Filmmaker Oorvazi Irani's upcoming short film, Anahita's Law, will be first shown at Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art on 31 May followed a question-and-answer session. Irani, who has produced, directed and acted in the short film, questions gender stereotyping and caste in the modern world.
Anahita is the Persian name of the Iranian goddess associated with water, fertility, healing and wisdom. The film attempts to reinvent women’s identities in current times and goes up against the ingrained, long-standing Indian patriarchal society.
In a press release, Irani stated, “This film is a journey through the prism of my Parsi community seeking ‘what is a woman’s identity’ traversing the divine, human and abstract through the vehicle of the contemporary impetus of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) debate in India.”
The film shares the stories of three Parsi women who have faced prejudices and overcome them. Irani plays all three in different stages and ages in the short.
She said of her performance, “As an artiste, I enjoy the challenge of acting as it puts me at the vortex of my creation, not merely creating something external but being and experiencing the creation itself.”
After the screening at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Irani will be in discussion with film critic and author Bhawana Somaaya. The film will be later released on the Humaramovie YouTube channel on 3 June.
Irani, who previously taught acting at the Film and Television Institute of India, is a full-time faculty member at Whistling Woods International. In 2015, she acted in and directed her first film, The Path Of Zarathustra, which was released in five cities across the country. The film was written by Farrukh Dhondy.