Saba Dewan is an Indian documentary

film maker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...

based in New Delhi. Her films are based on sexuality, gender, identity, communalism and culture. Her notable works include ''Dharmayuddha'' (Holy War, 1989), ''Nasoor'' (Festering Wound, 1991), ''Khel'' (The Play, 1994), ''Barf'' (Snow, 1997) and ''Sita's Family'' (2001). She is best known for her trilogy on stigmatized female performers, ''Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi'' (2006), ''Naach'' (The Dance, 2008) and '' The Other Song'' (2009). She has written her first book "Tawaifnama" which has emerged from her trilogy on dancing girls. It is a well researched book on "tawaif (courtesans) living in banaras and Bhabhua. It is multi-generational chronicle first published in 2019.

Life

Saba was born and brought up in New Delhi. She finished her schooling in 1982 and completed her Bachelors in History from St. Stephen's college,

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

from 1982-1985. She further received a master's degree in Mass Communications from the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia.

Career

Saba has been working as an independent filmmaker since 1987. Her film 'Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi' (2006) focused on the lives of bar dancers in Mumbai, 'Naach' (The Dance, 2008) explored the lives of women who dance in rural fairs and the third and final film of the trilogy 'The Other Song' (2009) was about the art and lifestyle of the tawaifs or courtesans of Varanasi. In 2006, Saba withdrew her film 'Delhi Mumbai Delhi,' in protest against clause 8 of the regulations put in place by the Film Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. In 2019, Saba published Tawaifnama, a book about the musical traditions prevalent in the communities of tawaifs in Benaras. In June 2017, Dewan led a protest against the lynching of a 15-year-old boy that occurred in a

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

-bound train from

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, also making reference to beef eating. Condemning the killing in a

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post, Dewan called for a campaign named "Not In My Name", seeking to "reclaim the Constitution" and "resist the onslaught" on

right to life The right to life is the belief that a being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including capital punishment, with some people seeing it as ...

and equality. The campaign was received well and protests were subsequently held in Delhi,

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Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

and

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Filmography

* ''Dharmayuddha'' (1989) * ''Nasoor'' (1991) * ''Khel'' (1994) * ''Barf'' (1997) * ''Sita's Family'' (2001) * ''Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi'' (2006) * ''Naach'' (2008) * '' The Other Song'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewan, Saba Living people Indian documentary filmmakers Film directors from Delhi 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Indian women documentary filmmakers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian women