Mona Singh speaks up about the 'shadow pandemic' in 'Ek Chup'

Mumbai, Sep 13

How often do women speak up against domestic violence? The answer is not many times.

It is precisely for this reason that Mona Singh, who's still remembered as the 'Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin' lead actress, is going to raise her voice against domestic violence in her upcoming short film 'Ek Chup', directed by Sonya V. Kapoor.

Mona talks about her experience of working in the short film, which centres on domestic violence during the lockdown.

Mona said: "Ek Chup is based on the idiom 'ek chup sau sukh' (stay quiet, earn a hundredfold happiness). You know, as Indians, most mothers tell their daughters to keep quiet and everything will work out. However, it's important for women to stand up for their rights and I think this movie and the script was just absolutely perfect to talk about this topic."

The actress, who was recently seen in 'Laal Singh Chaddha', is all praise for Sonya, who is a winner of the British Film Fellowship for her documentary 'Once there was a Purple Butterfly'.

She shared: "Sonya was very cool, calm, composed and with a vision regarding the script. She knew exactly what she wanted. So it was a lot of fun working with a person who knows what the person wants so everything just comes out very beautifully."

The director talks about her short film and the entire idea behind making it which is to highlight a very relevant topic of violence against women.

"The film is based on a very important issue, namely, the shadow pandemic of violence against women and domestic abuse during the Covid-19 lockdown days. It was UN Women that first termed it as the 'shadow pandemic' - a pandemic within a pandemic," she said.

"In this film, the female protagonist also believes in the philosophy of life that says 'Silence is Golden' and that is the base of the quirky story," said the director, explaining the essence of the story.

'Ek Chup' is produced by Amrita Mendonza and Sonya V.Kapoor under their banner M5 Entertainment.