By Kavita A Chhibber
Kavita’s note: I have been hearing about the film Paro, from entrepreneur and Impact Advisor Priya Samant for close to two years. She never told me the story but said I would be moved and that this film was very close to her heart. Priya has always nurtured films with social causes, but even then, I was not prepared for what I saw, on March 9, 2025 at the privately held exclusive screening of Paro in Boston.
The screening was sponsored by the nonprofit organization DAWN (Direct Action for Women Now) that focuses on ending gender-based violence and supporting gender equality.
This is a personal reflection on this stellar film because right now the producers are doing private screenings in the hope that many more like-minded people will join hands with them across the board and facilitate taking this film to as many platforms as possible.
Until I saw Paro, I was under the impression that it was a story about one woman, who was wronged by society.
I was dumbfounded when I realized Paro is a name given to thousands of women who have no identity and no rights. They are brought in from every state of India, even though the cesspool of these slave brides has its hub in Mewat, a village in Haryana.
The tentacles have spread to Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh as well.
It made me do a lot of research on the subject through reading reports, media coverage, watching documentaries, and finally meeting the woman who had the courage and conviction to make this film.
Trupti Bhoir is a highly accomplished and multi-talented Marathi actor, producer, writer, director, and social activist. She runs an NGO called Shelter Foundation that focuses on tribal women welfare.
Trupti is known for making films that bring important social causes to the screen. “Cinema is a very important medium to bring change,” she said when we spoke over several days while she was in Boston for the private screening.
Trupti heard about the evil practice of Paro (“the outsider”) or Molki (“one who is bought”) in 2015 through documentaries made by BBC and Al Jazeera. “I thought it was the usual propaganda done by international channels to show India in a bad light.” But she followed up to find that what they reported was true.
In-depth research revealed that bride buying, and bride slavery is a decades long practice where young girls are forced into marriage through human trafficking. The desire for a male child and female infanticide has resulted in a skewed ratio of around 730 females for every 1000 males in Mewat, creating an overflow of single men in Haryana. Bride shortage has also revived the practice of polyandry where one woman is shared with the brothers of the husband.
An officer who had been posted at Mewat had not heard of a single case of Paro in the three months he took office, when Trupti approached him to seek help with research.
“I said to him that if he did not know about the practice it was either stopped because people had changed for the better, or it was being done smoothly under his nose and he had no idea. I also told him I must get to the bottom of it as a responsible film maker.”
Trupti soon realized she was not going to get any help from the police. She turned to an NGO that had quietly been working with the Paro women for close to 2 decades. Trupti and her mother visited Mewat pretending to be journalists and interviewed about 70 Paros, recording their stories. The duo was warned not to stay out after 5 pm because Mewat is a high crime area. “We were told that at least 5 to 6 murders occurred daily that the police were aware of, but that it was highly likely there are many more being committed in Mewat.
“The women who are victims of bride slavery or human trafficking do not have any identification. They look like every woman. I would not have been able to meet any of them if it were not for the NGO which had been collaborating with them. They introduced my mother and I as journalists who also ran an NGO. They were assured that we would write their stories and get them better jobs.”
“Human trafficking has attracted a lot of attention, but bride slavery is still not getting the attention it deserves 45 years later.”
The respectably married woman was treated very differently from a Paro.
“For a proper marriage recognized by the law, the rich must give 35 kgs of silver to the bride, feed both sides of the family, and pay all the expenses,” says Trupti. But for the poor men, girls are brought from families with false promises, kidnapped or conned into thinking they are with men who love them and sold.
“These poor girls, between the ages of 7 and 18, are married off with seemingly proper rituals in front of the parents, and many are kidnapped or conned or coerced into being sex objects and working as cheap labor. They have no rights to property, no aadhar or ration card, no right to go to hospitals or to the police station or to interfere in family or social matters. Society, the media, the police and even politicians are reluctant to get involved.”
“Most first husbands of a Paro are 60-70 years old. These are poor men who cannot afford dowry and do not know what it feels to be with a woman. Due to lack of women, sexual assault on males and sexual relationships between men are increasing. Many human traffickers and pimps go all over India and prey on the poor who have many children, especially females. The parents or girls themselves are lured by promises of marriage and not having to pay dowry. Or they are promised a better job. Many parents fall for it and come to Mewat, not realizing that their daughters will soon be part of a never-ending cycle of abuse and a life of slavery from where there is no escape”.
The so-called groom will keep a Paro, for as long as he can afford to keep her and once he needs money he will sell her to the next person. If there is a son, he will keep the boy to continue the lineage.
“If it is a girl she is often sold off unless the man is a good man. Then he will get her married in a proper way. If he does not want to feed an extra mouth, he will sell the Paro with her child. If the first husband dies, the Paro has no right to his property. And these women are sold again and again”, says Trupti.
“I asked one of the traffickers that since these girls practice different religions, how do you honor that?” With a condescending laugh he said, “When we find a lost goat, we do not see its religion. We slaughter it and distribute the pieces. It is the same with these girls.” That indifference and disrespect infuriated me and pierced my heart. You are talking about a woman who gives birth to humanity. But many times, these women are sold for a price far lesser than the cattle.”
“Paro is a woman who never inherits her husband’s name or his property. Neither do his children. The worst is the case with the sons. No one will marry their daughters to them knowing the son will never inherit his father’s name or property. So he too must go and marry a Paro. The children and Paro herself may be gang raped many times. Her kids do not go to school. She will work in her neighbor’s field, her own field, and give the entire salary to her husband. She does not get to keep anything.”
Trupti knew this was a story that must be told, and the hunt for funding began.
“Whenever I approached people with the subject, everyone laughed at me,” says Trupti. “They would say, ‘You like throwing stones at filthy mud, and you will regret it because even if you succeed in making a film on Paro, nothing will come of it. You will not be able to sell this film.’ But it was my obsession. As a woman if I became reluctant to share the plight of these women, then who else will show this dark side of our society and these evil practices?”
It took 2 years before the funding was secured.
Priya Samant met Trupti through film producer and distributor Jayantilal Gada just when she was about to start shooting. “Trupti was going to New York to meet a human rights organization, but Jayanti ji told her to meet me before she did anything. We spoke and I really liked the subject and felt this would be a great idea to be an Impact Advisor on. Even I did not know anything about Paro. I liked the fact that it would also be a movie where I was going to give my input on strategic positioning as the film was being made. The other six films that I advised on were already ready for release.”
The idea of becoming an Impact Advisor started with meeting director Brahmanand Singh during the screening for his film Jhalki at the Boston Film Festival a few years ago and Priya started giving him a few tips on strategy for the film. “I said to him I have always felt that any meaningful thing that we do in life, should go beyond us. Cinema, theater, and social causes clubbed together are a great combination to create change. And there should be an Impact advisor to help with cause-based cinema. He was fascinated by my concept and gave me an opportunity to be an Impact Advisor. I started in 2019, and despite 2 years of Covid, it did not stop me from bringing 7 films that are driven by social issues. The opportunity the USA gives you is immense, but everything takes time, perseverance, and patience.”
Priya comes from a close-knit family. Both her parents were bankers, and her extended family is in the field of medicine and politics. Public service has been the family’s key focus. So Paro was the perfect fit.
But just as the film was about to start shooting, the funding collapsed.
“I had already spent a lot of money on research and stayed away from my family which was very difficult,” says Trupti. “I had not accepted any projects because I was so focused on Paro. It is both a blessing and a curse to be a woman in the film industry. I was trying to secure funding and someone in a position of power misbehaved with me. It broke my heart. Looking for support does not mean I am ready to sell myself. That attitude made me feel really dejected. I decided that I will make Paro some other time, but not at the cost of my self-respect. It was Priya who told me not to give up.”
Priya came on board as Executive Producer and was able to introduce Trupti to Virginia based VC Sandesh Sharda who she initially met to discuss her own start up. Sharda said to her he had an idea for a film, but Priya insisted he hear about Paro. Sharda was moved by the story and said he was ready to come on board as Producer. But Trupti would not believe it until he gave it in writing that he was committed to the film.
“He realized that this was an important story, and it needed to be told. He did not care if he recovered his investment. The only thing he asked me was, “Are you sure you will be able to fulfill the mission of this film?” Trupti said she would. She just needed someone to support that vision. Sandesh Sharda did just that.
“Sandesh Sharda has been a huge rock for us,” says Priya, “and with his support, this beautiful movie is finally made. Now we are doing some exclusive private screenings and have received very positive feedback at the very start of this cinematic journey.”
Initially, the story was totally woman-oriented. But then the National Award-winning director of Paro, Gajendra Ahire, felt that for the film to be balanced and to sell there had to be a hero. “Until then all the men in the film were villains,” says Trupti, “I agreed because then the film became more multi layered.”
A quest began to find a hero, and none were to be found. “We talked to some lovely people like Ashutosh Rana, Deepak Dobriyal, Prakash Jha, and even Sunil Grover but there were no dates available that worked with ours.”
A random meeting with a stranger at the Goa Film Festival, where Trupti and Gajendra were hoping to find like-minded people for international collaboration brought Taha Shah Badussha into their orbit.
“I had never even heard of Taha,” says Trupti, and told the guy who mentioned his name that, Badussha sounded like sweetmeat shop! The gentleman showed her Taha’s photographs and said, “He is the hero of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi and he will be a big star once the series is released.”
They verified that Taha was indeed the hero of the series and met him. “Taha is such a nice young man, very warm, and humble and was deeply touched by the story. He said, ‘I want to do films that are earthy and where I can represent India in some way.’ And he came on board. The character was then written into the script with many layers. Taha plays a ruthless trafficker who finally must face his own demons to move towards atonement.”
I told Trupti I hated the character. That was how well Taha played the role.
“Not just you, Taha’s mother came to see the film and was crying in the end. When I asked her how she found the movie, she said, ‘I started hating my son!’ and I said to her – Being his mother, if you were so affected by the character then that is the biggest award for your son as an actor!”
Taha’s character symbolizes everything that is evil in a patriarchal society. “But there is a very powerful line in the film which says that when one man changes, the lives of ten women change as a result”, says Trupti. In the end Taha’s character does just that.
And what was the reaction of the other men?
“Govind Namdeo was so moved by the story, he said that usually the first thing he asks is about his fees, but he told us I will not ask you that. The rest of the artists were from UP. The man who played my first husband was the Sarpanch (head) of the village. So, I am sure they were aware of the practice.”
Priya, who is also making her debut as an actor in the film, said this was the first time she was on sets, unlike the other films that were handed to her when complete. “It is a small budget film but I saw the dedication of the actors firsthand. When I reached the sets, I was told Trupti was in the hospital with a lung infection and a very high fever. It was extremely cold, and the places we shot in were difficult places to shoot and yet everyone was committed to finish the film on time.”
After the screening at Boston, Priya received a message from an audience member who said, “I wanted to share that my entire extended family still lives in rural Haryana, and I am very much aware of molki brides (brides bought with money). My mom’s sister has bought a bride twice for her useless son. They both (the molki brides) ran away, and I am glad that they did.”
In India, Ramdas Athawale (Cabinet minister for Social Justice and Empowerment) initially said to Trupti, “What you are showing in this film reflects poorly on our country.”
She disagreed. “I said, this practice is prevalent in many countries like China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Canada, Mexico, USA and beyond. If India has the courage to show this practice on the big screen and when people like you see these atrocities and act to eradicate this practice you will win the world’s respect and hopefully inspire others to follow suit.”
“He immediately understood and has stood by us. I have gone to Delhi several times, waited for hours for someone to hear me out. People do not have the patience to persist and that is why we are unable to create change. My patience was rewarded by a meeting with two cabinet ministers, Ramdas Athawale and AnnaPurna Devi Yadav, Minister for Women and Child Development along with other officials. I asked for an official survey to pinpoint the actual number of Paros and their families. The number we had was 1 lakh and thirty thousand women (130,000), but we felt the numbers were closer to 4-5 lakhs (400,000-500,000). We requested an adhaar card and a ration card as well as shelters because many times after they are rescued, their families do not want them back due to the stigma and shame. These women have nowhere to go, and are often pushed back again into bride slavery or become victims of human trafficking.”
“We have also been assured by Awinash Awasthi ji, who retired from the Indian Administrative services and works closely with Yogi Aditya Nath ji, that if we identify any Paro they will be given an aadhar card through our Shelter foundation. We also want them to have legal status when they get married. So far, the only way we can find out if a woman is a Paro is when she gives birth to a baby in a hospital.”
The film trailer for Paro was released at Cannes at the Bharat Pavilion. The Queen Mother, Dr. Delois Blakely, who is also a Good Will Ambassador to Africa in the United Nations, was the Guest of honor and Prakash Hinduja, the Chief guest, for the unveiling of the Poster and trailer Launch. “In the 29 years of its creation, it was the first time that a film trailer had a full house and received a standing ovation,”said Priya. She added that there was also a private screening done in Virginia, which was hosted by Sandesh Sharda, with prominent dignitaries from the business world and beyond in attendance. It was very well received.
Does budget and big banners still affect small budgeted meaningful films, which may not have huge stars?
“In technology these days they say that data is the new oil,” Priya responds. “Similarly, today in Cinema I believe content is the new King. So, no matter what the budget or the names may be, the audience is becoming very intelligent. Today the young audience wants to be part of real change. Yes, there is a gap between the funding for commercial cinema and films like Paro, but the wonderful thing is that there is a huge appetite from Production Houses and VCs to at least give us a seat on the table to learn what those out of the box narratives are.”
Trupti, who is also a member of the Indian censor board, told the Boston audience that they got to see the uncut, uncensored version of Paro in Boston. She does not know what the final version will be.
The next screening is in collaboration with the Los Angeles Fashion week on March 22nd, 2025.
Both Trupti and Priya are hoping that the film is bought by a platform that can help with it being watched by a global audience and be part of the movement.
I agree, because that is the only way to create a global impact and a strong movement to remove this unacceptable and inhumane practice.
Los Angeles: Please support the next screening. I hope we can all be the change we want to see in the world.