New Bollywood film Kill the Rapist? to demand action on rape
A controversial new Bollywood thriller, to be released in India within months, aims to deter potential rapists through a "very violent and brutal" representation of how a victim who manages to capture her attacker decides his fate.
A controversial new Bollywood thriller, to be released in India within months, aims to deter potential rapists through a "very violent and brutal" representation of how a victim who manages to capture her attacker decides his fate.
Entitled , the film, dedicated to "women across the world" according to pre-release publicity material, has already provoked debate. A website publicising the "empowering" film says its aim is to make "every rapist shiver with fear before even thinking of rape".
Siddhartha Jain, 39, the Mumbai-based producer of the new film, said he had been moved by the case of a 23-year-old woman who was raped by five men and a juvenile on a bus in Delhi last December. She later died of injuries sustained in the assault. The incident prompted outrage and calls for wholesale reform of the law, court processes, policing as well as a broader cultural shift.
"Most people had their eyes opened by last year's incident. [The film] has a very aggressive title because subtlety in India does nothing. The aim is to put pressure on law enforcers, lawmakers, the media, to get real change," Jain said.
The first half of the film shows an "independent, career-driven, single" woman in Delhi who is being stalked. Police prove unable to help, even after a rape attempt. When the would-be rapist tries again , she manages to capture him. The rest of the film explores what the woman - and her two female housemates - should now do with the man.
"Ideally she would go to the police and the law would take its course. But that doesn't happen here. So how can she stop him coming after her again if she frees him?" Jain added: "I think at some point, if the law can't protect you, you have to protect yourself."
Director Sanjay Chhel said: "It is the job of law and Indian society but the law and society has failed."
