Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan: Centre collaborates with Netflix to present inspirational stories of 7 women

Tanvi Jagadish, the country's first competitive stand-up paddle boarder from Mangaluru, Basanti Devi who saved Kosi river, and Anshu Jansenpa who conquered Mount Everest twice in five days are among the seven stories of grit and determination of women that is being told by Netflix as part of the government's 'Azadi ki Amrit Mahotsav' programmes.

The trailer and three of the seven short documentaries, with narration by actress Neena Gupta and produced by the OTT platform for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was released in the capital by Minister Anurag Thakur in the presence of Head of Global TV (Netflix) Bela Bajaria and Minister of State L Murugan among others.

The two-minute documentaries on women empowerment under the title ‘Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaaniyan’ will be followed by short videos on sustainable development and other subjects. Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said they were also looking forward to a long series on India’s Independence struggle as part of the government’s collaboration with the OTT platform.

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The series is thematic as it tells stories of women who conquered or used natural elements to inspire people – air (pilot Arohi Pandit), water (surfer Tanvi), sky (Dr Tessy Thomas), fire (Harshini Kanhekar), water (Basanti Devi), life (health worker Arohi Pandit) and mountain (Anshu).

While Tanvi’s story is about a 22-year-old engaged in water sports, who won at least six medals in surfing, the series also features DRDO’s Dr Tessy, who is known as the Missile Woman of India, health worker Poonam Nautiyal who ensured 100% vaccination in Bageshwar district and pilot Aarohi Pandit, world's youngest and first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean solo in a light-sport aircraft.

Harshini, the country’s first firefighter from Nagpur who is featured in a short video, says, “If somebody has not done something, it is not a reason for not doing it. Somebody has to do it first...” Mountaineer Anshu says, “when you do out of the box, it is very important to push the norms.” Poonam says, “if women can give birth, why can’t they save lives too?”

Thakur said the series celebrates the achievements of women and a number of other projects are in the offing. “We have a long term partnership with Netflix and we hope to tell diverse stories to inspire people. Netflix will be producing 25 videos now. I would urge them not to restrict it to 30 but to 75 when the country is celebrating 75 years of Independence,” he said.

He said the Ministry has already partnered with Netflix, which would be holding master classes, training workshops and script writing workshops for women. “Netflix and the Ministry will partner to develop a creative ecosystem in India for post-production, VFX, animation and music production,” he said.

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