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Ahwaan

Ritesh Sharma
F-39/7,Street No.-5,AmritPuri-B,Garhi
East of Kailash,New Delhi-110065
mobile:+91-9811381695
e: ritesh_films@ymail.com

Pedestrian Pictures

Uvaraj
51,29 cross,9 main,Banshankari 2 stage
Bangalore-550070,Karnataka,India

p: +91 80 2671 3894
m:+91-9448371389
e: pedepics@gmail.com

Credits

Ahwaan in association with Pedestrian Pictures presents

The Holy Wives

A film by Ritesh Sharma

Director: Ritesh Sharma
Producers: Chetan Bharat and Saberi Knakon
Cinematographers: Saji and Uvaraj
Editors: Deepu,Saji and Uvaraj
Music: Sumathi
Research:Ritesh Sharma and Ekaterina K. Nikolova
Co-Executive Producers: Santosh Kumar,Laxman Sharma and Rakesh

Assistant Cameraman:Johnson,Anil Kalal,K.Ravi Kishore,Bosco Das,Neelar,N.Ravindra

Assistant Editor-Renjana,Anu

Location Translator-Sanjay,K.Ravi Kishore

Subtitles-Neelanjana Bishwas,Rajendra Negi,Nagargere Ramesh,Usha,Asha,Neela

Singers-Sumati,Pradeep

Sound Recordist-Johnson

Keyboard-Vijesh

Sound Recording Studio-St. Joseph College

This film has been made with the generous support of the following people

Ipshita Pal,B.Nikita,Kriti Dogra, Akshay Manchanda,Ankita

Very Special Thanks

Champa Behen,Ram Snehi Ji,Shiva Kumar M,Latha Mala,Grace Nirmala,Isabell S. Xavier,Mr. L.T Patil,Mr. Patan,Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar,Mr. Lavanam,Sobha,K. Shiva Kishore

About the Director

Ritesh Sharma was born in 1984 in Uttar Pradesh. He graduated in Commerce from Delhi University, and then received a diploma in Film Direction from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi in 2006.He has been associated with theatre for the last ten years. He is a Delhi based activist, who involved in several video productions since 2006. He has directed documentary films on various social issues and worked with different production houses in India. He is also the founder of an N.G.O. Ahwaan Foundation, working on the issue of “Child Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children”. “The Holy Wives” is his first independent full length documentary film as a Director.

About the Film "The Holy Wives"

“The Holy Wives” is a journey through the life and struggle of Devadasis in Karnataka, Mathammas in Andhra Pradesh and Bedinies in Madhya Pradesh.

A few decades ago, women from certain castes were made wives of god in some parts of India. They were called by the names Devadasis, Jogins, Basavis, Kalawants, Paravatis or Mathammas. These wives of God lived in or around the temples.They had to perform duties at the temples and participate in the religious functions. Even after the system was banned in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, life remains the same for them. The children from these communities are still being trafficked to the flesh market.

Besides, prostitution was turned into a traditional trade in the case of Bedini system in Madhya Pradesh, a nomadic de-notified community. A majority of women in this community remain unmarried and engage in prostitution for to eke out a living.Absence of an alternative means of income and the acceptance of the practice within the community has made it inevitable for the young Bedia girls into this trade.The girls between the age group of 13 or 14 get in to prostitution through an open auction in the village which is called Nathutharai and Siridakai.

Girls are forced to have sex with an upper caste man when they are made jogamma,mathamma or bedini. What follows is a life of sexual slavery, they become sanctified prostitutes.

The film ‘The holy wives’ documents the life of a woman, who is raped in the name of tradition even before she could understand the meaning of sex and the impoverished life that she leads till death. It also goes deep into the struggle a woman from this community forges to maintain her dignity and self-respect.

This film brings out the lives of three different communities who have been victimized in the name of caste based sexual exploitation in this country through the stories of their life, struggle and their dreams of a dignified life for their children.