Devadesi_NOW 7M

Indrani Nayar-Gall

Devadasi_NOW is an experimental documentary on the challenges of eradicating Devadasi tradition. It looks behind the tradition of the illegal practice of religious servitude, popularly known as the Devadasi system that uses religion, class-caste, and poverty as weapons of discrimination, to throw little girls of poor untouchable communities into prostitution in remote villages of Karnataka, India. The documentary interweaves critical conversations with scholar and activists with the personal stories of practicing Devadasis of northern Karnataka, to call to attention the extreme poverty, lack of exposure and hopelessness of these communities. * This is a 7-min excerpt of the full documentary Devadasi_NOW