WIDE ANGLE: THE IDEAL BRIDE
Wide Angle: The Ideal Bride
Wide Angleis our books and films segment at continnect.
Today on Wide Angle, we look at The Ideal Bride, an Indian short film by Diksha Jyoti
no longer talk about the books they read, movies they
watched, and songs they hummed. It was as if the real
person was trapped with the walls of her marital home
and kitchen. I think through my film I have just tried to
interpret the lives of the married women in India’s small
towns.
continnect: Was it a deliberate decision to set the movie
within the kitchen?
Diksha: Yes. When I was visualizing the film I always saw
a kitchen and the aangan (courtyard in Hindi) of a big
house in my head.
continnect: It’s the 21st century, do you believe women
in India are still treated as
second-class citizens?
The Story
Diksha: Yes, in most of the villages and even in metros.
However, people in the bigger cities are better at hiding
The Ideal Bride is a 9-minute film that looks at the life the ironies and bitter truths of their private lives.
of an Indian woman after marriage. She is expected to
be demure, perform all her wifely duties, and do all the
household chores without any opinions and responses.
The story, beautifully narrated, is set within the walls of
the kitchen, wherein the world of the bride is limited to
after her marriage. She cooks, embroiders and even see
her child in the kitchen.
A married woman is not supposed to have any viewpoint
and voice (shown quite literally in this movie with a mute
bride). The Ideal Bride premiered at the Mumbai International Film Festivaland the Toronto Film Festival this year.
It was nominated in the International Shorts category both
the festivals. Currently the movie is not available on any
public portal, as it’s still being sent to several film festivals
across the world.
continnect: Did you always wanted to be a filmmaker?
Diksha: Oh I always wanted to tell stories and become a
To know more about the movie and the creative force
writer. During my college days, in Delhi, I got introduced
behind it, continnect caught up with Diksha Jyoti, the
to theatre. It’s there that I developed a keen interest in
director and writer of this short film.
movies and wanted to become a filmmaker.
continnect: What inspired you to make this movie?
Diksha: I grew up in a small town which is far from being
modern. Lives of young women around me would invari- continnect: Which films and filmmakers have inspired
ably change the moment they got married. They would you?
July 2016 Edition from continnect.com
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