SCREENXX 2020: “Streaming services are a much more democratic space”

When we have outstanding narratives by women, the whole world stops to pay attention. SCRENNXX 2020, as part of its engaging Fireside Chat, brought together two high accomplished women in their respective fields – award-winning feature film director and screenwriter Alankrita Shrivastava, and Srishti Behl Arya, Director, International Original Film, Netflix India, for a powerful discussion on ‘Role of Women in Storytelling’.

A quick search on Google reveals the scores of women who have been enriching the scope of content through their films, plays, web series over the years – from Fatma Begum to Sai Paranjpe, Aruna Raje, Aparna Sen and to new age filmmakers like Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Rima Das, Meghna Gulzar and so many more. While mainstream theatrical space has been more old school in opening up the doors to women filmmakers, streaming services are indeed much a more democratic space.

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Both Alankrita Shrivastava and Srishti Behl Arya, in conversation with Shanta Saikia, Editor, Adgully.com, explored the world of content, storytelling, film making, streaming services and also women empowerment. They delved into the special narratives that women storytellers have been creating and why they are so relevant in a world that we are still coming to terms with. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into these stories, and it’s high time they got their moment in the sun.

While speaking on how streaming services are paving the way for women storytellers, Shrivastava remarked, “Streaming services are a much more democratic space, because the people who are deciding as to what kind of shows and what kind of films are green lit, I think are people who are more educated in international kind of content and are also more open. A lot of executives are women and they have a more diverse world view and are way more inclusive and I think that does get represented in the choices that they make.”

Speaking further, Shrivastava said, “I think also knowing that you can have a niche audience as well on a streaming service, as opposed to the mainstream theatrical space, which is definitely much more prohibitive and much more patriarchal and old school, where the exhibitors and programmers and distributors, etc., hold on to much more archaic ideas of what constitutes a film that should be screened in theatres and typically very prohibitive to actually release your film in theatres. I think it’s a much more traditional structure, so streaming services are really like a challenger to the status quo and definitely it’s a much more level playing field.”

But having said that, she also felt that just because streaming services are more inclusive, it shouldn’t be a reason for the mainstream theatrical to shut their doors on more diverse stories and be against their release in theatres, or that women shouldn’t be telling stories for the bigger screen. “I just feel like we should have equality and diversity no matter what the medium – whether it is commercial cinema or the streaming services. In fact, I feel like the traditional distribution structures of cinemas should learn something from the streaming services – about diverse forms of storytelling; maybe that will lead to more growth and change,” she added.

For Arya, it’s just great business to have diverse voices available, because people like to see themselves identified on screen. They like to have stories that are either so fantastical – having a vision into somebody’s world which they could not have imagined or see themselves represented. “So, if we are talking about 50 per cent of the population of the world, why should their stories not be told up front and centre alongside everybody’s? So, I that’s the way to look at it and also we have fantastically talented female creators coming forward to tell their stories – not just about women but also from the point of view of women and their lens and their female gaze, if you may, which helps enrich all of us with a different point of view of storytelling always,” she added.