irl oweratIFF

It's all about women's empowerment at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

Bypreetijabbal

Melbourne playedhost to both the famous andthe hopeful celebrities of the Indianfilmindustry at therecently concluded Indian Film Festivalof Melbourne (IFFM) 2016. With afocuson genderequality and liberation,dieoverarchingtliemefor tlijs year was'women'sempowerment', andthe programincludedachoiceof over 50 broad ranging filmsin 17 languages.towinits sixthedition,the formatwaspredictably similarto previousyears witlidieremrnof festivalfavouriteswid1afewfreshtweaks.

Glitter andglam wasprevalentat die gala awards presentation held at theMelbourne RecitalCentre. ABCjournalistDel I.ram,as theMC,clad in amodernversion of a sari, introducedthe guests alongwitli Festival DirectorMjtuBhowmickLange.The screenwriterof The lf7aterDivinerAndrew Anastasiosregaled the audience whilst raking themkkeyout of dieAustrwan Census debacle.Veteran actorRisru Kapoor,who was awardedd1eExcellence in Cinemaprize,spoke proudly abouthjs family's 88 years of contribution to the 104-year-oldluscory of Indian cinema.

Thehjghlightof theAwards Night was undoubtedly thebeautifullyexecmed

Empowerment Concert by singers SuzanneD'Mello,SaraHaider andSbalmali Kholgade. Withvoicestrainedto produce enormous power on demand,chethree singers revealedgreat strengthof pitch and passion in tlieir performances. RaebelLim, avisuallyimpairedsinger fromWestern Australia, endeared herself ro the audience with hertalent. Rachel's musical journey formeddiesubject matter of die awardwinningshortfilmenti-y byJoshWalker tidedOutonALi111.

Bollywood has aglobal appeal, judging bythe many filmfans among the\Xfestpac Awards Night audience fromnon- Indjan commuruties. Cinema lm7ers from the Pakistani community werevisible and vocalin dieir support for Pakistanj actor FawadKhan and singerSaraHaider.There was arensemoment when someonein the aucLiencestartedchantingslogans of 'PakisldnZind,1ht1d'tobecounter-acted immediately widichants of 'Hi11dusta11 Zindabad'. Common sense prevailed, however, anddiemisplacedchantsceased as soon as they started.

Thestars wgned as thefilm industry's best converged at theIFFMAwards Night, usheredonto die redcarpet by dl10I players and dancers.The jury comprising ofJillBilcock,Sue Maslin, Paul Ireland, RajeevMasand,Andrew Anastasios and SimiGarewal picked!(ppoorandS011s as the BestFilm.The Festival's OpeningNight femirustfilm ParchedwontheBestIncLie Film Awardand its ditecrorLeenaYadav baggedthe Best Director awardfor 2016. TheBestActorawardwentto awazuddin

Siddiquifor his convincingportrayalof a psychopathicserial killerinRomanRaghav. He wasoneof die surprise guests atdie Awards Night along withSonam Kapoor wholookedstunningin anAna11-uka Khannacreation andtookhometheBest Actress Award forher role in thehigh grossing filmNeerjo.

Thefilm fervour continued as Melbournewitnessedarecord crowd at Federation Sguare for tl1e Aag hoisting ceremonyconducted by actorRishi Kapoor, accompaiuedbyhjs wife, yesteryearactress eeruKapoor (nee Singh) Emotionsrati high as the tricolour was tmfurled by d1e actor alongsideIndian High Commissioner NavdeepSuri. In hischaracteristicimpassioned speech,die enormously popular on screen loverboy of the 1960s and '70s spreadthe rnessage of peace andlove.This was followedby theTelstraBollywood DanceCompetition which saw another sea of crowds atFed Square to wicness avibrant contest of dancers from acrossVictoria anddie oilier stares of Austrilia.

Therewasno deardi of talent as tbe stagecame alive ina display of colours, vigourand awe-inspiringenergy.There weregaudysequins and lycragalore as thecontestants stepped diroughmedleys of kitschy song anddance nwiibers synonymous widi Bollywood. Outstanding performances camefromd1eProvocative Dancegroup,.Nfandy Dance Group, die Bhangra group andincLividualsfil.,e Gerard,Afzal andCyrus aryaBollywood, Dancing birds;JJ'sDanceGroup,

BollywoodDimensions and Cyrus were declaredwinnersin thevarious categories. In a Festival first, celebrations were also held at Harmony Squarein die City of Dandenong with alive cross totheTelstra Bolly\vood Competition taking place at Fed Square.

There were a few luccups atdie dance competition whenjudgesMalaika Arora Khan and director ShakunBatra arrived late, leading to somedisgruntled concerns about fairjudgement.Bollywood'sdancing sensationMalaikaAroramade up for her late arrival bymingling wid1 d1e winners for selfies and shaking a shapely legor two widi dielittleones.BestActress awardee Sonam Kapoorwas allegedly alsocaught upinMelbourne'sCBD trafficwhile her fans wafredpatientlyat Federation Square rocatchaglimpseof the supremely chic actress.Whensbefinally arrived, the selfie brigade went into overdrive trying tocapturesomesrar style to beinstantly sharedon socialmedia.

Runningon Indian stretchabletime was asomewhat recurrent theme asFawad Khan also apologisedfor bdng latefor theAwardsNightpresentations In his dream}'voice,thedebonairstatcited diabetes and die need to bave anearly meal as diereasonfor hisdelayand d1e audience instantly forgavehim.Near hystericaladulationfollowsdiegoodJookjngactor everywhere sincebis foray i11toTV andfilms.The Melbourne crowd wasnoexceptionas the audience clapped and wlusded atevery word he uttered.The Pafilstani actor received aDiversil)'Award forhis contributioninprovingthatart has ooboundaries

Theauctiencewasrathersparseat some of thel'vfasterclasses despitesome thought provokingcontentfrom accomplished speakers.Topicsctiscussed wereinline withtheFestival'sdiemeof women's empowerment. OntheRipside, there was oo dearth of spectators attlieRendezvous chatbetween actorRishiKapoor and his costarSimiGarewal. Interest was alsopiqued withRichaChadha'scanctidconversation on body image a.ndearingctisorders a.ndher personale,,:periencesinshowbiz.

No onewas betterplaced to comment oncensorship andpushing theboundaries with filmmakingthan independent filmmakerAnuragKashyap, who experienced major censorpressure on his recentfilm UdtaPu,ya/J. Famousfor hisbold andfearless aesthetics, Kashyapis regarded as diefaceof emergingnew wave cinema in lnctia and his session thrived on brainy debate. Kashyapalsoprovided some well-measuredresponses as one of theguests duringthe Conversation Hour withJonFaineonABC Radio. He was accompaniedbyFawad Khanand Richa Chaclhainachat sessionco-hostedby FestivalDireccor MicuBhowmickLange.

Towards theendof whatcouldonlybe termedasa Herculean effortonthepare of theorganisers"MindBlowingFilms,the 11-dayfestival concludedwith avisit from FestivalAmbassadorVidyaBalan. She waspresent at themeetandgreetprior to theAustralian premiere screeningof her debutMarathilanguagefilm EkkAI/Jela.

VidyaalsovisitedLaTrobeUniversity to launch the 'EducatetheEducator'initiative, madepossible inpartnership berween the UniversityandIFFM.Selected students will participatein astudy tourof Indiainorder tolearn how to assistchildren withspecial needsin lnctia."Train theTrainersisyet another exampleof how d1eFestivalreaches far beyondstage andscreen tomake areal impact," theversatile actressclaimed.

Vidya, who has leddie way in playing ctiverseandstrongfemalecharacterson screen,was thrilled to receivetheWestpac WomenEmpowermentAwardpresented toher in an inti.mateceremonyatVictorian Parliament.Theclosingnightof the Festival sawanother quality filmon the theme of the questforgenderequality followed bya Q&A with lead actress Tannishd1a Chatterjee.PanNalin'sAt�O' lndian Goddesses, classified by some as the better Indian versionof Sex andtheCiry, was arefreshingcelebrationof friendship andgirlpower BengalifilmactressRimparnaSengupta, Marathi actress Radhika Apte, filmmaker/ screenwriter Srijit Mukherjee and Punjabi singerAmrinder Gill attracted decent crowds atpre-screeningevents as partof theFestivalsctiverseofferings. Filmmaker GurmeetSran, with his film TheHiddm Tmth, and musician GirishMakwana,with his debut film ColourqfDarkness, provided the local contributionsto apredominantly internationalmovieline-up.Toosoon it was a wrap and d1e last time for Festivalgoers to soak up the funand style of anevent thatprovedtobe a fabulous winter warmer.

BYJYOTI SHANKAR

TheSS r-sh.irt and the $l5 dress at the local chain store look like a steal. Bur wair.Think. How is itpossibleto sellclothesat such low prices? Think twice before yougrab thisbargain.

The RanaPlazacoliapseof 2013, in which 1136garment workers died, brought to the fore tbepoor conditions experienced by workers inmass-productionclothing factories. Formanyyears,bigbrands and clothingchainsfromAustralia have somced their cheapgarments from such overseas factories withoutchecking the credentials of their supplychain. Customers at these stores, like you andme,havefuelled demand andindirectlypromoted modernday slavery,childlabourand exploitation.

But there is somuch changing for the good. It took thisdisastrous incident for companies to stareinvestigating where their products come from and the conditions in whichtheyaremade.Thegoodnews is many corporations now realisetl1eyhave thepower to make adifference.

The2016 At1stmlianF-ashio11Report, whichgrades clothingbrands based on thestrength of their labour rights management systems,has shownsubstantial improvementsbeingmade in chis area.

Thoughit is no surprise that topA+ ratings go to Fairu-ade brands suchas Etiko, ir is ashamechat an expensive,high end brank suchas Oroton isranked at aD. 1n comparison,K-Marcis far better atBgrade.

The sustainableor ethical fashion movement and tl1eslow clothing movement, which havetaken off since this accident, promote social andenvironmental sustainability.Many smaller operators in theclothingindustry,suchas Kim and KathfromSydney'sThe PossibilityProject, use new andrecycledmaterials to create beautifulgarmems with astory.

AtThe Possibility Project,itallstarted whenKirn,aformerhigh school teacher of Economics andBusinessSmdies, decided toteach her studentsabompractical entrepreneurial skills, creative chinking and social justice.The srudents collected their favourite homerecipes andput togetl1er a cookbook which tl1eysold and raised$4000. They sent thesefunds toI-India, an GO working with street childreninJaipur.The realisationthat tliisamountwas enough to feed 20,000 children made Kim and the smdents wakeup to thepossibility of using their gifts for a bigger cause.

Kim then mer Kach,a fashion designer and mum whose kids went to thesarne school as hers, and tl1ey struckup a friendshipof "great healingandimmense purpose",as Kath describes it. Unlike the self-obsessed, satirical suburban duo Kath andKimof the ABC television showof the sarne name,tl1ispair decided to use theircreativegiftsandgood fornme of comfortablelives onSydney's orrh Shore, to work oncharity projects withI-India.

Engagingwithtl1eI-Indiavocational trainingprogram, Kath uses her eye for design co createproducts for the sl111111nar108range, reimagiuingmaterials likeold silk sarees and convertingthem to garments with a Western sensibility.These are sold tl1roughtheir online store as well as attheir 'possibility' talksto schools,corporates and tl1ebroadercommunity, wherethey tell the storiesbehind theseproducts.

Kimsaysshe considers tliis engagement with tl1eir customers a win-w·infor all• peoplefeelgood about buyingsomething that supports thosein need, thecreatorsof thesegarments receive agoodwageandthe satisfaction of creating somethingspecial, and theenvironmentbenefits from reuse of materials. "It's notjust apity purchase whichremains unworn in tl1e cupboard;our customers buy abeautiful creation with a story behindit,"says Kim. "Hopefullythey also takeawayempowered attitudes."

These enthusiastic ladies do not consider themselvesany kind of 'saviomsof humanity' or 'crusaders of sustainability' but rather, thepurveyorsof possibility.

Theytravelto India ti.vice a year to somce materials for theirgarments andtrain the peoplewhostitch them at ]-India..Kirn, whois of anAnglo-Indian backgroundand originally comesfromChennai,haslivedin Australiafor mostof her life. Shesays that tl1oughit is easycobe overwhelmedby the povertyinIndia,theygo iJ1to those spaces with curiosity andloveandlook upon the opporrunity to work with I-India at the grassroors levelasa completeprivilege.

They have alsostarred the Sparrow Sanitationproject which supporrs tl1e makingof compostablesanitarypadsout of woodpulp. Deepak andTulsi,former street children supportedbyI-India,now lead thisproject.

Katl1 and Kim wish toinspireothersinto action andhave little desiretobeportrayed as heroes. AsKatl1 jokes,"We areallheroes, onlywehavea website!"

Another ease-west collaborationis Bhalo (Bengalifor 'good'),adesign labelestablished byShinrnlMinhasUddinfromBangladesh andJessicaPriemus from Australia. Their clothingis woven andtailoredin rural Bangladesh.Thiskeepstraditionalcrafts aliveandstems tl1eAowof migrantlabour intoDhaka city,keepingfamiliesrogetber. Bhalouses'slow' techniquesintheir clothing•hand loomedcotton fabrics,hand embroideryandapplique,aswell as chemicalfreedyes.Bhalogarments areavailableat variousstores inAustraliaandtlironghtheir onlineshop.

Anotherlabel,BhumibyVinitaBaravkar seUsAustralian CertifiedOrganic products online and tl1roughtl1eirMelbourne store.

The entiresupply chain of Bhumi'srange of clothingand homefurnishingsisclosely monirored; from orgaiiic farmersplanting their cottonseeds to the dyes usedand the weavingof cottontluough ro its tailoring.

These small businessesprovetliarour choicesas a consumer canhelp tomake the world a betterplace.Theyalsoprove that styleandconscience can co-exist. Etliical fashion doesn'thaveto be frumpy. Be it recycled, Fairtradeor organic,buy less and buy better.