Dear Jane Campion,
I always wondered what it meant to lose it overnight. Now I know. There you were, the queen of the ball. With ‘The Power of the Dog’ standing tall at the Critics’ Choice Awards proudly holding the trophy for your dazzling achievement in that superlative-defining film, when you spotted Serena and Venus Williams in the audience. In your excitement you blurted out something to them that you didn’t mean to. You said, ‘You do not play against the guys like I do.’
Technically and even on an emotional level, what you said is true. You have to deal with sexism all the time. Right from the time you made your first film Sweetie, then the unanimously acclaimed The Piano (remarkable for projecting the female gaze on male nudity) you have been fighting a lonely battle.
Honestly, where are the female directors of enduring repute in America and Britain? Kathryn Bigelow, Sofia Coppola, Greta Gerwig…and then? Bigelow, by the way, has not directed a film since Detroit in 2017 and Sofia Coppola, privileged daughter of the great Francis Ford, took three years to put together her latest directorial On The Rocks after the stunning The Beguiled in 2017.
There is of course Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair who are fully functional. In India the female filmmakers have it easier. Farah Khan and Zoya Akhtar are very much one of the boys. While Aparna Sen, Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, Reema Kagti and others are doing well for themselves. But let me tell you, my dear friend Kalpana Lajmi (who died penniless having spent all her saving on the medical bills of her partner Bhupen Hazarika) always complained about being harassed by producers and undermined by actors.
Yes, it’s a tough world out there for female directors. I know exactly what you meant when you said you had to play against the guys. So did one of the Williams sisters who was in the audience. The other sister was discernibly pissed off by your off-the-cuff innocuous observation. Many have seen the statement as a veiled putdown of two black women who have struggled to the top, by a privileged white woman who by the way, has also had her share of struggles. But who is listening? It is so easy to slam someone in her moment of glory. I was saddened to see that after the critics’ choice event you skipped BAFTA. Your leading man Benedict Cumberbatch had to read out your thankyou speech.
Don’t take it to heart, Jane. When you are the toast of the town some of the champagne is bound to spill on your gown. So, chin up, and keep believing in the power of the God. Let sleeping Dogs lie.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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