Men take lead against period poverty in docu-film

Cricketer/entertainer Dwayne Bravo’s fight against period poverty in his home, TT, is being well documented. It has been captured in local and international media. This time it is going to be further documented with a documentary called Men Take the Lead.

The documentary is being produced by Seattle-based production company, People Media Factory and is being done collaboratively with ANT production out of India and Singapore. The documentary’s producer is TG Vishwa Prasad, the executive producer is Natraj Pillai, its co-producer Vivek Kuchibhotla and director, Aarthi Shrivastava.

The documentary, Pillai said to Newsday, aims to cover Bravo’s life as well as highlight the work he is doing in fighting the issue of period poverty in TT and beyond.

The documentary highlights Bravo’s journey from the start of the initiative until he brings the low-cost sanitary pad-making machine to TT. It is expected to be 45-minutes long and is being filmed in TT and India.

The documentary’s synopsis says, “Men Take Lead is an incredible journey of a renowned cricketer and DJ from the Caribbean Dwayne Bravo. In a nutshell, the film explores how his trip to India changes the face of menstrual hygiene for thousands of girls in his country TT...Bravo during his stay in Chenni, India, comes across Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman of India) tackling the issue of menstrual hygiene in India through his sanitary pad-making innovation.”

Pillai said he always wanted to do a documentary with some serious meaning. He added that when he found Bravo and his interest in charity and plan to meet Muruganantham he decided to document it.

For Pillai, the difference with this documentary is that Bravo is one of the few male sports people to talk about and support menstrual hygiene.

He hopes that the documentary will make the world take a look at the issue and result in other celebrities and other influential people getting involved. The final copy of the documentary is expected to be ready by December and will be sent to film festivals across the world.