Film director Tanuja Chandra, who is back with a first-of-its-kind documentary series Wedding.Con, gets candid with The Pioneer sharing some insightful deets about the docu-series, subjects she is passionate about, and more.
Indian film director and writer, Tanuja Chandra, is a green thumb when it comes to literary adaptations or screenplays. Known for her projects like Sangharsh, Dushman, and Qarib Qarib Single, to name a few, is back with a first-of-its-kind documentary series Wedding.Con by Amazon Prime Video. The documentary not only shows how women were duped and betrayed under the guise of marriage, but it also includes interviews with women who were victims of financial fraud conducted through matrimonial websites. With this documentary series, she tells the unsung stories of victims of online matrimonial fraud, demonstrating how her profession has developed across the world. Continue reading to find more!
Excerpts from the interview:
What inspired you to delve into the topic of online matrimonial fraud?
I was approached by BBC Studios to direct this project that they had already been researching for a while. It was an absolute eye-opener for me. I consider myself a well-informed person, but I had no idea the extent to which matrimonial fraud has spread in our country too. The best possible way to bring this to people would be in a documentary format in which women who have been victimized tell their own stories. There’s nothing quite like the truth, after all. It’s been an incredible experience to listen to these courageous women, to interact with them, and to unearth the stages of deception that they went through.
Given the sensitive nature of the subject, what challenges did you face while filming and producing it?
There were challenges aplenty because these aren’t actors who, at the end of the day, can walk away from characters and plots. These are experiences that these women have lived and are still navigating in their daily lives! At the same time, as a director, it was important for me to get as deep into their stories and their psyches as possible so that we would have a series that captured their real, visceral experience. I needed to bring in a true sense of the emotional upheaval they went through, their anxieties as well as their tears. On top of that, not to forget, that solid plots are unraveling here! It was not something they were imagining; it was a roller-coaster that they were on. It’s possibly one of the toughest projects I have worked on. I have loved these women through it all, and that’s something I will treasure.
I absolutely adore your compassion. We all have these moments in our lives. So, how did you ensure that the stories of these women were told with empathy?
That wasn’t difficult. When I, as the weaver of the tale, begin with a place of respect, the question of any opposing sentiment doesn’t come into the picture. I was standing by them at every moment of it all, never once judging them. In fact, I was so confident of never faltering in this particular aspect that when anyone in our team would fear that they might come across as foolish, I would be a hundred percent sure they would not! They are not the perpetrators. My producers and the researchers on this project, mostly women, had a very sensitive approach. It was clear right from the start that we would never be exploitative in any way and would always be mindful of the feelings of our contributors. They were always safe with us through the entire production. In fact, we had a professional therapist on the set when the women were narrating what they went through, in case they would ever need to speak to one.
It’s always going to be nearly impossible to please everyone. But for you, what impact do you hope Wedding.con will have in terms of raising awareness?
Only if we know about a crime and its method—the modus operandi that the perpetrators use—can we pick up on signs that we are being duped! Only then can we protect ourselves from falling victims. As the word spreads, friends, families, and colleagues tell each other to be cautious of such incidents and to look out for signs that we could be in the midst of a fraud. Beyond awareness, my great hope is that this series becomes an important link in the conversations that happen around the law and policing in our country. Because that’s the ultimate goal—making our legislation and the protection agencies prevent crimes against women. That’s a long journey, though, one must be a part of nonetheless.
For someone breaking into documentary filmmaking, how did you ensure a diverse representation of experiences?
My producers took great pains to do a lot of research. They spoke to countless women before we actually made this into a series! Most women were not keen to speak on camera due to the shame attached to being duped. Of course, I find it terribly sad because they did nothing wrong, yet society makes them feel like it was their mistake. It’s unfair! Many women also hadn’t yet recovered from the trauma they went through and didn’t want to feel the pain of speaking about it. We ensured their individual stories were different from each other, and they themselves were different from each other. Most viewers will relate in so many ways to them.
Tell me about how you struck a balance to engage viewers emotionally while shedding light on a serious issue?
I love the format! It’s one whose frontiers are being pushed further constantly. It’s a far more risk-happy format than fiction. If one watches even a few of the stunning work being done in documentaries across the world, there’s only adventure and excitement to be had. Advocacy, which is bound to be in any good documentary, should flow organically with the emotions of the protagonists and not over and above them. I have spoken to these women like they were my sisters. I have held their hands, and they have ended up teaching me more than they will ever know.
Tanuja, what do you think the stories in Wedding.con reveal about broader societal issues?
Nothing is an isolated event. And society is you and me. We all seek love. Is there anything, in the slightest way, wrong with this desire? And yet, when things go wrong, a woman finds herself alone. Technology has further complicated these things.
Tell us about other subjects or themes you are passionate about exploring in future documentary projects?
A couple of years ago, I directed a documentary that was personal to me and that I loved making. It was about my aged aunts, two sisters who retired to a village in the U.P. and lived a life of carefree abandon, finally, without a worry about anything in the world. Viewers were warmed by ‘Aunty Sudha Aunty Radha.’ So yes, there are endless stories like these and countless subjects that I would love to bring to the screen. The female genre has been a passion right from the beginning of my career and continues to be.
