KARIN SABIN
Staff Writer
Few have seen a rainbow completely devoid of color, but Pepperdine alumni Dharan and Linda Mandrayar are bringing the image from Indian culture to movie screens with their film “White Rainbow.”
Written, directed and produced by the Mandrayars, “White Rainbow” chronicles the story of women in India who literally become white rainbows, widows blamed for the deaths of their husbands.
Indian tradition teaches that a wife’s karma is responsible for the death of a husband, and the widows deserve punishment, banishment and, in some cases, death.
The film title, “White Rainbow,” refers to some of those widows who must wear white garments. Similar to a scarlet letter for adulterers, Indian widows are also physically stigmatized. They are stripped of color, forced to wear only white.
“It’s an oxymoron, really,” Linda said. “On the inside, these women are so filled with color.”
In Indian culture, color is extremely important, which can be seen in the brightly colored saris and jewelry typically worn by women, Linda said.
The Mandrayars are a husband and wife team. Linda, who graduated from Seaver College in 1984, and Dharan, who graduated from Seaver College in 1983 and the Graziadio School of Business and Management in 1986, have been married for 19 years and have three children.
It was their son’s sixth-grade school assignment that provided the impetus for the film. Their son’s assignment was to read about an Indian widow who had been banished to the holy city of Vrindavan. The story depicted the mistreatment of widows in India.
The Mandrayars said they wanted to learn more, and they uncovered stories of widows who were blamed for their husbands’ deaths. Abandonment or banishment is common in these cases. In an extreme situation, a mother-in-law disfigured the widow by throwing burning oil on her.
“It struck me as such an injustice,” Dharan, who was born and raised in India, said. “We wanted to bring awareness to it.”
Dharan wrote the script after much research.
“I gleaned information from The New York Times articles and CNN articles,” Dharan said. “Then I took my research and narrowed it down to create the four main characters, writing the script based off of true lives.”
The storyline is about four women who overcome obstacles as banished widows.
“In India, a widow is considered inauspicious, as in bringing bad luck,” Linda said. “It’s her fault that her husband died.”
Widows must therefore retreat from social life. The long-held tradition does not permit widows to attend weddings or birth ceremonies because of their unlucky presence.
“The women in the movie are compared to white rainbows,” Linda said, “They have no joy, no color, no life in them. They have been drained of all that vitality.”
The film’s main protagonist is Priya, a young widow who treks to the city of Vrindavan to learn how other widows cope. She befriends three other women along the way.
“Priya essentially tells them, ‘You don’t have to take this.’ Linda said. “She instills hope.”
Hope is a central theme to the movie.
“The message is that there is hope, that other people do not have to control your destiny,” Linda said. “Fate is not predetermined.”
The film industry is often associated with Hollywood, but India is actually the largest film-producing country in the world. India puts out about 700 feature films per year, whereas Hollywood puts out only 300 feature films a year.
The Mandrayars said they steered clear of the Hollywood scene and produced the film independently. They said their goal is to show the film at art-house theaters and university campuses.
“We were warned it wouldn’t be commercially successful,” Linda said. “So we did it independently because we wanted to see if we could help people, if we could change the situation for the better for these women in India.”
“I think Hollywood is jaded,” Linda added. “Formula films pour out because Hollywood is afraid to take a risk.”
The Mandrayars said they were not afraid to take that risk.
“We were threatened,” Linda said, “They said, ‘If you film here, we will burn your set down.’” Consequently, the Mandrayars and their crews kept a low profile and ended up filming in south India in Dharan’s hometown where his family has made films for the past 50 years.
“I was very involved in all aspects of the film production with my family in India,” Dharan said. “I grew up in that environment, watching members of my family in front of the camera.”
The process of making the film was fraught with challenges, and the film release in India was controversial.
“Indian officials were angry we were exposing a negative aspect of Indian life,” Linda said. “They wanted to cover it up.”
Dharan said the biggest challenge was that the film crews were not given permission to shoot in the city of Vrindavan.
“We had to resort to building expensive sets to recreate the actual city,” Dharan said. “Raising the money was also a challenge.”
The challenges and risk paid off. The movie won the “Best Feature Film” award at the Sedona Film Festival in March 2005. “White Rainbow” also was shown on opening night of the Reel Women Film Festival in Hollywood in March and the Amnesty International Film Festival in May.
“There were so many other films nominated,” Linda said. “When we won best feature film, we were shocked.”
The Sedona award was a unanimous decision, said Dr. Sheila Jackman, the president and chair of the Sedona International Film Festival and Workshop.
“It was an elation you can’t describe,” Dharan said. “And by winning, we knew the film was affecting people.”
Jackman commented on the positive response to the film.
“We at Sedona see independent film as a voice that is all but lost in today’s film industry,” Jackman said. “We saw in ‘White Rainbow’ what the film festival is all about.”
“White Rainbow” was chosen out of 120 films. Jackman ascribed the win to the film’s ability to transcend cultures.
“It covers issues not just in India,” Jackman said. “It serves as a wake-up call. People walked out of the movie touched with a lot to say and a lot to ponder.”
In addition to the culturally universal content, the film exhibits other award-winning features.
“‘White Rainbow’ was chosen namely because its cinematography was excellent,” Jackman said. “The script was engaging and thought-provoking, and the film had a message and truly delivered it.”
Sedona is an organization that focuses on filmmakers.
“Sedona believes filmmakers are the voice of the planet,” Jackman said. “We honor filmmakers, especially those like ‘White Rainbow’ who are gutsy enough to say what needs to be said.”
As Pepperdine alumni, both Linda and Dharan said they look back fondly on their college years.
“My experience at Pepperdine was wonderful,” Linda said. “I loved the size, location, teachers, people and especially the Heidelberg program.”
The couple met as neighbors in a condominium community just north of Pepperdine.
Dharan said he applied to 80 universities in the United States before he decided to come to Pepperdine.
“In all honesty, when I was reading the brochures, Pepperdine had the biggest and most colorful brochure,” Dharan said. “Somebody once said, ‘If God went to school, he’d go to Pepperdine.’”
“White Rainbow” has been released in India, but there are more obstacles to overcome.
“It’s an up hill battle,” Linda said.
Despite the challenges, the Mandrayars said they still have the faith that Pepperdine helped instilled in them.
“Everything is in God’s timing,” Linda said. “We have faith that the timing of our film release will be God’s timing.”
The Mandrayars often point out the importance of community in filmmaking.
“Try to connect with other people with similar goals,” Linda said. “Connect with people who also want to promote good, positive filmmaking.”
For more information visit www.whiterainbow.com
10-06-2005
