The battle against on-screen objectification of bodies has been on for a long time. While we have evolved as a society, we have a long way to go. Prachi Batola's film #MoreThanYouSee- An Uncoloured Prospective, adds to the narrative while talking about the overtly sexualised form of product placement in advertising. The short film was selected to be screened at the I-View World 2020, an international film festival organised by Engendered. Prachi's film has been screened alongside famed filmmakers like Deepa Mehta and Onir.
Prachi, who completed her under graduation in Fashion Media Communication from the School of Contemporary Media, Pearl Academy Mumbai Campus in 2019, chose poetry to deliver her message and that's what makes the film stand out. "Poetry adds so much more to what you see on the screen. Personally, I do not feel that women need any kind of -ism whatsoever. What we need is awareness and compassion. Understanding and acknowledging the fact that everyone struggles. Objectification does not just stop at women these days. Everybody in society is objectified. So the more important questions that I wanted to bring out were that who or why we decided that the best way to sell a product is to put a body next to it? Why are people liking it? And why does it sell? It is about bringing the uncolour perspective to the front. Not imposing a perspective or opinion," she said. "I am just showing you posters that already exist. I am trying to raise awareness about it and also convey that there is also a lot more than what you see on screen. Everyone has their own struggle," she added.
Prachi has always been a movie buff and she was clear about what she wanted to work on."It is a very controversial concept. But finding the stories and moulding it into a film was the journey. The mentors helped a lot as well. While I directed the film, I had an entire team to back me up. "I knew what I wanted and had everything planned. I had done the storyboards and got the research ready," said Prachi, who is also a professional graphic designer.
