Having won the battle with breast cancer, today she pushes for greater female involvement in filmmaking.
New Delhi
In a conversation with Tahira Kashyap Khurrana at the Festival of Ideas 2023, celebrating The Tale of India’s Women, Khurrana mixed humour and wit, with a healthy dose of snark.
In 2018, Tahira drew praise for sharing moments from what was possibly the most trying period of her life—her battle with breast cancer. Today, a champion of women’s rights, she pushes for greater female involvement in filmmaking through Indian Women Rising, an organisation she co-founded, and breaks stereotypes surrounding mothers through her writing and her book “7 Sins of Being a Mother”. Now, she›s coming up with her film, Sharmaji ki Beti, as a director.
“I believe cinema can be an agent to combat patriarchy, as I believe we live in a country that is obsessed with stories. I think ever since we were born, we used to tell our grandparents and grandmothers to tell us stories, and that’s how we have lived. That’s how we have lived. Our moral compass is based on the stories, whether there is the of our land. We thrive on stories and cinema,” said Tahira Kashyap Khurrana.
Responding to the question of whose ideas have inspired her, she said, “Many, and it’s just not men or women. My children. I will not go the cliched route, but recently, I have been really inspired by my children and how woke they are. I think when you become an adult, you see how clear kids are in their thoughts, how clear things are in their heads, and how they beautifully live in the present without begrudging the past or worrying about the future. It’s something so marvellous and remarkable. I think kids are the biggest teachers.”
Sharing her writing and debut experience, she said, “I have been writing since childhood, but then I went to study biotech in order to earn money, but then and as I grew up, I realised it’s just not me; all of us have the power to have a voice that can change, so it’s just not me; all of us have a unique voice.”
“So, for my first film, I borrowed money from my husband about which I was very conscious. I later paid it back. I knew this was what I wanted to be, but I needed a sort of push. I’m very grateful for those little openings. But after a point, you are on your own,” she said.