Championing women empowerment

Actress Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal is all set to celebrate 16 years of The Vagina Monologues by staging seven shows of the play over the span of two days at Prithvi Theatre. Having championed the cause of women’s empowerment for many years, she’s also celebrating the India chapter of the One Billion Rising movement, that was initially launched in 2013, initiated by Eve Ensler, the writer of The Vagina Monologues.

“We were very privileged to have Eve here in India to help us plan the Indian launch of the global movement,” says producer-director Kaizaad Kotwal, Mahabanoo’s son. According to him, the initiative has been in the works for a while, and it almost seems pre-ordained for them to be associated with it.

One Billion Rising gets its name from figures released by the U.N. and the W.H.O., according to which one in every three women experiences some form of physical or sexual abuse or assault in her lifetime. In India, the figure is closer to one out in every two women. “That is an astonishing statistic. This means that there are 1 billion or more women and girls on the planet right now who have been physically or sexually assaulted,” says Kaizaad.

Talking about the aim of One Billion Rising, he says, “The idea is to get the survivors of physical and sexual assault and their supporters to rise and reclaim the world from the clutches of this pandemic of violence.” He and Mahabanoo plan to commemorate the movement every year to increase awareness and put an end to this war on women and their bodies. And they’re leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that their message reaches the masses. They’re visiting elite urban schools and colleges as well as bastis and tenements to talk to women, and they’re also trying to get men to join the movement.

“If more men join us and understand that they have a huge stake in ending this war on women, then our work becomes easier and we reach our goals sooner,” Kaizaad confirms. With the movement ready to kick-start in India, Kaizaad and Mahabanoo already have several projects lined up to keep the momentum going.

On the occasion of the 16th anniversary of her critically acclaimed play, Mahabanoo’s made one small addition - a reading of “Rising” by veteran actress Ratna Pathak Shah. She will be one of the guests at the event, along with Parmesh Shahani, Sid Makkar, Soni Razdan, Barkha Dutt, Faye D’Souza, and Rana Ayyub.

In the past, the Vagina Monologues team has worked with several eminent personalities from the industry. Some collaborations that Kaizaad recalls fondly are with Jane Fonda, Marissa Tomei, Imran Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Loveleen Tandan, Longinus Fernandez, Naseeruddin Shah, Mansi Scott, Alankrita Srivastava and Saakshi Tanwar. “We need many more men and women with visibility and a voice to join us as we chip away at the massive epidemic of violence against women,” he concludes.

One Billion Rising

The campaign is launched by Eve Ensler on Valentine's Day 2012.
2013 - People across the world come together on V-day to express their outrage at the injustice against women.
2014 - Global coordinators choose "Revolution" as their theme for the escalation of their demand for justice for women who've survived gender violence.
2015 - Millions of activists from over 200 countries gather to demand accountability and systematic change.
2016 - The revolution aims to bring national and international focus to the issues faced by marginalised women.
2017 - Demand to end all forms of exploitation of women and girls.