St Stephen’s alumnus Rahul Dahiya’s debut film questions honour killings

Here’s a Computer Science graduate, an alumnus of Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College who has penned a film that questions the social evil of honour killings. Rahul Dahiya has also directed G Kutta Se (English title: G — A Wanton Heart), which explores themes such as freedom to choose, gender equality, and sexual psyche of society. The film was the official selection at Chicago South Asian Film Festival and MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2015, and has won praise in India as well.

Dahiya, who has worked as an assistant director with filmmaker Sudhir Mishra on the film, Khoya Khoya Chand (2007), shares that a heart-wrenching incident in his mother’s village motivated him to make the film. “I came to know of a girl who was electrocuted by her family for being in love. The image stayed in my head. I wanted to explore how your loved ones can turn against you and even kill you for a feeling like that. The film draws from my personal experiences. I made this film to expose the hypocrisy surrounding sex and the simmering brutality even in our so-called prosperous villages... The reason is always linked to the family’s ‘honour’,” says this Gurgaon resident who shifted to Mumbai in 2005.

Dahiya says the film is set in Haryana because he understands the language, nuances and its people better. But, this could be happening anywhere in the country. “Honour killing is not an isolated issue... There are crimes against women even in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.”

Ask him how filmmaking became a part of his life, and Dahiya shares, “Back in college, I didn’t have any plans of filmmaking. In second year, I became interested in moving images. It all started with the experience of processing film roles in the dark room. I began photography and started recording shots of time spent on campus and gradually, got interested in films.”