When 11 women made a film together: ‘No weeping, no sad songs in the background’

There have been films with more than one directing credit. Then there is Mast Mahila Mandali (Cool Ladies Club), which has 11 directors.

Ten women came together under the supervision of an eleventh woman to point cameras at each other and have conversations about identity, ambition, desire and happiness. The result is a joyous and revelatory documentary about how women see themselves, and how they wish to be seen.

Shilpi Gulati, the film’s co-director, is a seasoned filmmaker (her credits include Naach Bhikhari Naach and Taala Te Kunjee) and academic.

The other women are first-time filmmakers. They are working-class residents of neighbourhoods in Mumbai’s M East municipal ward: Anjum Shaikh, Darshana Mayekar, Gauri Rane, Kavita Ghuge, Kavite Khomne, Nazneen Siddiqui, Rohini Kadam, Rehana Shaikh, Sheetal Navle and Vaishale Mane.

The story of how Gulati came to collaborate with associates of CORO India’s Right to Pee campaign is as fascinating as Mast Mahila Mandal itself. CORO India, a non-governmental organisation, has produced Mast Mahila Mandali.

The documentary assembles scenes of the women working, carrying out household chores and hanging out with each other. The feeling of sisterhood results in plenty of laughter as well as tears and regrets.

“Adjustment is an art only women know,” one of them remarks. Another dances while she is cooking. A third points out that while...

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