Notes from the 16th Mumbai Film Festival: Playing With Fire

“Playing With Fire, ma’am?” I nod in the affirmative, chuckling at how the sentence sounds, and walk inside the sparsely populated morning show of the 16th Mumbai Film Festival on Wednesday. The documentary of a Greek actress-director travelling to Kabul, Afghanistan to teach theatre and get a glimpse into the lives of the women actresses there, does not seem to have pulled many people to the screening, but I find their stories riveting.

Anneta Papathanassiou is invited to Kabul University to teach ancient Greek theatre to the 220 students studying in the Theatre Department. While she's impressed at first glance, she quickly witnesses the harsh criticism, social disapproval and heart-breaking struggle of women actresses in the country, both young and old.

Being an actress is a dangerous choice in Afghanistan. It might get you killed or make your family members break a leg—literally. In Paizontas me ti fotia (Playing With Fire), intrigued about the women who still dare to pursue their love for film and theatre, Aneeta goes about recording their stories, in their own voice. There’s the woman director who had to hunt for a whole year to find an actress willing to be a part of her film. The female theatre student who disappeared without a trace. The girl who says she feels alive when she’s on stage, but the minute she leaves it, she’s harassed on the street, called names, followed by people who want to find out where she lives, and occasionally, throw stones at her window that shatter the glass and her peace of mind. But there’s also the son who’s proud to see his mother acting, enough to convince his father to let her continue. The father who says "art is in the heart and soul of my children and I am proud of them". This, despite the family being repeatedly threatened and having to move cities and neighbourhoods, even as one daughter pursuing theatre is advised not to return from Berlin because of the threat to her life. 

Attempting to unravel the deep-rooted patriarchal beliefs​ in the society, Anneta also picks up voices on the street that espouse skewed interpretations of religion that forbids women from stepping beyond the threshold of the house. But for every person who strongly advocates that "even the voice of a woman can turn a man on, and hence she should not express herself", there are still a few young girls and women who cling to their dreams with quiet determination.

From the Hazara girl from Herat who has fought and convinced her family to study in Kabul, to an actress who dared to shun the head-scarf during a live television interview. Only to get a call from the Parliament mid-way through the show. Laughing incredulously, the actress says, "Look around, there are a hundred problems to be fixed in this country, and the people in the Parliament office are worried about my hair?! I'm a rebel, I won't let the society control me," she says, before admitting that she's careful not to cross the line too much, even in her small rebellion.

Outside, as I get myself a much-needed coffee and queue up for the next screening, large screens play trailers from upcoming Bollywood movies. There’s the 'Lovely' Deepika Padukone dancing with abandon in the rushes from Happy New Year. It seems like a sharp contrast, compared to the women actresses in Afghanistan, who have to apparently be careful not to even hold hands with men on screen or stage, fearing instances of pamphlets being distributed on their street about their 'immorality' and 'bad character'. 

But replace the pamphlets with mainstream newspapers that have slandered actresses on their front page in the recent past, and suddenly, the contrast doesn’t seem to be so stark anymore. Yes, they might be safe from the extremes of being killed or abducted, but are Indian women and actresses really free from prejudice? 

On their way out from the screening, two young girls tell each other in an undertone, “I guess we should really feel blessed.” This is what it's come to then, women should feel grateful for being "allowed" to follow their dreams? Suddenly, I'm not too sure.