nikita maheshwary

SitaaurGita films is an ongoing movement based video series on sociopolitical factors of India. The series attempts to illustrate the social, political & cultural fabric and investigate how deeply they are intertwined. The issues addressed, though pan-Indian in their discourse, have been showcased in an urban middle-class perspective.

Started in 2015, the series has four films till date. Each film is shot with four constants - two female performers, in public space, address a socio-political issue, in under 120 seconds.

LINES

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The short film delves into the multi-pronged issue of drug abuse in Punjab. The border state of India, each year Punjab gets drugs worth billions of dollars from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The land is besieged with social, political, geographical & emotional recuperation of the drug trafficking and increasing youth addiction.

FILM SCREENED AT

La Danza in 1Minuto, 2019, Turin, Italy.
Rollout Dance Film Festival 2018, Macau, China.
India Dans Festival 2018, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Guiar Screendance Intnl Festival 2018, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Bucharest Intnl Dance Film Festival 2017, Bucharest, Romania.
POOL16 Intntl Tanz Film Plattform, Berlin, Germany, 2016.
IKONO TV Dance On Film Screening, Berlin, Germany, 2016.
IGNITE! Contemporary Dance Festival 2016, New Delhi, India.
The Outlet Project 2016, New Jersey, USA.
Avayava Contemporary Dance Festival 2016, Pune, India.
Lives Lived, Contemporary Arts Week 2016, Korean Cultural Centre, Delhi, India.


LECTURE & SCREENING
Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Dansbrant, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Arts, Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Faculty of Arts, Chandigarh Arts College, Chandigarh, India.


CREDITS

Performers - Sanchita Sharma & Nikita Maheshwary
DoP & Editor - Jeetin Sharma

3 February 2016

 EVE TEASING

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The short movement based film attempts to capture an ordinary day of a woman on Indian streets. Her reactions ranging from caution, vigilance, state of fear to unnerving sickness. Targeted with lurid comments, catcalls, groping and flashing; eve-teasing is a common, well practised and tolerated part of our living.

FILM SCREENED AT
Mana Contemporary's Body + Camera Festival 2019, Miami.
Guiar Screendance Intnl Festival 2018, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Mana Contemporary's Body + Camera Festival 2018, Chicago.
Peace Builders’ Intnl Film Festival 2016, New Delhi, India.
Avayava Contemporary Dance Festival 2016, Pune, India.
Lives Lived, Contemporary Arts Week 2016, Korean Cultural Centre, Delhi, India.

LECTURE & SCREENING
Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Dansbrant, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Arts, Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Faculty of Arts, Chandigarh Arts College, Chandigarh, India.

CREDITS

Performers - Sunaina Jain & Nikita Maheshwary
Editor - FurryTail Production

14 October 2015

 HOME, SUSPENDED

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In India during the last five decades, more than 50 million people have been uprooted from their homes due to development-induced displacement. The displaced persons are mostly asset-less rural poor like landless labourers, small farmers, tribals, Dalits and Adivasis.

For the sake of national interest and development, these millions bear witness to the destruction of their own lives and livelihoods with bleak hopes of rehabilitation or settlement.

This short film captures the unsettling experience of displacement and homelessness transformed into a state of suspension.


FILM SCREENED AT
IKONO TV Dance On Film Screening, Berlin, Germany, 2018.

LECTURE & SCREENING
Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Dansbrant, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

CREDITS
Performers - Pragati Agarwal & Nikita Maheshwary
DoP - Sangeeta Banerjee & Ashish Banerjee
Editor - Amit Chatterjee

2 October 2017

 ARTICLE 19

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Article 19

Article 19 under the Indian Constitution states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The short film reflects on the right of free speech in the wake of growing religious intolerance, murders of writers and journalists -  on the account of which many renowned Indian writers & artists gave back their awards to protest against the current right-wing regime.


FILM SCREENED AT
IGNITE! Contemporary Dance Festival 2016, New Delhi, India.
Avayava Contemporary Dance Festival 2016, Pune, India.
Lives Lived, Contemporary Arts Week 2016, Korean Cultural Centre, Delhi, India.

LECTURE & SCREENING
Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Arts, Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Faculty of Arts, Chandigarh Arts College, Chandigarh, India.

CREDITS

Performers - Sunaina Jain & Nikita Maheshwary
Editor - Sunaina Jain

5 December 2015