Experiencing Interruptions?

What If I Tell You

"What If I Tell You" is a personal documentary film wherein, after Breast Cancer treatment, the filmmaker is affected, but she is asked to be silent due to the fear of being gossiped about.
As a breast cancer survivor, she wants to know what are the social consequences of surviving breast cancer.
Why do her parents and other people around her never utter the words? She starts filming the men for choosing a prospective life partner. She wants to know what men think of her when they know she is a survivor. Does that affect them choosing her as a partner?
The personal becomes the political in all ways.
What emerges are themes of gender inequality and patriarchy in so many different ways.
Her parents live in a conservative town yet are very honest and strong. She finds it difficult to open up as this subject is never discussed in her family.
The men represent contemporary thinking and pop culture and carry an impression of the families, Media, and Society that shapes them. The filmmaker and the man and her family have candid conversations that lead to realizations of gender roles and inequality.
Teenaa speaks to her best friend, Nomi, to share her feelings.
The film emerges to be a balance between the intense experiences of a survivor and her parents, finding the reason for breast cancer from an emotional perspective, and the tete-a-tete with prospective men from different towns in India. In between, she is realizing herself, looking inwards and outwards to come to terms with herself and how she finds herself after searching everywhere and exploring everything else.

  • Teenaa Kaur
    Director
    1984, When the Sun didn't Rise, The deer, tree and me
  • Teenaa Kaur
    Writer
    1984, When the Sun didn't Rise, The deer, tree and me
  • Teenaa Kaur
    Producer
    The deer, tree and me, 1984,When the Sun didn't Rise
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Mein Agar Kahoo
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    54 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 25, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Hindi, Panjabi
  • Shooting Format:
    4k, HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Teenaa Kaur

Teenaa Kaur Pasricha is a National award-winning filmmaker, Screenwriter fellow from Asia Society NY 2015 and, IVLP fellow on films for Social Change by US Consulate and Sundance. Her feature film “MAUJJ” was selected in NFDC Script Lab 2022.

She won a fellowship in Screenplay writing from Time Warner Foundation, Asia Society, New York for her debut feature film script "The Red Autumn".

She is known for her popular film “1984, When the Sun didn’t Rise”, which won the National Film Award in the Best Investigative Film category.

She was selected as an International Leader on films for social change fellowship granted by the US Dept. of Cultural Affairs in Jan. 2020 wherein she networked with the independent film community in the US and Sundance Film festival.
She has fifteen years of experience in documentary films and Media. She has been making documentary films on Human Rights and Environment conservation. She has received the “Jai Chandiram award” for her upcoming documentary film “What if I tell you?”.

Her films have been broadcast on National Geographic, Fox History, DD and endorsed by Busan International film festival “AND FUND”, DOCWOK by DOC Leipzig Germany, and PSBT India. Her popular work is “1984 When the Sun didn’t Rise” which has been screened in Universities in the UK, Canada, and the US and won the National film award for the Best investigative film in 2018 from the President of India.

She has been featured in India Today,
Firstpost, BBC Asia Interview, South Asian times, NY, Medium.com/Global Ties Miami.
The Hindu, The Indian Express, SCROLL, Cinestaan, Cinestaan Review and many regional TV Channels in the UK, US, and Canada.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

What if I tell you
Director’s statement

During my treatment for Breast Cancer, I realized that no one wants to talk about “Breast” or Cancer” as if there is a stigma. My parents wanted me to forget “it” like a bad dream.
I want to know what is happening in society and how it affects my chances of finding a life partner. I also want to know what my parents think, as they represent an entire generation. And an effective to tell the story is a personal story, a first-hand experience. I want the viewer to talk and work openly on pent-up emotions as I did in the film. I want women to visit the mammogram center. I want to normalize Breast Cancer and save many lives. One in eight women in India is getting detected with breast cancer each day. The survival rate is low as the disease gets detected late.

I am inspired by the works of Lars Von Trier, a Danish filmmaker, and creator of the avant-garde filmmaking movement Dogme 95. One of his best works is “Breaking the Wave”. I also loved the work of Joshua Oppenheimer titled - The look of Silence