Silchar With Hrijoy: Do you feel safe in Silchar? Hrijoy asks ladies in town

Since the time Hrijoy Das Kanungo started making “Silchar With Hrijoy” and Barak Bulletin started publishing it, there has been a slew of videos on social issues. Few followed a similar storyline, few had identical dialogues and hashtags. Episode 4 of “Silchar With Hrijoy” is one such 10-minute-film that needs to be talked about again and again and again. So we hope something similar like this gets made sometime really soon.

Host and executive producer of the show, Hrijoy pitched the idea of making an episode on “women’s safety” in Silchar. Research and development mind behind the series, Jnanendra Das spent hours looking for data on Social Media and found out that a large number of women from Silchar complained about eve-teasing, catcalling, stalking and other male behaviour that made them feel awkward. This is not a sign only in Silchar, but something that exists all across the country and the world.

Sanjay Singha, the DOP of the series and Hrijoy went to the streets of Silchar asking a basic question, “Do you feel safe in Silchar” while a lot of female pedestrians answered the question off the camera, very few agreed to come on screen. Hrijoy in his video itself thanked each one of them for sharing their views.

A few major takeaways from the episode: There is a fear among females of the city, they are scared of speaking up as they think someone listening to it somewhere can harm them. Fear in a democracy is like a leakage in the tank. Every citizen should feel safe to speak their minds and that is what freedom of speech is all about.

In each and every episode Hrijoy presents the social issue in a funny and comic way, but in this one, comedy went missing. The episode started with Nivedita Roy on screen and Arismita Aditya and Ujjayita Chowdhury’s voiceover in the background. Hrijoy ends the episode by saying, this is not the end and we might do another episode on the same issue to go deeper into it.

This episode is not just a 9-minute-film, but it is way beyond that. We want this to be the beginning of a new campaign, if you feel unsafe in a particular location in Silchar and you have a story, share it with us in the comment section below, through messages to MySilchar facebook page or through email at barakbulletin@gmail.com. We assure you, your name will stay anonymous throughout. We will share your story with the authority and try to draw their attention to the issue you are facing. Each and every issue matters. The great Martin Luther King once said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” similarly unsafe anywhere is a threat to safety everywhere.

Watch the episode here: