Two decades of turmoil has not only ruined Jammu and Kashmir economically, but has turned the valley into a land of widows and orphans. According to a survey a significant number of women and children have become orphans and widows as a result of death of their husbands, fathers who were sole bread earners in their families. There are believed to be over 100,000 Orphans in Jammu and Kashmir and these figures are most threatening to the social fabric of the state. The most affected and the neglected areas are border districts like Kupwara, Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla and Ganderbal. It is children who have felt the impact most severely.The living condition of these children has become worst as there is no systematic and continuous support to them and the only option left is sending them to Orphanages.

All Alone and Lonely is an in-depth documentary which revolves around the lives of displaced children and widows in Kashmir. It shows the families who have lost their main bread earners, be it a husband, a father or brother, all killed in insurgency operations or because they were suspected of being agents. The film tracks down the lives of widows and the orphaned children in the remote districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Censor Rating : NA



   

A documentary intervention on the prevailing customs and traditions of a community called Kambalathu Naicker hailing in the central parts of Tamil Nadu. Out there in wilderness lives this community whose customs of marriages leave you with a larger social understanding. These questionable customs continuously enjoying social approvals in the communities are the focus of this film intervention. The film analyses child marriages and how women and children become victims of religious beliefs and practices.

Censor Rating : NA



   

To marry an Indian living in USA, Canada, Germany, UK or even Libya, is the dream most young girls grow up with in the Doaba region of Punjab. So what if he is older, already married, has children and is out of work? An “NRI” husband is the only escape route from the patriarchy and poverty that restricts the lives of Punjab’s daughters. Most of these girls have never stepped out of their village and cannot speak English. Every Christmas, Indian men living in the West, prospective grooms, descend into Punjab. They will select a young, innocent bride from an array of choices. They are offered competitive dowries, complete with an all-expenses paid honeymoon. More often, once they return back to the West, their young wives, some pregnant, wait for the promised visa in vain. The dream is over. CALIFORNIA DREAMING features four Punjabi brides awaiting departure.

Censor Rating : NA



   

Goddesses grabs you from the beginning with its extraordinary characters. The women are aged, ugly, dirty and fat. They are dressed in gaudy and dirty saris. They are the people you would not like to see, let alone meet with pleasure. Why would Leena or anyone make a film on these women! The answer is that these are the most interesting characters on screen. They are the women from Tamil Nadu, single and brave. They are the lowest in social strata but they don't give a damn. They earn just a handful to feed themselves but help others from their meager earnings. They are not moving mountains or changing the Tamil Nadu society but simply surviving and yet serving the purpose in what they are doing. Lakshmi is a professional singer and dancer at funerals. People in Tamil Nadu actually invite professional mourners to bring them (and others) to cry at funerals. The more Lakshmi dances, sings out loud, beats her chest and the drummers bring out the ear-shattering sound, the more the family sheds tears and joins in chest beating. It is rather grotesque and morbid doing that in front of the dead body of the grandmother. Krishnaveni is our second heroine who makes her living by burying and cremating unclaimed dead bodies from the rivers and streets. She carries them in a partly broken worn out cart. She gives these corpses bare minimum burials. She digs ditches outside the village and dumps the bodies in with or without the help of a couple of other males. No emotions, no sentiments, no grief, just matter-of-fact rituals performed day in and day out. Krishnaveni talks her heart (and lungs) out to the camera on how she has survived in the ruthless man's world. She curses the men folks who have used her over the years to relieve themselves of their physical needs and lust. And then she pays them back in the same currency. She knows all the policemen around and has even been in the slaughterhouse business, selling meat on the streets. She was born streetsmart. The third woman Sethuraku never went to school and instead took to the sea at an early age. Now she has aged and earns her living through fishing which everyone knows is a man's job. She goes to sea which no other women could imagine, let alone do it. With modern fishing gadgets and machinery used by others, there are days when she returns empty handed and knits small shells into strings to make ends meet by making cheap trinkets.

Censor Rating : NA



   

The film captures a peculiar but heart waning practice of devoting the girl child to the deity of the folks of Arundhati community in Mangattucheri village near Arakkonam, Chennai.

Censor Rating : NA