Siren (2024)

Growing up listening to a mother smitten with the turning point for Bollywood women in the 70s and 80s has me looking up to powerful actresses like Zeenat Aman and Sharmila Tagore, fearlessly and finally the main characters instead of playing somebody's wife. My deep sea fascination at the time lead me to depict these women in the context of sirens, i.e, seductive dark mermaids who lured unwitting seamen to their deaths. I developed this concept further under the lens of ‘The Provocateur’ Jean Paul Gaultier. The resulting research ensued in a capsule rooted in archival Gaultier, maritime folklore and historical Indian cinema.