F Rated: Being A Woman Filmmaker in India

What does it mean to be a woman filmmaker in India?
One famous director suffered from depression, unable to take on film projects because of her young child. Another was asked in an interview if she drinks and smokes to deal with the stress of filmmaking like men do. Some faced cinematographers who refused to listen to them. Almost all of them struggle to raise money for films with female protagonists. But they are also cool and sassy. One attended film school with her two-week-old baby. Another stormed the once all-male bastion of the 200-crore club. They can make a hit film about a middle-aged housewife, as much as about a bisexual teenager with a disability.
F-rated brings together diverse stories of eleven women filmmakers in India: Aparna Sen, Mira Nair, Farah Khan, Meghna Gulzar, Nandita Das, Shonali Bose, Tanuja Chandra, Anjali Menon, Reema Kagti, Kiran Rao and Alankrita Srivastava. A celebration of their woman- hood as much as their work - this is a must-read.

NANDITA DUTTA works at the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality at Ashoka University. She has an MA in Gender Studies from SOAS, University of London. She has written extensively on Indian cinema for national and international publications.

Describing the power of a filmmaker, Satyajit Ray wrote in his b is an indispensable part of his equipment. With vast amounts of money at his disposal and a whole army of talents at his beck and call, he must work with a far greater sense of power than any other artist in any other field. The very word "Action" with which he gets a scene going has an authentic ring of an army command. Indeed, he knows well that as long as the film is in the making, he is the one who is expected to dominate.
Now replace the he with a she.
Imagine a film set with a woman calling the shots, with hundreds of men and women striving to realize her vision.