Director and cinematographer Jeremy Guy presents his feature documentary directorial debut with “Purdah” (“Veil”) – the inspiring story of a young Indian woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women’s Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women in her country creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, ultimately shattering and fueling aspirations. The film is an Official Selection in competition at the internationally renowned Dances With Films festival, featuring its Los Angeles Premiere Screening at the world famous TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood on Sunday, June 17, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. The film recently held its World Premiere at Cinequest Film Festival where it was called a “a real life Bend It Like Beckham” by KQED-FM (NPR).
Director Jeremy Guy says, “I was working on another film in India when I met Kaikasha Mirza. Her pursuit of a career in cricket as a woman, which is frowned upon by her Muslim community, was a fascinating story in itself. And then, as I began shooting, the story took a surprising turn, and an even bigger story began to unravel about the challenges that Kaikasha, her two sisters and their mother faced amidst societal oppression.”
The three independent-minded Mirza sisters have ambitious dreams for their lives and careers. Despite their earnestness, they face an uphill battle coming from a conservative Muslim family in Mumbai, India.
Kaikasha Mirza became enamored with cricket as a young woman, yet she was forbidden to play and forced to be a spectator in her burka, but she eventually persuades her father to allow her to remove her burka to become one of only a few Muslim women cricketers in all of Mumbai. She chases her dream of playing for the prestigious Mumbai Senior Women’s Cricket Team, but her parents give her the ultimatum that she will have two years to become a professional cricketer—or they will arrange her marriage.
Kaikasha’s eldest sister, Saba, has her own dreams for her career and yearns to become a model, and Heena, the youngest sister, wants to be a fashion designer or a singer, but poverty may impede their pursuits. All three girls and their mother must contend with the wishes of their father who does not believe women should work, but rather, stay home to cook, clean and raise a family.
As the women pursue their dreams, a series of shocking and tragic circumstances befall the Mirza family, and the film continues to follow each of them as they battle through family crises, poverty, and intense societal pressures.
This cinematic journey highlights how dreaming the impossible dream and having a passionate purpose can potentially save us. This story of perseverance lands on the message that even if things don’t turn out as we had hoped or planned, it’s about how we react to overcome life’s biggest challenges that makes all the difference.