The documentary Burqa Boxers follows a group of young Muslim women from lower income families in Kolkata. It had its India première at MAMI, which ended on October 27. Made by Alka Raghuram, 45, the film looks at the potential of boxing as a means of empowerment and took more than four years to complete. Raghuram, a San Francisco-based film-maker, spoke to BLink: the following are excerpts from the conversation.
How did this project begin?
The film started in 2011. Before that I had been following the Muslim women boxers of Kolkata. They received a lot of press in the mid-2000s and I had been fascinated by the story. In 2011 I got a development grant and started filming.
Initially my fascination was “This is so radical”. What motivates them to start boxing?
I had this notion that they are learning to fight so that they can conquer fear. That was my hook going into the story. But then, as I got to know them better, I learnt they wanted to qualify for public-sector jobs in the quota reserved for athletes. Other sports are a bit more expensive and Kolkata had a boxing culture, especially in lower-middle class neighbourhoods. Emancipation was still at the core of the enterprise; they wanted to be financially stable, but it was a more practical way of approaching it than I had thought. My hook was to understand what motivates people from fairly traditional backgrounds to take a radical step like this.
Was access, and getting the characters to trust you, a challenge?
It was a challenge in the beginning. It is always difficult to build relationships. Even if it’s not difficult it takes time for people to start being candid with you. And these are fairly traditional people, so it takes a bit longer. They need to have a rapport before they open up and feel comfortable speaking with you about their lives. But from the beginning I was clear that I didn’t want to catch them unawares. It was a pact I signed with myself, because there is always a power dynamic between the documentary filmmaker and the subjects. I wanted it to be a collaboration where they presented whatever aspect of themselves they wanted to present.
What about the families of the girls?
These families were already supporting their daughters in boxing and to get a job. Within the community they were the open-minded families. So it wasn’t an issue, which was a novelty. I expected to have a lot of resistance on that account. That I encountered more open-mindedness than I was expecting was a surprise.
What was the most rewarding aspect of working on Burqa Boxers?
There are times when the story is so small that nobody pays attention to it. When you take that and create a narrative from it, you’re paying attention to something positive.
When someone pays attention, that automatically makes people feel more worthy. They are able to continue doing what they are doing, plus they are inspiring others. That is a reward.
Bhavya Dore is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist