Men are ‘heroes’ in this gender rights documentary based in Haryana

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Upcoming documentary ‘Son Rise’ by national award winning filmmaker Vibha Bakshi is set in the land of khap panchayat with local men as its heroes. A teaser of the film was screened in New Delhi at the United Nations office on Friday.

At a time when some of the country’s most powerful and influential men stands disgraced by the #MeToo movement, a bunch of male ‘heroes’ are quietly changing the narrative on gender equality at the most unlikeliest of places — Haryana, a state with one of the most skewed sex ratios in the country.

That’s the highlight of ‘Son Rise’ an upcoming documentary by national award winning filmmaker Vibha Bakshi set in the land of khap panchayat with local men as its heroes. A teaser of the film was screened here at the United Nations office in Delhi on Friday.

“From the first shot till the end, the documentary is only about men. There is a story of a farmer who marries a gangrape survivor and goes on to help more such survivors,” Bakshi said.

The opening scenes of the teaser have a khap panchayat leader who says “purush pradhan sabha hain. Purush hi faisle karte hain. Mahilaye nahi karti” (only men take decisions, not women). “But, later the same man evolves and is seen speaking against the diktats of the khap. This (transformation) happened over two years,” said Bakshi.

The documentary teaser was a part of the launch for the global ‘16 Days of Activism’ a campaign organised by the United Nations. To mark the launch of its opening campaign ‘orange the world’ aimed at ending violence against women, the UN House was completely lit up in orange.

Speaking on the occasion, Yuri Afanasiev, the United Nation’s Resident Coordinator in India said volence against women is one of history’s “gravest and most widespread” injustices, and that nothing short of a global movement is required to challenge it. “At least two thirds of all women have faced sexual harassment at some point in their lives. The United Nations reaffirms our zero tolerance to any form of gender-based violence, and stands in solidarity with the voices of women and for gender equality everywhere,” he said.

The movement is supported by UN Women as part of their global solidarity movement HeForShe, under which people of all gender stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. The campaign intends to enlist a million pledges from people towards this end .