Homebody to video maker

Hyderabad:  When Reshma failed to clear her SSC despite many attempts, her father, an auto-driver thought it fit to keep her at home. The only thing her father allowed her to do was to cut betel nuts and help her mother in completing embroidery work.  The story of Haleema, daughter of another auto-driver is no different. Being at home all day had left them completely demoralized, depressed and shy.

The story of hundreds of such adolescent girls was also no different until Mahita, an NGO that works in the slums of Old City area of Hyderabad hit upon an idea of providing alternative skills to such girls. It held discussions with parents of several such girls who reluctantly agreed to Mahita’s proposal.  They were to be taught how to produce video.

"Initially, I thought films could be made only by people with deep pockets and only for entertainment. Now, I’m excited to see my own films on screen!," beams Reshma.

Reshma, Haleema and 20 such other girls went through six months of training in participatory video with help from Video Volunteers, a Goa-based organization. The objective of the workshop was to provide an alternative skill to these girls and help them express themselves; tell stories of their own and their community members.

"I hadn’t touched a still camera before, leave alone a video camera. So when the trainers gave me a camera and asked me to ‘explore’ it, I was petrified!," says Shahifa who actively participates in producing community news bulletins.

The six-month training took them through the basics of shot sizes, the video camera, and researching, scripting and shooting stories. It was complete team work. The girls were given assignments soon after a workshop session. Right from breaking up a scene into shots and capturing them to shooting interviews to doing ‘piece-to-camera’ (PTC) for their news bulletins, the workshop sessions covered them all. Attending the training sessions on participatory video has not only served to enskill themselves with video techniques but has also lent them tremendous confidence.  

"When we first went out with a camera, the boys would tease us. Our parents too were not very happy that we were doing something that ‘men should be doing’. Of course things have changed now. I am proud that members of my community clapped on seeing my name on screen," says Asma Begum.

Today with video camera, tripod and microphone in hand, these girls who once constantly covered themselves with burqa and shawls have been producing videos on independent women, institutes that offer vocational courses, inclusion of names in ration cards etc. Significant among them are films on child, women trafficking and female infanticide. Their PTCs may lack the finesse of a Barkha or a Nidhi Razdan but it’s hard to miss the conviction and confidence with which they do them. "When they were first asked to do a PTC, all of them flatly refused to remove the burqa off their faces. After a lot of coaxing and cajoling that PTCs would require their faces to be shown to lend credibility to the story, one girl came forward. It was only after the story was first screened for the group that they agreed to face the camera without the burqa," recounts Ramesh Reddy, Director, Mahita.

Learning video editing, by far, was the most challenging aspect of the training, for, many of them had not even seen a computer, let alone operates one.  Although they took quite some time to find their way into the right folders and getting footage from them onto the timeline, they persisted and succeeded.  "I love editing PSAs. You need to tell a story in such a short time and I think that’s the most challenging aspect," says Sameena. "I want to become an editor," she says confidently.

"My parents are now perfectly okay with the kind of work I’m doing. I really don’t know if my brother does. He still makes faces when I announce I’m going to the workshop. I’m confident he’ll stop doing that soon" says Ayesha. Maybe she’s only echoing the feelings of colleagues who  make films like her.