The film universe’s annual accolade ceremony — also known as The Academy Awards — has announced the nominees for its 96th instalment. This time, the name that’s captured the attention of the Indian audience is the Indo-Canadian director Nisha Pahuja, whose documentary ‘To Kill A Tiger‘ has been nominated under the Best Feature Documentary Category.
Here’s everything you need to know about the documentary –
What is the documentary about?
Directed by Nisha Pahuja, To Kill A Tiger is a 2022 feature documentary that follows the harrowing journey of a Jharkhand-based farmer, Ranjit, as he campaigns for justice for his 13-year-old daughter, a survivor of gang rape. The family goes against all odds, facing the wrath of villagers who seek for the case to be withdrawn and the ones defending the assaulters, masking their heinous crime behind ‘knaive ignorance’, to bring justice.
The camera — as the POV Magazine describes being ‘masterfully observant’ — meticulously follows the family’s battle against the backdrop of rural India.
The New York Times‘ Devika Girish writes about the documentary stating how it “doesn’t offer any easy answers. But in staying close to Kiran’s father, who refuses to let his daughter bow her head, and to the girl, who speaks with hope and flinty confidence, one thing is clear: The revolution begins at home.”
2. Release & Recognition
The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, where it won the Best Canadian Film Award. In the US, it premiered at the Lighthouse International Film Festival in 2023.
Prior to the Oscar nominations, the film has a host of awards and recognition to its name, including Best Documentary at the New York Indian Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Best International Documentary Feature at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, and the Michael Sullivan Award for Documentary Journalism at the Salem Film Fest, among many others.
3. Where can you watch To Kill A Tiger?
As of now, the documentary is NOT available on any OTT platform in India. Given the Oscar nomination, It may be accessible for online streaming in the near future. However, there are no confirmed reports for the same of now.
4. About the Director, Nisha Pahuja
Pahuja is a Toronto-based Indian-born filmmaker who moved to Canada very early on. She studied English Literature at the University of Toronto and thereafter worked as a researcher on the CBC documentary Some Kind of Arrangement. Her directorial debut came in 2002 with the feature documentary titled Bollywood Bound.
She rose to fame in 2012 with The World Before Her. It explored two conflicting realities of young girls in India, following Ruhi Singh in her quest to compete for Miss India, and Prachi Trivedi as she preached against Western Culture in a fundamentalist Hindu Camp. The documentary won the award of Best International Documentary Film at the 2013 Byron Bay International Film Festival.
As it was with The Elephant Whisperers last year, we hope to see ‘To Kill A Tiger‘ lift the Oscars this year, and that it gets a release in India.