Streep backs rape film

Hollywood star Meryl Streep is campaigning for India's Daughter to win an Oscar for its director

Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep (right) with India's Daughter director Leslee Udwin at the film's New York premiere.
Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep (right) with India's Daughter director Leslee Udwin at the film's New York premiere. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NEW YORK • A BBC documentary banned by the Indian authorities about the deadly rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi has opened in the United States to acclaim, with Hollywood star Meryl Streep saying it deserves to win an Academy Award.

Depicting the rape and murder of a medical student in 2012 that sparked violent protests, India's Daughter has been mired in controversy since the Indian government banned it.

But Oscar-winning actress Streep, who introduced the documentary at its US theatrical release in New York City on Wednesday, said it was worthy of the movie industry's highest honour. "I'm on the campaign now to get her nominated for best documentary," said Streep, speaking of the film's director Leslee Udwin.

The hour-long film chronicles the gang rape of Jyoti Singh, 23, on a moving bus in India's capital and the subsequent protests started by Indian students. Singh, who was returning home from the cinema with a male friend, died after her assailants pushed a metal rod inside her and pulled out her intestines.

"When I first saw (the film), I couldn't speak afterwards," Streep said.

The film draws on extensive footage of an interview in jail with one of the attackers, Mukesh Singh, who blamed the victim for being out in the evening with a male friend.

"A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night," he says. "A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy."

Sentenced to death, he has appealed his verdict along with three other convicted assailants also on death row.

The documentary, scheduled to air in India earlier this year, was banned while Udwin was in the country promoting it, the director said during a talk following its screening.

In a statement, the government warned that certain excerpts "appear to encourage and incite violence against women". The movie opens in the US next Friday, a promoter said. Screenings are also scheduled in countries from Iceland to China.

Udwin said she had found hope in the outpouring of support following the rape, but was dismayed at the timid outcry after a four- year-old girl was raped and beaten with stones in New Delhi earlier this month.

"Why are people not out on the streets now?" she said.

There were 33,764 victims of rape in India in 2013 according to the country's National Crime Records Bureau.

REUTERS

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 17, 2015, with the headline Streep backs rape film. Subscribe