NAKED: Watch This Powerful Short Film On What Happens To Women Online, And Why It Matters

NAKED: A short film featuring Kalki Koechlin and Ritabhari lays bare all that has gone wrong for women even today. Read more here!

Kalki Koechlin is known for her unconventional choice of work that she chooses to feature in, be it videos, short films or movies. One thing that is always constant in her work is the need to change the status quo, with strong messages for the society at large.

NAKED is another such film which makes us question how ‘progressive’ is the progress that we’ve all come to, and are going towards; especially for women as a marginalised part of society, which is sadly still true. Watch the video below:

The question that comes to my mind, after watching this, is: What exactly has changed from the past to the present? The old problems which seem to have been finished off, are now bigger than ever in another form. The word ‘seem’ is important here because this supposed progress has not been uniform for all women. The biggest example is the prevalence of female foeticide. In a country where we battle problems from both the sides of the timeline, how is it that we will ever manage to build a place that is ‘woke’ and rid of these issues?

NAKED gives us an answer to a small aspect of this question. It tells us to not be ignorant towards what happens on social media as something that is not really happening. With the way social networking has spread like wildfire everywhere, it is disturbing that we still have this skewed sense of ‘alternate-ness’ to whatever that happens online. It is, as is said, the ‘virtual’ world. But what we need to understand is that this virtual world affects real people.

The ripple effect in the case of the internet is only too strong. One tweet can trigger thousands of people. This amount of power, when not taken seriously can be catastrophic in a very insidious way to society and the people that it is composed of. Anything that would be very offensive in real life, for example abusing someone in public or delivering a rape threat can lead to the perpetrator being thrown into prison for harassment. But, when the same thing is tweeted or thrown at someone from behind a computer screen, we simply ignore it because the incident does not have enough gravity in our minds.

If we notice closely, this reaction to anything is what determines whether it becomes a widespread social culture or a taboo. Just because it is on the internet, it does not mean that we let it go. It means, we take out stance even more firmly. A significant part of the propagation of rape culture, revenge porn and the likes, happens on the internet. Imagine a big rally of hooligans creating unrest. Our reaction is to make it stop, instead of letting it be. Why then, are people let go after saying lewd things about women, and other people in general, just because they don’t seem to do ‘physical’ harm?

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Stand up for yourself, but without pushing someone else down. Make yourself heard but without making someone else’s voice drown. Our only choice is to make the ripple into a tide that changes the world for good.

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