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Every year, the female divine power Durga is worshipped for her triumph over all evil, yet reality paints a completely different hypocritical picture as women live with consistent suffering and horror of rape, murder, and injustice. This hand-drawn animated short film highlights the stark contrast between the grand celebration of women's power and the horrific reality faced by women in India.

  • Kaustav Mukherjee
    Director
    The Gift, Unsuitable, Bike, Faith, Wish
  • Kaustav Mukherjee
    Writer
    The Gift, Unsuitable, Bike, Faith, Wish
  • Vijaykumar Mirchandani
    Producer
    Andhela Ravamidhi, The Gift, Asura, A Pinch of Salt, The Song of The Rifle, Raj-lost and found, Dos Bros Force, Zoe, LIV, To Be Forgotten, Coming Out with The Help Of a Time Machine, Red Rose, Stranger in the Room, The Last Jam Jar, Divide-Time To Breathe, Love can't Be Locked Down, Paese Che Vai -When in Rome, The Process, Habaneros, Where The Streets Have No Name, They are no Less
  • Debapriya Sengupta
    Producer
  • Elza Roy
    Consulting Producer
  • Sudeip Ghosh
    Music
    Asura-The Demon Within, C2B Voices, Blood Drive
  • Kaustav Mukherjee
    Sound Design
  • Project Type:
    Animation
  • Genres:
    Social, Drama, Women, Human Rights
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    N/A
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Kaustav Mukherjee

Kaustuv is an award-winning independent filmmaker, telling stories with deep messages. He has written, directed and produced 11 short films, often delving into topics of women empowerment. His films have been critically recognized and awarded at various film festivals across the world. His last film Unsuitable has been selected at 13 esteemed festivals and won 2 awards. This film has also been selected as a course material for a liberal arts course at Colby College, ME. Kaustuv is versed in multiple artistic mediums like painting, animation and photography. What drives Kaustuv is how he creatively uses his proficiencies in these mediums to deliver a message in his films that makes people think.

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Director Statement

As a young boy, I remember feeling a deep, personal fear whenever I traveled alone with my mother at night. My fear wasn't for myself, but for her. It was rooted in the constant barrage of news about violence against women. This concern stayed with me as I grew, and tragically, instead of diminishing, such crimes have only increased. According to the Indian National Crime Report, crimes against women have increased at a rate of 10% every year, from 2020 with 31,516 women raped and 248 women raped and subsequently murdered in 2022 alone—more than three lives, brutally destroyed, every five days. Yet, every year, we dedicate five days to worship Devi Durga, a Goddess who single-handedly destroys all evil. We honor her power to eradicate darkness, but in the real world, the evil we claim to fight continues to claim our own Durga’s, the flesh-and-blood women among us, every single day.
This stark contrast—the celebration of the female divine and the daily horrors faced by women—is at the heart of this film. The central theme is a desperate cry for change, highlighting the paradox of our society.
To truly convey the rawness and pain of this issue, I felt it necessary to step away from conventional filmmaking methods. That’s why I chose to hand-draw each image of this film. The result is a series of monochrome, imperfect visuals that convey the gritty, unsettling, and painful reality of violence against women. These images are meant to be uncomfortable, to reflect the discomfort of the subject matter.
The goal of this experimental short film is to raise awareness and ignite change through a unique storytelling technique to address a social issue. The reverse timeline structure was designed to maximize emotional impact. The film begins by showing the inevitable, painful, and dark fate of women, but as the story unfolds backward, it returns to a time when girls are smiling, filled with hope. This journey back to the present day highlights the fragility of those smiles, urging the audience to realize how easily those hopes can be shattered and how urgent change is needed. This film is a call to action, a reminder that we must do better, protect our women, let our Durga’s be Durga’s and eliminate the evils that persist in our society.