Anurag Kashyap to present award-winning documentary 'The World Before Her'

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has taken the onus of presenting award winning documentary, 'The World Before Her,' in India. The documentary that has already won accolades abroad displays the shifts between the worlds of the Miss India pageant and a Hindu fundamentalist camp for girls and is a powerful, controversial and intimate story about what it means to be a woman in contemporary India. Talking about why he took the mantle of presenting the film, Anurag says, "I love this film and had heard about it for a long time. I want to make sure it gets to as wide an audience as possible. That is why I decided to get behind it. It is the first documentary I have launched and it feels like a narrative film." And joining hands with Anurag to raise funds for the nationwide campaign of the film are Bollywood denizens Shimit Amin, Nandita Das, Deepa Mehta and Lisa Ray. Interestingly, the 6-month-nationwide-campaign which was launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day is being supported with great fervour by Nandita Das, Deepa Mehta and Lisa Ray and the trio who have always stood up for woman's rights strongly feel that the documentary is a must watch for every Indian. Says Nandita, "The World Before Her” is powerful, insightful and poignant. It's very telling of our times and the complexities we need to deal with, especially in the area of gender empowerment. It is wonderfully made with some very interesting characters. I think often fiction is unable to keep pace with reality, and this documentary is a great example of that. We need good engaging documentaries in this country and we need to give them their due place." Prising the film, The Chak De director Shimit Amin explains, "When I saw The World Before Her, I was blown away. I saw something that has still not left me. I was scared and moved at the same time. This film is the only true portrait of anything that is going on here. It’s incredible how it captures the current culture miles away from anything that has come out in recent times. It’s not west looking into India. It’s not India trying to portray itself to the west. Its above all of that. That is wonderful to see. I feel that everyone here should see the film." Apart from the theatrical release in metro cities, the makers aim to reach out to the wider audience by screening the film in educational institutes across the country and in parts of India where female infanticide and foeticide is high. Joining the campaign are women’s rights activists and former Miss India Pooja Chopra who was a near victim of female infanticide. The writer and director of the documentary Nisha Pahuja says, "We launched a crowd funding campaign because we wanted to ensure the film and its message travels far and wide and reaches people who normally would not have access to a film like this. Stories have the ability to change the way people think about an issue because they are non- threatening. In order for women's rights to really take hold in India, trying to get people to 'see' differently is the key." The award-winning film which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2012 has been screened at more than 125 International film festivals and has won 19 awards and distinctions including Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012. The documentary will open in India on 25th April.