Tamil film 'Shakti Pirakudhu' flaunts woman power

Tamil feature film Shakti Pirakkudhu, meaning 'a new strength is born', is loaded with the message of women empowerment.

Written and directed by documentary filmmaker Usha Rajeswari, the film is presented by social enterprise Madura Microfinance Ltd and showcases real-life stories of rural women whose lives have been changed by micro-credit opportunities made available to them by Madura Microfinance.

So what made city-dweller Rajeswari choose a topic like this one?

“I have been associated with documentary filmmaking for a very long time," she told DNA in an interview. "It was surprising to witness the change in the psychology of these women in and around Madurai, from not knowing options available to them to taking bold decisions that changed their lives forever. Such stories were a big inspiration for a filmmaker and entrepreneur like me.”

As part of the initiative, Madura provides microfinance to 4,00,000 rural women along with business education and market opportunities to help them upgrade their entrepreneurial skills.

Small groups of women are granted loans, which they are liable to pay as a group. The loan is disbursed among the group members who are free to use the credit to set up small businesses of their choice.

“Even though these women had access to funds, they had no training through which they could make good use of these funds. That’s when Madura Microfinance started a training programme for them on the lines of an MBA," said Rajeswari.

"This training programme opened other doors like access to bigger business and market opportunities. It helped the women to become self-sufficient.”

Shakti Pirakkudhu is a story of one such woman, Sundari. Rajeswari said the story was one among the many she had written and was unanimously selected by the women self-help groups she met.

“It was very strange how after the script was finalised, I met a woman with an eerily similar story," she said. "Though my protagonist is a trained actress, many of the women in the film are those who have actually benefited from the micro-credit schemes.”

So will the film, aiming to make a social impact, strike a chord with the audience?

"It already has," she said. "We have already screened the film at many platforms and got a positive response.

"Today’s Tamil films rarely have women as protagonists. Shakti Pirakkudhu is a refreshing change in such a scenario. It carries the message of learning to overcome one’s problems and handling income and relationship issues."