Synopsis 

Outline

Subverting the Bollywood film genre of song-dance and high drama, this film places characters ignored by Bollywood centerstage - a transsexual bar dancer, a prostitute, a gay couple - to tell their stories of pain and trauma, of happiness and hope, about being HIV+ and marginalized. A searingly honest film about five lives marked by pain and bound by hope - in 68 Pages of a counselor's diary.

Synopsis

A transsexual bar dancer, a prostitute, a gay couple - characters often ignored by Bollywood take center stage to tell their stories of pain and trauma, of happiness and hope, of stories never dealt with sensitively.

Coming from a country like India that is still in denial, '68 Pages' rips open the underbelly of its society to reveal how it stigmatizes and shuns those who are HIV+ or even those who just want to be what they are. While these stories expose the shallowness of the system, it also offers hope and healing by trying to bring about a better understanding of their fight to live with dignity.

The film is a tribute to the human spirit of optimism and survival.

Story

68 PAGES is the story of Mansi, a counsellor whose ethics demand that she has to maintain confidentiality of her counselees. She has to be objective in understanding their problems and give them options that would help them come to terms with their status. She cannot get emotional about any person she is counselling.

But is it possible for a sensitive young woman to remain unaffected by the suffering that she witnesses around her? Mansi is after all human. She gives vent to true feelings by sharing it with her diary. Her pain and anguish are reflected only on the pages of her diary. There are some counselees whom she cannot leave behind in the counselling room. She carries their stories home and they become part of her diary.

It is through the pages of Mansi's diary that we see the stories of Paayal, Kiran, Nishit and Umrao, marginalised by the society, stigmatized for being themselves and not being able to find a place in the mainstream society. The film makes an effort to address issues of minority communities and their status as HIV positive people.

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Sang Mere Touring Festival
June ~ August, 2008
India

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