Devadasi_NOW is an experimental documentary on the challenges of eradicating Devadasi tradition.
Devadasi_NOW is an experimental documentary on the challenges of eradicating Devadasi tradition. It looks behind the tradition of the illegal practice of religious servitude, popularly known as the Devadasi system that uses religion, class-caste, and poverty as weapons of discrimination, to throw little girls of poor untouchable communities into prostitution in remote villages of Karnataka, India. The documentary interweaves critical conversations with scholar and activists with the personal stories of practicing Devadasis of northern Karnataka, to call to action the extreme poverty, lack of exposure and hopelessness of these communities.—Indrani Nayar-Gall
Devadasi_NOW is an experimental documentary on the challenges of eradicating Devadasi tradition.The documentary examines the illegal practice of religious servitude, popularly known as the Devadasi system that uses religion, class-caste, and poverty as weapons of discrimination, to throw little girls of poor untouchable communities into prostitution in remote villages of Karnataka, India. Through direct conversations with scholars, NGOs, grass root activists and practicing Devadasis, the film makes a critical examination of the history and the myth, the complex socio-cultural and economic relationships of caste and social hierarchy that have created this tradition, which are culpable for the persistence of the practice of the tradition within poverty-stricken Dalit (untouchable) communities of northern Karnataka, India.
Devadasi_NOW begins with personal stories of survival of the members of MASS, a grass root organization of ex-Devadasis. The story moves on to examine the myth and the complexities of the socio-cultural relationship through an interview with Dr. Jogan Shankar, a scholar on the subject. It couples this with highlighting two stories of activism: the successful strategies of Samskar, an NGO in the neighboring state of Andhra, in eradicating the practice of Jogini system in their area; and the challenges Vimukthi (another NGO) faces in combating poverty and HIV infections, within Devadasi communities in their area where the tradition is still deeply rooted. These critical conversations with scholar and activists are interwoven with the personal stories of practicing Devadasis of northern Karnataka, to call attention to the extreme poverty, lack of exposure and hopelessness of these communities.
