Sitara, “The Girl in the Pink Frock”, a short film about millions of migrants who were left to fend for themselves by Anurupa Roy and Aditi Mediratta

Amidst the COVID19 crisis Puppeteer - Anurupa Roy and Film writer - Aditi Mediratta team up to create Sitara, “The Girl in the Pink Frock” an ode to millions of migrants who were left to fend for themselves

`The Girl in the Pink Frock is a soul-stirring account of an 11-year-old girl who sets out with her family with a goliath like spirit in what she believes is a mission to end the cause of the epidemic, not knowing the true cause of the migration`

Mumbai, 19^th June 2020, Anurupa Roy, an acclaimed puppeteer, puppet designer and director of puppet theatre along with Aditi Mediratta, a writer who is credited to have been an associate writer on movies like The Dirty Picture and the Once Upon a Time in Mumbai franchise, have come together to tell the story of a young girl, Anurupa met while the girl migrated on foot along with her family and herds of other families, back to their villages hundreds of kilometres away. The creators of the film wish this story spreads far and wide and somehow reach Sitara.

Inspiration through a chance encounter: The girl in the pink frock is an 11-year-old girl, Anurupa met with on 23rd March, 2020 two mornings after the lockdown was announced, which got thousands of workers walking back to their villages. She was with her parents and her brother and they had been walking from Manesar in Haryana to Uttar Pradesh. She was wearing a beautiful pink frock, probably her best dress. Anurupa met them while handing out food packets. This chance encounter in the backdrop of this terrible human catastrophe stayed with her. Later Anurupa told Aditi about “The girl in the pink frock”. Aditi was taken in by thought of this little girl facing this unimaginable challenge head on, dressed in what felt like the ultimate armour of strength, spirit and optimism - a Pink Frock. She asked Anurupa if she could write her story. From there on, Aditi imagined the world and the heart of the little girl Sitara and wrote her story.

Storytelling the Paper Theatre way: Once the story was ready, the perfect medium to tell it seemed to be through Paper Puppets. For Sitara’s journey, Anurupa started to draw the scenes and the puppets. These were simple paper cut outs. Inspired by the early 19th century Miniature Paper or Toy Theatre and a comic book aesthetic. This was different from her usual puppet theatre style, as Anurupa’s company ‘Katkatha Puppet Arts trust’ creates large stage shows. However, like everyone else, the lockdown had forced the puppeteers to work from home. Anurupa, therefore began to look at solo performances and forms that lend themselves to it.  The story is created on a, 2 feet by 4 feet box frame with 6 inch cut outs made entirely of paper. The movement is created by not moving the puppets but the camera. The entire shoot was done on her phone camera.

The third partner on this project is the editor Atul Sinha. 

Anurupa says, “I met a little girl in her best pink dress during a food drive in Delhi. I don't know if she and her family reached home. This film is made for her and the thousands of workers walking home from the big cities who failed to give them any security during a pandemic to their villages where they hoped they would have enough to eat and a roof over their heads. The pandemic in India has only revealed the crisis that always existed - the crisis of security and poverty of the large "invisible" work force the cities of India depend on, but don't acknowledge or care for.”

Aditi retorts, “With the pandemic and the lockdown, I was feeling very anxious, so when Anurupa told me about the girl in the pink frock and how she could not get her out of her mind , I asked her if I could write the story of this girl, this girl who was so brave  that she put on her pretty pink frock and faced what was probably the biggest crisis of her life with so much spirit. I wanted to escape into her head for a while and be a child again and just know that no matter what life throws at me I can take it.”

The film is available for viewing on Anurupa Roy’s YouTube channel and you can watch it here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEcYZkHHXRI&t=129s