MAMI : Mediastorm India's First Investigative Documentary Gang

I attended screening of  three documentaries viz 'In Secular India', 'From the Burning Ambers', 'Whose Country It Is Any Way' produced in eighties followed by the discussion by all woman gang behind the production, which includes Shohini Ghosh ,Ranjani Mazumdar, Shikha Jhingan, Charu Gargi, Sabina Kidvai, Sabina Gadihoke.

The members of Mediastorm were in their early twenties in 1985 when they were studying at the newly started AJK Mass Communication Research  Centre (MCRC) at Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. It was India's first documentary collective. In fact MCRC over the next decades became one of the premiere media institution and the six women invested themselves in film pedagogy, shaping a generation of media practitioners and theorists.They were indeed part of a new movement. In an environment of rising fundamentalism, the desire to organize collectively and counter dominant mass media hysteria with committed inquiry and through diverse cultural fora was taking shape.Video as a medium was making independent film making and distribution possible. Shohini says, 'It was a time when a new media culture started gathering storm.'

The Mediastorm's documentaries were made on shoestring budget, lacked production excellence but their content was so much though provoking that compelled people to take notice. All the group members were honored with Chameli Devi Award in 1991 for 
'exemplary dedication, deep conviction and sensitivity in the use of a relatively new journalistic medium in India for critical commentary on live social  and political issues of our time'.

While talking on the occasion, Shohini Ghosh remembered  the time when they have gone to report Sati event at Deorala Rajasthan  where Roopkunwar was compelled to sit on pyre of her husband. It has created a kind of political storm, on one hand  the religious fringe elements came on roads to defend  this Sati event, on the other hand a miniscule majority seen opposing the practice.  The Mediastorm was able to talk to the members of Roopkunwar's parents and also able to record the Sati event despite strong guarding the event by religious zealots. She says they were able to record the actual event as they were women and easily sneaked into the crowd of women with camera.

Shikha talked about their documentary In Secular India dealing with the rights of Muslim women under Indian secular law and its conflict with Muslim Personal Law. The group was able to capture the diverse and dissent voices.

And these efforts were made during the period when dissent voices could hardly find place in visual media. They were able to laid a path which ultimately transformed into investigative audio-visual journalism.

Unfortunately after their last collaborative effort 'Whose Country Is It Anyway' the group members did not work together. They were active in their individual capacity in the visual medium. Shohini directed the documentary 'Tales of the Night fairies' in 2002 and wrote 'Fire: A Queer Classic' in 2010. Ranjani Mazumdar wrote 'Bombay Cinema : An Archive of the City' in 2007.She has produced few documentaries. Shikha Jhingan has written extensively on cinema, television and aural cultures, and has been a documentary film makers.Charu Gargi is a film maker researching the relationship between gender and main stream Indian cinema. Sabina Kidwai co-authored 'Crossing the Sacred Line : Woman's Search for Political Power' in 1998 and combines academic work with media practice. The other Sabeena authored 'Camera Chronicles of HomiVyarawalla in 2006, she is a cinematographer as well as curator of photography.

Despite being the  pioneer in the field, Mediastorm had been a very low key group. If you search it on google you will not find any thing about the group.