Nirbhaya documentary deserves to win an Oscar: Meryl Streep

A BBC documentary on one of India’s most gruesome rape incidents which is banned in the country has received backing from Hollywood star Meryl Streep for an academy award.

Indian government banned the documentary to be released in India, however it was open to watch on Youtube making it easy for many to watch it and know what actually happened to Jyothi, the rape victim. The nominations will soon be declared on 14 January.

“I’m on the campaign now to get her nominated for best documentary”, said Streep, speaking of the film’s British-based director, Leslee Udwin.

“When I first saw the film, I couldn’t speak afterwards” Streep added.

Medical student Jyoti Singh was returning home from seeing Life of Pi at the cinema with a male friend in December 2012, when she was raped and murdered by a gang of men.

Udwin said she’d found expectation in the demonstrations but was dismayed at the comparatively poor outcry after having a four-year old girl was raped and beaten with rocks in Delhi earlier this month.

The film draws on extensive footage of an interview in jail with one of the attackers, Mukesh Singh, who has displayed an appalling lack of remorse blaming the woman for the rape. Streep said she was left speechless after seeing the film at the New York premiere and will actively “campaign” for it to be nominated at the Oscars. In 16 hours of interviews with Udwin, Singh, who drove the bus that picked up the young woman, said: “A decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night”. He has been sentenced to death but has appealed his verdict along with three other convicted assailants also on death row.

Udwin’s documentary was banned in India in March. There were 33,764 casualties in India as stated by the National Crime Records Bureau of the state.

The documentary was banned by the government in 2012, because, excerpts of the movie “appear to encourage and incite violence against women”.

Another big area of debate has been whether Udwin and her team got proper permission to film in Tihar, the prison where Singh is being held.

The film will open in USA theatres on October 23 nationally, promoter Christine Merser said. Screenings will also be scheduled to China in a few of states.