer in in patience, as a human being. I think India, especially having spent so much time in India, it’s such an extraordinary teacher. What it has taught me, is a tremendous amount of patience, and the idea that change is really slow. That said, I feel that it’s important to push back and to not accept, to keep fighting.
SheKnows: Patience. Given the subject matter and how much change needs to happen, that’s a great way to view it. So, how did you find this opportunity? Or how did it find you?
Pahuja: Yeah, exactly. Stories find you. They really do. It isn’t that you’re seeking it necessarily. It’s just that you happen to be at the right place at the right time. With this film, in particular, it was kind of extraordinary, because I don’t know if you know, Reshma, this wasn’t the film that I had started out to make. It wasn’t the film I was intending to make. I was actually going to make some big treatise on masculinity. That was that was the idea. Which I’m still going to do.
So, this film actually was going to be a film on masculinity. And I was following the work of Mahendra (Kumar), the NGO activist (in the film). Because the organization that he worked with in Delhi, the Center for Health and Social Justice, they’re pioneers in the space of working with men and boys. And they were running a 3.5 year program in the state of Jharkhand, where they were working with boys and men in villages, and teaching them a different masculinity. And Ranjit (the father in the film) was part of that program. And then this happened. This tragedy struck his family and his daughter. And I started to just follow the story, not knowing where it was going to lead or what was going to happen. And, and as we kept filming the story, it just became more and more extraordinary and more and more dramatic. And it really was so clear. You know, this is a man is on an odyssey for justice. It’s a quest. The David and Goliath story, and the demons that he was battling are both external and internal, you know. Then once we got into the edit, it just became so clear that we needed to focus on this, so we put away the masculinity film, and did this one.
SheKnows: I hope you revisit that masculinity topic. In 2012-2013, the Nirbhaya case happened. How much has changed since then? And how much more change do you think will happen? Because it does feel like nothing’s happened…
Pahuja: Well, you know, I mean, you’re right, because the headlines that come out of India are so continually kind of horrifying.How do we change it? We change it by culture? You know, I’ll tell you what has changed. Significantly. The rape laws. So, after the Delhi gang rape, there was a commission that was formed. And that was a group of lawyers, activists would come together, and realized that the rape laws in India needed to be bolstered, they needed to be strengthened. So, they made a number of suggestions, which were implemented. In terms of legal change, there’s been a lot, in terms of awareness. There’s no denying that the Delhi rape was a turning point in, in Indian history, for women’s rights, specifically sexual assault and sexual violence. However, you know what, still hasn’t changed? Is culture. The thinking around this. I shouldn’t say it hasn’t changed. It has, because law does impact culture. It does have effect. The issue really, to me as somebody who has been going to India for many years… it’s men. It’s just the kind of supremacy that is continually given to men and boys. It has to do with a survival of the family. It’s rooted in that, right? It’s rooted in a boy is going to take care of his parents. A girl, she takes a dowry, she takes wealth away from the family. So, it’s, it’s rooted something simple, basic, which is the survival of your family.
SheKnows: One of the most disturbing parts shown in the film is that the mindset from men and even women, it’s so upsetting, they believe that this young girl should just marry one of her rapists. And that’s going to suddenly solve everything. You talk about patience, do you think systemic changes are even possible? Because it seems like we’re trying to undo hundreds of years of tradition and culture, and being patient is difficult.
Pahuja: No, I hear you. It really does feel daunting sometimes. But then I think of Ranjit. And I think of this one man, and how he made a difference and his family and their refusal to bow down and their commitment and conviction to do the right thing. And that gives you hope. So, there is always the possibility of change. What Ranjit has done just in that region, and in the culture of his village, he’s invited a new way of thinking. He’s actually opened hearts and opened minds, you know, Mahendra Ji, and the incredible work that the organization that he’s affiliated with the work that they do is extraordinary.
There’s so many people that I’ve met in India, who you think are going to be one way, and they blow your mind. They’re so progressive. So, it is absolutely possible. If you think about the way change happens, it’s always happening at many different levels, right? It’s, it’s happening at the micro level, it’s happening at the macro level, it’s happening at the system’s level, the media, the culture.
SheKnows: That’s actually a great point, because change is happening everywhere. What was the best thing you got out of doing this project where you felt the most hopeful?
Pahuja: Ah, where I felt the most hopeful. There’s so many things. I mean, as a human being, as a woman, without a doubt, it’s it was the strength of that family and the unity of that family. And the bravery. That was really incredible. And I know you brought up the idea that he’s sort of the main, the kind of central character. And it’s an interesting point, because it comes up a lot like why didn’t I focus more on the mom? I’ll tell you the significance of Ranjit. And that’s not to undermine, you know, the survivor herself or the mom, because she’s fierce, right. But in a culture like India, which is so patriarchal, and where a father and a man makes all the decisions, you need people like him to be on (your) side, right, and you need men as allies. And finally, that what was so extraordinary is that he did it. And he didn’t do it out of a sense of pride, or that kind of masculine, I’m going to save you. His motivation was purely morality, and because it was the right thing to do, and he adores his daughter, that’s all it was about. For him. It wasn’t about his own male ego or male pride.
SheKnows: One of the reasons that I think you had to focus on the father more is because I do think male shame is often deemed more important than female trauma.
Pahuja: That’s a brilliant point. Ultimately, it was a film was about masculinity. That was the reason that I focused on Ranjit. I set out to make a film about that part of the story. The other thing was that he was the face of the court case, it was him, it was the responsibility to achieve justice was on his shoulders, just by virtue of the society that he comes from.
SheKnows: I was wondering if you’ve kept in touch with them and how have their lives changed?
Pahuja: It’s actually kind of amazing. I’m in touch with them all the time. We wanted them to come to the US for screenings. I think they will at some point. Their lives… materially, it hasn’t changed very much for them. But emotionally and psychologically, I think it’s been significant. They’re so proud of the fact that they did this. That they stood up. The most amazing thing about Ranjit, we just had this conversation about 10 days ago. And he said that he wants to work with an NGO. He actually wants to do this kind of activism work.
SheKnows: That’s amazing. So, Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel both signed on as executive producers. How did that come about?
Pahuja: You know, I went to India, and I showed some people the film, a fine cut of the film, not the final film, we were really close. And everyone said, “This is… it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. But we don’t want to see it. No one’s going to watch it here.” I spent eight years making this film because I want things to change, and the country that the story is rooted in, doesn’t want to see it. What am I going to do? And I thought to myself, “There’s no way I’m going to let this film just kind of die.” That happens with a lot, with so many films around the world, like, really great documentaries, great feature films, and they just die. I was committed to ensuring that that didn’t happen with this. And I thought, “Okay, I’m going to have to get celebrity support. It’s the only way to get this to get this film seen.”
So, Atul Gawande, he used to write for The New Yorker, he wrote a book called Being Mortal, which was on The New York Times best-seller list. He’s a friend, and he’s also an executive producer. And I said, “You’ve got to help me get in touch with Mindy Kaling.” And he did. She saw the film, loved it, and said, “Yes.” And then another friend of mine put me in touch with Dev’s company. And I just started to speak to them. They watched the film and had the exact same reaction, which was, “Oh, my God.”
SheKnows: So, do you think you’ll have future collaborations with Mindy and Dev, maybe about the documentary on masculinity?
Pahuja: Oh, I’d love to! Do you really think I’m not going to pitch them?!
SheKnows: Let’s manifest that! What do you hope comes from films like this in terms of seeing change?
Pahuja: That it’s possible. That it’s possible, and that there are always exceptional people all around the world. And sometimes all you need is one person. That’s it. That’s all it takes. And if you just think about our history, our collective history, and you think about those moments where it was one person that stood up and started the movement, you know, it’s extraordinary, extraordinary.
To Kill a Tiger opens at Film Forum on Friday, October 20.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Before you go, click here to see celebrities who have opened up about surviving sexual assault.
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