The World Before Her 2012
Previous FilmsThrough dramatic vérité action and unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, THE WORLD BEFORE HER sweeps back the curtain to reveal the intimate stories of young women determined to win the Miss India beauty pageant crown and the forces that oppose them. Hindu fundamentalists view pageants as immoral and a symbol of the rapid Westernization of India; protests are common.
As the contestants move through beauty boot camp, filmmaker Nisha Pahuja travels to another corner of India to visit an annual camp for young girls run by the Durgha Vahini, the women’s wing of the militant fundamentalist movement. Through lectures and physical combat training, the girls learn what it means to be good Hindu women and how to fight against Islam, Christianity and Western influences by any means necessary.
Moving between both camps and the characters’ private lives, THE WORLD BEFORE HER creates a lively, provocative portrait of the world’s largest democracy at a critical transitional moment. These young women may represent opposing extremes but in their hearts they share a common dream: to help shape the future of India.
The Filmmakers
Nisha Pahuja, Director + Producer
Nisha Pahuja is Academy Award and Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Toronto. Her latest film, TO KILL A TIGER, had its world premiere at TIFF where it won the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film. Since then, it’s won 27 awards including Best Documentary Feature, Palm Springs International Film Festival and three Canadian Screen awards. The film grew out of a long career of addressing various human rights issues, notably violence against women in India. In 2015, she won the Amnesty International media award for Canadian journalism after making a short film about the Delhi bus gang rape for Global News. Pahuja’s other past credits include the multi-award-winning THE WORLD BEFORE HER (2012 Best Documentary Feature, Jury Award Winner, Tribeca Film Festival; Best Canadian Documentary, Hot Docs; TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten; Best Documentary nominee, Canadian Screen Awards, the series Diamond Road (2008 Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series) and BOLLYWOOD BOUND (2002 Gemini Award nominee).