Elahé Hiptoola, India

The Power Of Stories Podcast

Elahé Hiptoola is an Indian film producer and former actress based in Hyderabad. In this episode, Elahé discusses… loving her career as a film producer and the many aspects of production… the various responsibilities of a film producer… her major life transitions, first from law to a successful career in the fashion industry, then to becoming an actress, and then to her current career as a filmmaker… the events that led to her being cast by Nagesh Kukunoor in the film Hyderabad Blues, never having been on a film set at the time … navigating male-dominated work spaces… in her early days as a film producer, establishing a practice of hiring a male assistant director who understood that Elahé would soon publicly fire him to demonstrate to the other men on film set that yes, a woman had the power and authority to do so… creative ways of raising funds for a new film… the importance of her parents having had the same rules for her and for her brother while she was growing up, but then facing the reality of cultural gender norms as a woman… the many layers of patriarchy… reframing failure as only a setback, and then moving on… encouraging us all to totally believe that we can do what we want to do, not taking ourselves too seriously, and knowing that it is okay to change our mind. (India)