SON RISE - a film by Vibha Bakshi

SON RISE is filmed in the strongly patriarchal state of Haryana, bordering India’s capital, New Delhi. Illegal, yet rampant female foeticide has led to the eerie absence of girls in hundreds of villages. This skewed sex-ratio has provoked an unprecedented number of crimes against women – with the highest number of gang rapes reported in the country.

Exploring these darkest corners, the film maker discovers that all is not lost: there are men who are rising to fight for women’s justice. And perhaps, for the first time in their lives, are realising their greatest fight is with other men, whom they will have to combat at every step of the way.

From a forward-thinking village chief and father of two daughters, fighting for women to enter the male-dominated arena of local politics – to a farmer who, in an arranged marriage, defies society by marrying a gang rape survivor.

Can these glimmers of a changing paradigm in SON RISE be the rays of hope we have been looking for?