Film speaks up for the many silent Nirbhayas

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“In the capital, a young, bright girl was brutally gangraped and eventually died. We named her Nirbhaya and decided to protest and call for action. But nothing much has changed. I want to use my film to take up the cause of women and there is a message for all in it,” says Kumar Raj, producer and director of the film Tara — The Journey of Love and Passion, which will release on July 12.

Present on the occasion was Awninder Pratap Pandey, Nirbhaya’s friend who was with her on that fateful night. He has started an NGO that aims to look into women empowerment and was present to lend his support. “Not much has changed even after the horrific incident and we need to work towards change in mindsets. Films are a great means to reach out to masses so I decided to support Tara,” said Pandey adressing the media.
In a sleepy little village near Mumbai, a tribal girl Tara is content with her confined life, very much in love with her husband. But soon unspoken realities of exploitation and darkness rear their ugly head and she leads the villagers in their quest for survival and deals with prejudice and bias at every step. The film intends to be an ode to women who have faced harassment and stood up against it.
“The theme of the movie is woman empowerment, it showcases the plight of the women in rural India and the hardship they have been accustomed to even after six decades of independence. It’s my honest gesture to make this film into a catalyst for change in the ideologies of the communities across the nation,” says Kumar Raj.
The film features theatre actors from late Dinesh Thakur’s ANK group including female lead Rekha Rana. She said, “I was looking for a strong role to enter films. Tara was just right for me. I identified with the strong character and for me, it was not a film but a war cry against all forms of exploitation.”