By Shirley Genga
"Filmmaking is a powerful tool that can transform lives. I am inspired to make films that can touch, move and inspire audiences worldwide and that can cause social transformation," says Ravneet "Sippy" Chadha when asked why she makes movies.
Sippy’s latest film, Subira, which focuses female empowerment has been making waves worldwide.
Subira won The Best Short Film Award at its film festival debut at the Kenya International Film Festival in October 2007.
This year the film has won The Golden Impala Award for the Best East African Short Film at the Amakula Kampala International Film Festival in Uganda. It was also the Best Short Film and Best East African Talent Awards at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and The Bronze Mboni Award at the Lola Kenya Screen Film Festival.
Film screening
The film was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival where only the best movies in the world get to be viewed, a feat that no other Kenyan movie has achieved. Subira proceeded to win two awards at the recently concluded Amiens International Film Festival in France on November 7 to 14.
The special mention Jury’s award in the short film category and The Cinecourts Prize went to the Kenyan film.
The second award comes with the rights to buy the film for distribution on the TV channel called Cinecinema in France.
Thus the movie has currently won eight International awards.
Subira has shown in seventeen film festivals worldwide including Osian Film Festival in New Delhi, India, Tongues on Fire, UK, Cannes Film Festival, France, Tehran Children, Bs Festival, Asia and Palm Springs in Los Angeles.
Other viewers
It has also been viewed at Charcoal Traffic in which Ravneet, the coproducer, won the Best Short Film Award at the recently concluded Kenyan international film festival.
But Sippy did not know that one day she would be making films. It was a decision she made after turning forty and feeling empty.
Four years ago, while working at Mutual Trust as a financial adviser, she packed all the client files in a suitcase, drove over to her boss and asked if she would like to take over her clients.
"My husband was surprised by my actions but I love him because he lets me be me. My relatives were also very supportive. But some people thought I was going through mid life crisis,:" she says.
Against all odds
Her weapon: "I never back down, I like to challenge situations. I did not know what I was going to do, all I knew was that I had a lot of past hurts that needed to be expressed".
Sippy would wake up early in the morning or stay late into the night writing her heart out, but she did not know what to do with it.
"After talking to my sister in India, together we thrashed out my dilemma and she told me I should make films because as a child I had always recorded family memories, not in front but behind the camera. That idea really stayed with me and my dream for my new career as a film maker was born," says Sippy.
Story of experience
She says Subira was her outlet to tell the story of her experience as she grew up. "It’s a story that many women can relate to. I think that’s why it is so successful," says Sippy.
Subira’s story is a strong personal experience. It deals with a marginalised girl empowering herself despite odds.
Subira, the character, grows up in an all-women’s household where means are limited and her mother has to be a prostitute to earn a living. The conservative Muslim community has rigid rules for girls.
She dreams of swimming freely in the ocean just like her younger brother, yet it is strictly forbidden for girls. It takes courage and an element of risk to achieve her dream, which at times means going against the grain.
Success after obstacles
Yet after many obstacles, she is successful and gets to swim in the ocean, experiences freedom and sheer joy.
She is then able to inspire others to be larger than what is expected of them.
Being true to yourself, taking the risk and having the courage to do so to reach new heights, no matter what the odds, are some of the key messages of the feature film.
"I grew up in India and was sent to a British boarding school at the age of 5 till I graduated from class 10. Each time I came home on holidays, I was able to see the Indian society from an outsider’s perspective.
Rigid rules
"I felt the pressure to conform to a rigid set of rules from a very early age. It seemed my entire life was chalked out for me from the minute I was born and I had no say in matters of my life," Sippy says.
The society expected her to fit in a tight slot, regardless of what her talents and potentials were.
"If I tried to do things differently and add newness, I was the "Bad girl"," she says.
Hence, most girls chose to stay in the approved "safe space" allotted for them. The rules were far more flexible for boys, Sippy explains.
Conformity
Though conformity keeps us safe and secure, it also keeps us small, narrow and stagnant, she says, adding: "yet we are actually born to be free, to express our uniqueness and hence celebrate our differences".
The theme of the film is conformity versus freedom.
The movie showcases the four aspects of womanhood. First, the innocent child, played by Subira, who is born knowing that the world is full of wonder and excitement.
She cannot wait to unravel all the secrets around her.
The second phase the movie shows is that of a rebellious child put under many rules to safeguard her from an unsafe world that adults are familiar with.
To keep freedom
The child feels restricted and rebels to keep her freedom.
The third phase is of the traditional woman, played by the mother of Subira. She is the keeper of rules and must look good in the eyes of society.
The fourth phase is the wise and compassionate eternal woman who is played by the grandmother.
She has lived through life and its hardships, learnt her lessons and can advise Subira, whose life of passion and rebellion she can so understand.
About Sippy
Sippy Chadha was born and raised in India, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
She went to Toronto, Canada to study business and lived there for eight years running an independent import and export garment company.
She moved to Nairobi, Kenya in 1997, where she lives with her husband and children.
Apart from making movies, she is also a founder member of Hot Sun Foundation, a non-profit making trust that trains youth in the slums in the skills of video filming such as scripting, acting and camera work.
It is her way of giving back to society.
