Promoted by Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, ahead of US release.
By Raif Karerat
It may have been banned by the Indian government, but the hard-hitting documentary “India’s Daughter” has been gaining significant endorsements ahead of its U.S. release on Friday and has emerged as a serious Oscar contender.
Udwin’s film centers on the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student Jyoti Singh, which sparked protests across India and caused worldwide outrage last year.
Last week, Meryl Streep introduced India’s Daughter at a New York event, proclaiming she was on the campaign to get Udwin’s film nominated for a best documentary Oscar. “When I first saw [the film] I couldn’t speak afterwards,” Streep said, according to The Guardian.
Along with Freida Pinto, Streep was also present at the film’s U.S. premiere in March, a week after the film was screened by the BBC in Britain.
Last month in Los Angeles at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Sean Penn also threw his support behind the film.
Introducing “India’s Daughter,” Penn said that the film is by no means pleasant to watch, but vital to experience. “I was never sure that films are important – until last week,” he said.
The film is still banned from playing in India, but after it aired on BBC earlier in the year, it went viral on the internet, eventually attracting a huge audience in India. According to Indian authorities, the censure was put in place in the interest of maintaining public order.
However, the film’s director, producer, and writer, Leslie Udwin, told NPR that she created the film in order to give the people of India and even greater voice.
When asked what her motivation was for making the film, she answered, “It was the protests. It was the fact that I was absolutely awestruck by the ordinary men and women of India who poured out onto the streets in response to this horrific gang rape and who demanded change for women’s rights. And I thought the least I could do was amplify their voices.”
Addressing the ban at a post-screening discussion, Udwin said, “I think it’s fair to say that any country that thinks it can ban a film in the digital age should see a psychiatrist.”
She added that she pays a company to try and keep “India’s Daughter” from being shared illegally on the internet.
“I am a law-abiding human being and the film is banned in India, where I have been threatened by prosecution. And frankly, I love India and I want to go back there.