Bangalore girl’s documentary on aspirations of deaf-mute kids goes international

Madhuri Ravishankar, a 25-year-old Banashankari resident, has made people all over the world take notice of her 18-minute documentary, 'Goonj' which revolves around the daily struggles of children with disabilities.

The short film was screened at the 8th Vasakh International Documentary Film Festival held in Karachi, Pakistan, where it received a warm response for its strong and impactful content. Goonj, will also be screened during the London Indian Film Festival on July 21 after being officially selected for the Satyajit Ray Foundation Short Film Competition. It is only one of the six films that have been selected for the Film Festival in London, which received entries from all across India.

Madhuri speaking with iamin says, “I visited the School for Deaf and Mute Society in Ahmedabad. Along with my team, I observed the way they functioned, bulding their own little world while interacting in sign language. After the initial three days, I started understanding what they were trying to convey through sign language and decided to capture their emotion and struggles in a documentary.”

She claims that it was an eye opener for her, as she realized that the children were capable of looking after themselves very well and did not need the sympathy they were often offered. 

The story focuses on the way the primary school functions and then follows the life of a little girl Zuvaria, who interacts with her parents—teaching them the little things she learns in school, expressing herself without having to utter a word. “Zuvaria is only five-years-old and it was slightly difficult to coax her to go on with her life as naturally as possible, although a camera was trailing her everywhere. But, overall, it was a wonderful experience for me and I never knew that I could learn so much from a child,” says Madhuri.

“There is a lot of pent up frustration in the children because they are unable to express themselves to their family members. I must commend the strength I have seen within all the members of Zuvaria’s family, to deal with such a sensitive child. I wanted to document this part of the lives of all the children and show the resilience and inspirational strength in them and their families to overcome such issues.”

Madhuri, has completed a specialization course in editing and cinematography and is currently pursuing Master of Design in Film and Video Communication course at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has previously won several awards for best cinematography at film festivals held in Pune and Kerala.

You can watch the trailer of the documentary here.

For the longer version of the report, click here