According to https://www.internationalwomensday.com, International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. However, the fact remains that a number of women all around the world still do not enjoy any of these achievements, and that there is still a long way to go before parity is achieved. Monalisa Mukherji bases her film (which translates as “Who is this Women's Day For?”) on this fact by presenting the everyday life of an impoverished woman.
“Kiske Liye” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
In that fashion, and under the director's poetic narration, we watch the daily life of a young woman, who is living under a bridge, along with two other younger girls. Amidst the heat, dirt and dust, the girl has to do all her chores, including cooking, cleaning the dishes and caring for the younger ones, all up until he goes to the street to sell a kind of hand-made fan that also spreads water.
Her life seems to lead nowhere, as her constant struggle to survive takes up all her time, in a sisyphean path that highlights the fact that this kind of life for women still exists in this day, in a complete contrast to the glamour associated with the Internationals Women's day.
Debalina Majumber's camera captures the everyday life of the girl with accuracy and realism, through a combination of long shots and close-ups. Sanchari Das Mollick's editing connects the various footage artfully, as the succession of scenes manages to present a whole day in just five minutes. At the same time, the rhythm of the film fits the narration and the music perfectly, with Mukherji's soft but imposing voice providing a very harmonic soundtrack. However, I felt that the poetry, although it explains the comments the director wanted to make, also detracts something from the realism of the images, which are not exactly lyrical. This, though, is a but a minor flaw, and does not fault the overall sense the short emits.
Also of note is the quality of production, which is mirrored both in the images but also in Bishwadeep Chatterjee's work on the sound, which manages to capture all the different sounds of the streets accurately, in an effort that was, obviously, quite difficult.
“Kiske Liye” is a well-shot film that manages to communicate its comments quite eloquently, as it presents a side of women's life most people either ignore or pretend it does not exist.
