Release Date: Mid-June 2018
Banner: Royal Maratha Entertainment
Producer: Dr Swapna Patker
Director: Ananth Mahadevan
Music: Rohan Pradhan
Cast: Tannishta Chatterji, Bharat Dabolkar, Santosh Juvekar, Tom Alter, Alex ONeill, Prasad Oak, Kavita Lad
The Plot
The biopic, Dr Rakhmabai, brings the story of India’s first female practising doctor to the big screen. She was born in 1864 and educated at a medical college in the UK, a fact that remains largely unheard of even today. Dr Rakhmabai has been shot in Marathi, English, Hindi and Gujarati. Ananth says that Dr. Rakhmabai challenged gender norms in more than one way. During her time, girls were being denied the right to education and were being married off much before puberty. They were subjected to sexual abuse, as their husbands thought they could have sex with them however young the wives may be. The credit of her progressive upbringing must be given to her step-father, Sakharam Arjun, who did not force her to stay at her husband’s house, whom she was married off to at a young age. Her parents encouraged her to procure a medical degree from England when even English women were not encouraged to earn degrees.She said that in spite of Queen Victoria ruling our country, is it not ironic that a lady is not purview to a lady’s problems in India?” Ananth Mahadevan says that Rakhmabai’s divorce case was one of the two that was responsible for the amendment of the age of consent law. People in India branded her a witch, and ostracized by the society because she defied her marriage and lived alone.The film was shot in Mumbai and the UK, and it was necessary to wipe out all evidence of present times at the post-production stage. Another challenge was researching about and procuring the rudimentary stethoscopes and medical instruments that were used then.
By: Jyothi Venkatesh
