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Film makers Deepti Datt and Venita Coelho on their first film on paedophilia in Goa. They speak to Ethel Da Costa on why it’s time to kick butt

Two kick-ass women, one brilliant idea. Both oblivious of each other’s existence till they meet and become each other’s support systems. There’s been no stopping these two ever since. Second best is not part of their success mantra. This includes their latest venture that has women telling stories that are dark, dirty and dangerous.

No wonder then that film makers Deepti Datt and Venita Coelho decided to call their company ‘Firehorse Films’ for the Chinese year of the Firehorse – 1966, their birth year. Firehorse Films celebrates women, and all women around the world who are bad, mad and dangerous to know, by giving them a platform to speak their issues.

Get Talking Woman
Deepti, a producer in the field of music for several years and now the raison d’être behind ‘Axirvaad’ (art gallery and restaurant) is not new to the film business. Nor is Venita, writer/director/producer/artist and a well-known name in Bollywood.

Their philosophy is: Women First. In the subjects they choose to explore, in the films they choose to make, in the technicians they choose to work with, “Because talent isn’t handed out by gender. Film making is a carefully guarded boy’s club. We want to get our foot in the door and shove it wide open,” Deepti specifies. And is quick to add, “We are not social workers.

We are dreamers, workers, planners, professionals. We are pushing our professional skills to go beyond something more than just telling stories. We are using them to highlight issues,” Deepti underlines.

The issue on hand being child sexual abuse and paedophilia. The problem in Goa, they assert, is huge. It has been, ever since the infamous Freddy Peats case exposed the child flesh trade operating under the guise of charity.

“A child is even sold for a candy bar. Can you believe this?” Deepti says horrified. So they decided it was time to blow the whistle on those disguising themselves as do-good Santa Claus’ through the movie —’Monsters Under The Bed.’

With the research support of the Goa-based NGO Children’s Rights of Goa (CRG) to back their venture, Venita believes she has just the right play of words to take the pants off these corrupt souls. “Film is the most powerful medium available to us to communicate. So we choose to make films on issues that matter to us. But they are mainstream films. We don’t want to preach to the converted. We want to take our message to the masses,” she says.

Providing The ‘Speak’ Platform
Funds are no show, with the duo digging deep into their own personal pockets. A setback they hope to tide over with support from friends and well wishers, most of whom being men, friends and colleagues, who have openly backed their maiden venture. Venita, relates knee-jerk reactions from haughty socialites,“All they said was ‘How nice’, ‘How sweet.’ Are they for real or what?”

Trapping The Monsters
But first what is the film about? Venita categorises the movie as a thriller. “It is a personal journey of a woman through sexual abuse all the way to the other extreme of paedophilia to finding out the perpetuator. I’ve drawn a lot of input from my hostel conversations, because almost every second woman has a monster under her bed. And women don’t have the option of speaking. I believe the first step towards healing is through speaking.

The film is about urging women to talk, to reveal, to heal, to break the conspiracy of silence. Unless they do it, their stories will never be out,” she says. The film which rolled in September — main footage will be shot in Goa — has yet to decide on the star cast, but Deepti says her own experience with paedophilia has been nerve wracking.

“As I researched on the subject, I was truly horrified. It was no longer about my child, or your child or other children. It’s about children and it’s the worst crime on the face of the earth. In Goa, people still have this huge colonial hang-up that they carry on their shoulders, that the white skin is God, superior, knowledgeable and therefore revered. The government should have known what Freddy Peats was doing all these years,” Deepti says agitatedly.

Firehorse To The Rescue
Emphasing that they are not in business to ride on issues, but make women-centric films and move on, Firehorse Films does see itself as providing a platform to bring together all the efforts of NGOs dedicated to the cause of women and children all over the country, through their interactive website <www.firehorsefilms.org> which will provide a database of information, including 24-hour helplines.

Calling themselves the very first company in India actively seeking to put women professionals first, they also see themselves providing a platform for other women professionals in the film industry to come together; provide developmental funds and seed money for projects; while hoping to provide a certain number of internships for women to work in the industry.

The agenda seems broad-based, the focus being on networking and building support systems throughout the country. But the duo are confident they are working towards realising their dream. “The idea is to help more women make more films,” they chorus. Not to forget the Pandora’s box they are on the verge of opening. But, to try is to risk failure, and risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. Looks like ’risk’ is not a very strange word in their vocabulary.

Venita Coelho makes a plea:
“This film is a collection of voices. I listened to them whisper to me across the years of shame, pain, guilt. The statistics say that seven in 10 little girls are abused. The voices that I listened to said ‘All of us’.

I think every woman has, to some degree, experienced abuse as a child. It is the secret that every child has learnt to keep. In a series of conversations in women’s hostels, colleges, at work – I heard stories that moved me to both pity and anger.

Anger, most of all because sexual abuse is the thing that must not be named. Invariably the abuser is a family member, an uncle, a friend of the father. And shame is the first thing a little girl is taught. Think of the shame! Whatever you do, don’t talk about it!

I wrote this film because I was angry. Angry because unless you speak the name of the thing that must not be named – you cannot heal. This film is a collection of all those whispered voices. It tells their stories. It names the thing that cannot be named, so that women can break through the silence and learn that there is no shame. That you don’t have to be a frightened child with a dark secret all your life. You can heal.

“The second issue in this film came into focus while lying on a beach in Goa. Little children run up and down, begging, running errands for foreigners. You see tourists stroll off hand in hand with the children – and you wonder – am I being paranoid or is there more going on here than meets the eye? Unfortunately, there is.

Paedophilia has taken root in Goa. There are over 50 known paedophiles operating in the state. Along with our beautiful beaches and our culture – we are also selling our children. And so Goa and the plight of her children found a place in the script. Because, no child deserves to be haunted by monsters under the bed. No child deserves to have his/her childhood sold by others for money.

“I am a professional storyteller. Through this film I seek to tell stories that must be told – if we are to heal, if our children are to live in safety.

“Help me tell my stories. Somewhere they could help set little children free.”