Kalika (28) is an extraordinary pediatric surgeon. She is determined, focused, and aggressive. She has all but one goal: rid the world of demons. Like her role model, she wants to take the heads of those who put the lives of women and children at risk.
She wasn't always like this, though. When she was young, she had the uncommon dream of being a housewife, or a teacher. Those dreams shattered in the blink of an eye when she fell in love at the ripe age of 17, and at 18 became pregnant. Her boyfriend at the time was, "supportive," and wanted to keep the baby.
Kalika told her parents about the pregnancy, and her family unanimously decided to disown their eldest daughter. Distraught, Kalika went crying to her boyfriend, who had also told his family about the baby. Instead of welcoming her with open arms, her boyfriend and his three brothers assaulted Kalika, causing her to lose the baby and the ability to have one in the future.
While she cried about her misfortune, Kalika fell at the feet of Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha, and Subrahmanya, granting her the strength to overcome her tragic past, rebirthing her as the woman who will never let any man do that to any woman ever again. She is the one who strikes fear in the hearts of male transgressors. She is the daughter of Mahakali.
"He was asking for it."
Throughout my life, I have been told to dress and act a certain way so that men would not cast evil eyes on me, yet no matter what I did, most men continued to act like pigs in front of me and put my life at risk due to their lack of comprehension of the word, "No." What I've always wanted is for the shoe to be on the other foot and have men fear going out in public the same way women do if they dress even the tiniest bit nicely. I wanted to strike fear in the hearts of men who will never know what it's like to constantly be anxious about being alone in a big city.
I've always been attracted to stories with strong female leads as well as realistic films like documentaries, bio pics, slice of life, etc. The news today looks like a story I would have read in a history book, which made me stop and think about the fact that every single day in this century is going to go down in history. The pandemic showed us that documenting these days will aid in the development of the human race later in life and that stories are a reflection of the times they are made in. Mahakali is meant to represent the past, the present, and the future of all women, especially women of color.
Mahakali was innocently meant to be a short script produced for a class, but after receiving feedback form my classmates, I realized that there could be so much more of Kalika's life to explore. So, I explored it, and Kalika's full story was born. From her rise to her downfall, Kalika is a full person, and her story needs to be shared. My goal with this film is for women to be able to fight back in the way that they should: not by pure strength, but also by smarts and strategies. Mahakali is by women for women.
As of right now, my team and I are shooting the proof of concept, or as I like to call it, the cold open to the feature film. My goal with this proof of concept is to show the short to as many people as possible and open up a discussion about the effect of current events and the dark side of (even the most peaceful) religion. That being said, I have nothing but respect for my religion and culture, especially Goddess Kali, and intend on displaying that respect in this film.