Kalki pens poem on brutality faced by women in India

Talks about role played by media and society in desentising audiences

MUMBAI: Actor Kalki Koechlin says her poem titled Printing Machine, which she wrote for the Culture Machine’s UnBlushed series, talks about the “violence and brutality” that women face in India.

The poem has been recited by Kalki in a five-minute video which released on women’s lifestyle channel Blush on Tuesday. The video features Kalki in one of her edgiest avatars as she takes on the media and society, and their collective approach towards women and crimes against them.

“Printing Machine was inspired by one of the key influencers in our lives – news houses and the media. We are flooded by an onslaught of objectifying and horrific news reports and imagery that have desensitised us,” Kalki said in a statement.



“It is only when we look at these reports in totality do we realise what our Indian heritage and culture have come to, and how we have come to be at the mercy of printing machines.”

Kalki said that Culture Machine and the UnBlushed team did an amazing job of creating a visual rendition of Printing Machine that best expresses the violence and brutality of culture in India. “They have helped take the story forward with this video that would have otherwise just been on paper,” she added.

In the video, Kalki talks about the increase in acid attacks, gang rapes, and foreigners being raped in the country. Actors Nimrat Kaur and Sayani Gupta have also appeared in the previous episodes of UnBlushed; a series that features female celebrities who are unapologetic, bold and beautiful. 

Here's the video:

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.

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