Move to ban gangrape film international suicide: Leslee Udwin

British filmmaker Leslee Udwin addresses a press conference on her documentary film “India’s Daughter,” about the Dec. 16, 2012 gang rape in a moving bus, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. (AP photo)

By: Aditi Khanna

India committed “international suicide” by banning a documentary on the December 16 Delhi gangrape from screening in the country, the British filmmaker behind the film has said.

Leslee Udwin, the director of India’s Daughter also said it was ironic that her purpose of “giving a gift of gratitude” to India has been misinterpreted as “pointing fingers” at the country.

She said: “My whole purpose was to give a gift of gratitude to India, to actually praise India, to single India out as a country that was exemplary in its response to this rape, as a country where one could see the beginning of a change.

“The supreme irony is that they are now accusing me of having wanted to point fingers at India, defame India, and it is they who have committed international suicide by banning this film.”

Speaking after a screening of the documentary that has stoked a controversy, with the Indian government banning its telecast last week and asking video-sharing website YouTube to remove all links to the documentary, Udwin said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would see similar thoughts echoed in the film as his Beti Bachao campaign.

“If (Modi) spent one hour seeing this documentary, he would see his own statements since he got into power reflected in this film.

“The film is saying exactly what he’s saying with his Beti Bachao campaign,” she said over the weekend.

The documentary — still available online in the UK via BBC’s iplayer tool — features an interview of one of four men sentenced to death, Mukesh Singh, for rape, torture and murder of a 23-year-old on a moving bus. PTI

Source:: Indian Express