“Listen to Her” (2020) by Nandita Das

The film is a spontaneous response to the irony of “STAY HOME, STAY SAFE” for millions of women in India and around the world.

As we witness another steep rise in Covid-19 cases in India, here is a short film by the iconic actor/director Nandita Das, made under similar circumstances last year. Filmed with limited resources, Das touches a crucial and timely nerve with ‘Listen to Her’.

The film begins with a seemingly well to do, urban woman who is juggling the daily needs of her son and husband while also working-from-home. Though this scenario is all too familiar, we know that the pressure on women has only increased since the pandemic began. In the middle of this frenzy, the woman gets a call from an unknown number. When she picks up, she unwittingly becomes a witness to an incident of domestic violence.

‘Listen to Her’ cleverly employs the act of listening as a thread throughout the story. At first, it is used to establish the existing power equations between the various characters (mother-son, female colleagues, husband-wife, woman-policeman); and finally, it is the woman’s choice to listen to the stranger on the phone that gives her the motivation to subvert the status quo. As the film’s synopsis says, “…speaking up is only possible when women know that there is someone listening.”