Anita, a Gujarati short film, written and directed by Sushma Khadepaun, is a restrained but resolute exploration of the titular central character’s attempt to go beyond the roles assigned to a woman by the society and the disillusionment that she experiences. Anita has been selected for the short film section of the Venice International Film Festival that opens on September 2. In 2016, the New York-based Khadepaun started developing this idea as a feature-length script. She, later, decided to make a short film to explore the characters and the key relationship of Anita (played by Aditi Vasudev) and her husband, Vikram (Mitra Gadhvi). “The story is inspired from my personal experience of moving to the US.
Like many people around the world, I grew up with the belief that a woman who moves to America lives an exciting, independent life. Anita is an exploration of this myth of the independent, expat wife and questions if it is truly possible to move away from societal conditioning that is toxic yet familiar,” says the writer-director, who has an MFA in screenwriting and direction from Columbia University.
The 17-minute film, which examines the traditional society’s rigid expectations from a woman without considering her desires, was initially set in the US. However, due to production and funding challenges, Khadepaun moved it to India. The change in location made a big impact on the script.
