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“Celebrating Life”
Tannishtha Chatterjee, who played the life Dr. Rakhmabai, and who was also present at the screening said: “I think there is no better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than to have a screening of a film like this. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to have actually lived her life.”
By Our Correspondent | Opening Doorz Editorial | March 08, 2018
The Ladies Wing of the IMC celebrated International Women’s Day with the screening of the Marathi film Doctor Rakhmabai at INOX Cinemas, Nariman Point yesterday. Presenting the film and addressing the august gathering which had a panel of doctors who came in support of the Ladies Wing of the IMC, and a subject like this, Aarti Surendranath, who curated the event, said: “It is indeed an honor for a film to be made on a personality like Dr. Rakhmabai 150 years after she passed away.”
Director of the film, Anant Mahadevan thanked the ladies for screening this film. He informed the gathering that it was because of people like Dr. Swapna Patkar (producer) a film like Doctor Rakhmabai has been made. “It’s not easy to get funding for a film like this and to have a producer on the same page as you,” Mahadevan said whilst thanking Dr. Swapna.
Throwing light on how he came about the subject, Mahadevan said that he read the book Dr. Rakhmabai: An Odyssey and also met her grandniece who lives in Mumbai and who is also the author. “I was fascinated because of its cinematic appeal. I was also shocked because when I did a survey with doctors on whether they knew about Dr. Rakhmabai, eight out of 10 doctors did not know about her. That was the kind of awareness we have about an iconic lady who actually took on the Victorian Empire and raised so many issues that are unfortunately prevalent even today,” said Mahadevan.
Tannishtha Chatterjee, who played the life Dr. Rakhmabai, and who was also present at the screening said: “I think there is no better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than to have a screening of a film like this. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to have actually lived her life. Marathi is not my language; I had to work doubly hard. I don’t have words to express how important this screening is.”
Sharing her thoughts, Nayantara Jain, President of the IMC Ladies’ Wing said: “The objective of the screening is to salute the essence of woman power. Doctor Rakhmabai was a feminist and social rebel and the movie echoes the struggle, spirit and success of womanhood.”
Indeed, Doctor Rakhmabai is a film about India’s first social rebel more than a film about India’s first practicing lady doctor. And what a film it turned out to be!
Take a bow Ladies for bringing to light an iconic woman of India!
Also Read: Dr Ruby Dhalla: “Women’s rights are human rights!”
