Lakshmi and Me

"What sin did I commit to be born a woman?" Lakshmi wonders aloud. A 21–year–old housemaid in Mumbai, she works ten hours a day, seven days a week. One of her employers is Nishtha Jain, who begins to make a documentary that explores their relationship. Nishtha films Lakshmi at home, and at work in various houses. She sees how Lakshmi negotiates two different kinds of spaces – her home where she is the boss, and other households where she is the maid. And, in the process, she explores their relationship with each other and reflects on the whole gamut of attitudes and issues between servants and employers. As Nishtha is drawn deeper into Lakshmi's life, she is forced to question many of the things she has taken for granted.

This film is part of a program curated by Karan Bali, filmmaker and co–founder of Upperstall.com