| Shabnam Virmani | |
|---|---|
| Education | Times Research Foundation School for Journalism, New Delhi Cornell University,USA |
| Alma mater | Times Research Foundation School for Journalism, Cornell University, USA |
| Occupation | Documentary Film maker |
| Known for | Co-founder of the Drishti Media Collective Artist-in-Residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore Director - Kabir Project Documentary Films Journalism |
Shabnam Virmani, is a documentary film maker and artist in residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore since 2002.Co-founder of the Drishti Media Arts and Human Rights collective, she has directed several documentaries in close partnership with grassroots women’s groups in the country, some of which have won awards. In 2002, she co-directed an award-winning community radio program with the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in Gujarat.[1]
Virmani began her career as a sub-editor in The Times of India in Jaipur in 1987. A few months later she made journalistic history when she filed the story on what happened in Deorala village, Rajasthan. "The news of how a young widow, Roop Kanwar, was burnt on the funeral pyre of her husband led to the ban on Sati being reinforced and this turned out to be a watershed in the women's liberation movement in the country. Virmani might have made journalistic history but she decided to move away from the print media. "Perhaps if I had been a feature writer, things might have been different. But the desk job was stultifying," she says. The next year she won a scholarship to do a Masters degree in Development Communication at the Cornell University, United States. She tried her hand at film making there and her 20-minute student film "Have a Nice Day," was a personal narrative of her alienation, as an Indian student trying to come to terms with North American culture. Returning to India the next year, she learnt the craft of film making. She said "I was keen to engage in communication that would break down literacy barriers. Films seemed to be the best way of doing that."[2]
Shabnam’s camera has consistently and evocatively captured the suffering and the dignity of the rural women of India. “When Women Unite,” for instance, portrayed the successful anti-liquor agitation by rural women in Andhra Pradesh while “Tu Zinda Hai” depicted the success of women activists in Madhya Pradesh. In a series of eight 1 minute films, which were telecast on major television networks in India,Bol conveyed the agony of victims of domestic violence and succeeded in spreading awareness.[3]
Shabnam Virmani is director of the Kabir Project. Started in 2003, the Kabir project brings together the experiences of a series of journeys in quest of this 15th century mystic poet in our contemporary worlds. It consists of documentary films, 2 folk music videos and 10 music CDs accompanied by books of the poetry in translation.[4] The films journey into contemporary spaces touched by his music and poetry. In her films, Shabnam juxtaposes the urban and the rural, the Indian and the foreign, the classical and the folk, and the secular and the sacred, in their many approaches to Kabir and the search for a universal voice. “Had-Anhad” was a joint prize winner at the recent documentary film festival, One Billion Eyes, organised by Prakriti Foundation in Chennai.[3]
Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein, a documentary film by Shabnam Virmani on the poet-saint as part of her Kabir Project, has won the Special Jury Prize at the 58th National Awards, June 2011.[5]
She was conferred this award for, "An insightful film that introduces us to the various cults that have grown around Kabir, the mystic weaver and saint. It explores the nuances of India's argumentative tradition as exemplified by Kabir's dohas and traces the eventful journey of one man caught in an Orwellian dilemma as he is elevated to the status of a cult leader, torn between the inevitable trappings of hierarchy that run paradoxical to the simple philosophy of Kabir".[6]
4 films by Shabnam Virmani : These films journey into contemporary spaces touched by the music and poetry of the 15th century mystic weaver-poet of north India, Kabir. We meet a diverse array of people – an urban folklorist, a street fruit seller, a social activist, a Dalit folk singer, a Zen Buddhist scholar, a neo-fascist cleric of a Kabir sect, a Muslim qawwal – each encounter offering a moment of insight into the poetry and its contemporary meanings. We glimpse not one but many Kabirs. Sometimes he beckons, sometimes he baffles, but always he pushes you to self-interrogate, to question the boundaries of your identity, nation, ideology, caste and religion... making these journeys unrelentingly inward even as they venture outward.
The Kabir project is a 6-year initiative undertaken by filmmaker Shabnam Virmani as an artist-in-residency project at Srishti. It brings together the experiences of a series of journeys exploring how this 15th century mystic weaver poet lives in diverse social, political, religious and spiritual spaces in India (and Pakistan). The core inspiration of the project is music, and Kabir comes alive in documentary films, 2 folk music videos and 10 music CDs and poetry books through the power of song.
The films (Had-Anhad: Journeys with Ram & Kabir, Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar & Kabir,Chalo Hamara Des: Journeys with Kabir & Friends are interwoven in significant ways, but each can be viewed independently.[4]
I realize that my attempt in each film has been to resolve a conflict or opposition. Each film tries to weave a narrative between two poles of a duality. Had-Anhad explores the Hindu-Muslim or the Indo-Pak divide. Koi Sunta Hai weaves between urban, classical domains of knowledge and rural, folk, oral traditions of Kabir. Chalo Hamara Des takes you between two cultures, East and West, India and America, desi and pardesi. Kabir inhabits all these seemingly opposing worlds, in an edgy sort of way. That is the place to which he takes us – that thin, slippery, dividing line that we draw between self and other. I think if we receive with open hearts and minds these many Kabirs, a lot of our self-righteous world-views tend to dissolve.” - Shabnam Virmani -
Journeys with Ram and Kabir Kabir was a 15th century mystic poet of north India who defied the boundaries between Hindu and Muslim. He had a Muslim name and upbringing, but his poetry repeatedly invokes the widely revered Hindu name for God – Ram. Who is Kabir’s Ram? This film journeys through song and poem into the politics of religion, and finds a myriad answers on both sides of the hostile border between India and Pakistan. (102 min)
6th Asian Women's Film Festival, Delhi, India, March 2010
1st Prize (shared), One Billion Eyes Documentary FIlm Festival, August 2008, Chennai
Mahindra Indo-Americal Arts Council Film Festival, November 5–9, New York, USA
World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan
Bangalore International Film Festival, Jan, 2009, Bangalore, India
Kala Ghoda Festival, Feb, 2009, Mumbai
Inaugural film, ViBGYOR Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Telecast twice on NDTV-24/7
Journeys with Kabir and Friends A journey in search of the “des” (country) invoked in the poetry of the 15th century mystic poet of north India – Kabir – this film interweaves the stories of two people from two very different countries, Indian folk singer Prahlad Tipanya and North American scholar Linda Hess. Where is Kabir’s country? The answer is elusive, as we journey through song and poem into these two lives, brought together in an unlikely friendship by the cross-cultural resonance of Kabir. (98 min)
Watch this Documentary film online on CultureUnplugged website
One Billion Eyes Documentary FIlm Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India
World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan
International Festival of Sacred Arts, Feb, 2009 Delhi, India
VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Journeys with Kumar and Kabir Interweaving the folk music traditions of the mystic poet Kabir with the life and music of the late classical singer Kumar Gandharva, this film searches for that elusive sound, that jhini si awaaz, Kabir urges us to hear. Where does it resonate, that subtle sound? Journeying between folk and classical, oral and written, rural and urban expressions of this 15th century mystic poet of north India, the film finds moments of both continuity and rupture between these disparate worlds. (96 min)
Watch this Documentary film online on CultureUnplugged website
One Billion Eyes Documentary FIlm Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India
World Performing Arts Festival, Nov, 2008, Lahore, Pakistan
VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb, 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Journeys with Sacred & Secular Kabir In 15th century north India, the mystic weaver Kabir spoke his poems in the market place, his spirituality firmly grounded in the public square. 600 years after his time, Kabir is found in both spaces – sacred and secular. This film interweaves his deification by the Kabir Panth sect with his secular appropriation by the social activist group Eklavya. The story unfolds through the life of Prahlad Tipanya, a Dalit singer whose participation in both domains, begins to raise difficult questions for him about ritual and organized religion. (94 min)
This documentary film by Shabnam Virmani on the poet-saint as part of her Kabir Project, has won the Special Jury Prize at the 58th National Awards in June , 2011[5]
Series of 8 public service 60-second films on domestic violence, 2001 Star News, Star Gold, Sony and Sahara TV telecasts in March 2002.
58 min. Gujarati, English, Hindi. 1999, In November 1997, over a thousand elected panchayat women got together for 3 days in Ahmedabad - to share their experiences of power. While documenting this event, this film simultaneously explores the strengths of women’s governance, as well as the problems they face in moving from the private to the public domain. This event was organized by the Working Group for Women’s Issues-Gujarat (WGWI-G), a network of over 60 NGOs working on women’s issues at the grassroots.[7]
80 min. Telugu, English, Hindi, Gujarati. 1996, This film investigates one of the most extraordinary social uprisings of modern India—a rural women’s uprising against state supply of liquor in Andhra Pradesh that sustained for three long years, eventually forcing the state government to declare Prohibition.
50 min. Hindi, English. 1995., This film profiles the women activists of Ekta Parishad, a mass-based organization working in the villages of Madhya Pradesh. It explores their self-perception and changing identities as women in our society. It is a tribute to their spirit of struggle and their will to survive the backlash of the patriarchal structures whose authority they challenge - be they the abusive husband, the liquor don, the village landlord or the “sarkar” (government).[7]
53 min. Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, English. 1994, In an environment plagued by drought, debt, poverty and upper caste domination, this film chronicles the story of hope—the story of the women of two villages in Gujarat who came together to form a savings group. These women themselves re-enact the story of their growth in this film, which is being used to inspire rural women around the concepts of savings, credit and collectivization. The women’s groups are supported from inception by Mahiti-Utthan.[7]
45 min. Hindi, English. 1993, This is a video film for community organizing made collectively with and based on the experiences of Shakti Mahila Sangathan, a women’s group working in an urban slum called Millatnagar in Ahmedabad. The women have used the film as a medium to portray their understanding on health, basic amenities, domestic violence and savings.[7]
45 min. Gujarati, Hindi. 1992, This is a dramatized narrative of 5 village women and their struggle for gender justice. It is about violence against women, the psychological effects of patriarchy and women‘s struggle to conquer fear. It was conceptualized and scripted with women field workers of Mahila Samakhya, Baroda, who had all experienced violence in their own lives or were involved in collective attempts to resist it. These very women have also acted in this film.[7]
37 min. Gujarati, English. 1992., The death of a village women, Kali, triggers off a reflection process in the mind of a women health worker. In the course of the film she slowly understands the complex socio-cultural, economic and gender factors that result in the high incidence of maternal mortality, and through it an understanding of her own role as a field health worker.[7]
Directed a weekly radio program in collaboration with a grassroots women’s organization in western India, exploring a range of gender concerns. Awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism, March 2001
Journeys with Kabir and Friends
Journeys with Kumar and Kabir
Journeys with Kabir and Friends
80 min. Telugu, English, Hindi, Gujarati. 1996, This film investigates one of the most extraordinary social uprisings of modern India—a rural women’s uprising against state supply of liquor in Andhra Pradesh that sustained for three long years, eventually forcing the state government to declare Prohibition.The Drishti Media Collective
50 min. Hindi, English. 1995, This film profiles the women activists of Ekta Parishad, a mass-based organization working in the villages of Madhya Pradesh. It explores their self-perception and changing identities as women in our society. It is a tribute to their spirit of struggle and their will to survive the backlash of the patriarchal structures whose authority they challenge - be they the abusive husband, the liquor don, the village landlord or the “sarkar” (government).The Drishti Media Collective
53 min. Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, English. 1994, In an environment plagued by drought, debt, poverty and upper caste domination, this film chronicles the story of hope—the story of the women of two villages in Gujarat who came together to form a savings group. These women themselves re-enact the story of their growth in this film, which is being used to inspire rural women around the concepts of savings, credit and collectivization. The women’s groups are supported from inception by Mahiti-Utthan.The Drishti Media Collective
Radio production
...We have to argue with our traditions, as much as we have to argue with modernity. Simplistically glorifying traditional culture is a naïve response, which would be unable to sustain in the constantly transforming contemporary contexts. ...What does silence do to a culture? What happens to a culture that has lost the wherewithal to express itself? Where technology is replacing participation and performance? If a culture loses its voice, in a sense it's tantamount to losing a sense of selfhood. Expression and communication, is a fundamental way of “gaining control” over one’s social and cultural reality. Community radio can go a long way in voicing this silence.[8]
