Tahira

No matter how much you are pushed into the worst social, economic and psychological condition, life can
be restarted anytime
Based on this theme, TAHIRA-A short documentary narrates a story of a half widow, Tahira Begum, from
the frontier village of Jammu and Kashmir, whose husband disappeared mysteriously after he left his home
for Delhi in 2002. The film narrates the story of her struggle against poverty, social customs, and mental
health issues and against the state to seek the whereabouts of her husband. The film shows her
successful journey of restarting her life after she was refused the share of the property by her in-laws,
forced to migrate to Srinagar city, and live in the single rented room along with her minor children and left
alone to fight for justice and earn for their livelihood. The film shows how she becomes a part of the
movement launched by hundreds of families, whose family members have been subjected to enforced
disappearance, during the last 30 years of armed conflict in Kashmir. The film also shows how she chooses to
work in a beauty parlor, which otherwise was difficult in militancy ridden society, to feed her family and
build her own house once again. This 13:20 minute long film is interactive in style with narration in
Tahira's own voice and overheard conversations which takes us to her home, her office, protest site and
her beauty parlor.

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