Exclusive! Parde Mein Rehne Do director Heena D’Souza: Women telling women's stories add extra nuance to the narrative

Film director Heena D'Souza’s latest work comes in the form of the short film Parde Mein Rehne Do. The film, featuring radio jockey turned actress Malishka Mendonsa, revolves around the story of a middle-aged woman with body image issues and deals with themes about how society judges a woman based on her appearance.

While the story is told in the utmost sensitive manner, Heena says that as a woman and a storyteller, she believes when a woman tells a woman's story, it becomes more nuanced.

In conversation with OTTplay, Heena said, " You see, whether you are an urban girl or live in a small town, there is no woman who faced a problem or got negative comments on their appearance in daily life. We all go through it, if you have a so-called perfect body, some would comment on your hair, skin, clothes or something and they would do it constantly. It hurts. As a woman, the way I would feel it for a character, a man might not be able to...though not genaralising."

"So I think when women tell women's stories, an extra layer of nuance gets added to the narrative," she added.

The short film is written by Garima Pura Patiyaalvi and Pranjali Dubey. According to the director, from the time she read the story, it resonated with her.

"When the story came to me, I instantly connected with the character and felt that we can neither overplay, nor underplay the character of Kuhu, the protagonist of the film. The subtle and casual objectification and negative comments slowly get piled up and eventually affect our self-esteem. I wanted to handle that delicate side of the story, sensitively," said Heena.

Earlier, the filmmaker directed shorts like the Pallavi Joshi starrer award-winning Pressure Cooker, Mukesh Jasoos, and web series Crushed, among others.

Parde Mein Rehne Do is streaming on Amazon miniTV.