Prof. Dr. Avinash Kolhe reflects on Mast Mahila Mandali, the remarkable documentary co-created by ten working-class women from Mumbai, celebrating collective authorship, feminist storytelling, friendship, labour, and the transformative power of claiming joy through cinema.

What happens when women who have never held a camera decide to tell their own stories? Mast Mahila Mandali (Cool Ladies Club) answers that question with extraordinary warmth and authenticity. Emerging from CORO India's Right to Pee campaign, the 72-minute documentary was created through an 18-month collaborative filmmaking workshop in Mumbai's M-East Ward, where ten women learned to shoot, record sound, edit, and ultimately co-direct a feature documentary using smartphones. Guided by National Award-winning filmmaker Dr. Shilpi Gulati and executive producer Supriya Jan, the film replaces narratives of victimhood with humour, friendship, dignity, and joy—making it one of India's most significant experiments in grassroots feminist cinema.

The Filmmakers

Co-directors: Anjum Shaikh, Darshana Mayekar, Gauri Rane, Kavita Ghuge, Kavita Khomne, Nazneen Siddiqui, Rehana Shaikh, Rohini Kadam, Sheetal Navle, Vaishali Mane & Dr. Shilpi Gulati

Chief Facilitator, Co-director & Editor: Dr. Shilpi Gulati

Executive Producer: Supriya Jan

Producer: CORO India

Supported by: School of Media & Cultural Studies (TISS), American Jewish World Service, Atta Deep Educational Foundation  

The Long Journey of Women's Voices

For centuries, the power of women, vocal as well as creative, has been suppressed across all cultures and civilizations. In India, it was from the mid-19th century onwards that awareness about the plight of women entered public discussion through progressive reformers like Mahatma Phule and Raja Rammohan Roy, as well as through the writings of pioneering women scholars like Tarabai Shinde (1850–1910), who, in 1882, wrote a scathing attack on patriarchy in her landmark work Stri Purush Tulana (A Comparison Between Women and Men). In due course, women took charge of their lives, their unique stories, and started narrating them in their unique style. The latest is a 72-minute documentary made by the volunteers of Mast Mahila Mandali (Cool Ladies Club), a Mumbai-based collective.

This documentary is not just another woman-oriented documentary. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that a group of ten women from working-class neighbourhoods in Mumbai picked up smartphones to document their own lives. The result is a film that crafts an intimate portrayal of labour, love, friendship, and the radical act of claiming joy. The result is something that must truly be seen to be believed.

Cinema Without Professional Filmmakers

These ten wonderful women are neither professional filmmakers nor professional storytellers. They stole time away from their routine lives, banded together, and turned the camera upon themselves. And hey presto, out came this remarkable documentary. Of course, this did not happen overnight. Behind it lies a sustained effort of nearly eighteen months of collective creation. In a way, Mast Mahila Mandali has no plot in the conventional sense. Instead, it captures the small joys of everyday life with remarkable honesty.

These women belong to Mumbai's M-East Ward, a locality that regularly faces air and water contamination, overcrowded housing, and poor sanitation. They are community workers, toilet operators, and daily-wage earners. They had never held a camera before. Every Saturday, they set aside four hours to learn how to shoot, record sound, and edit collectively. The collective of eleven directors comes from different religions, castes, and, of course, classes. The very process of making Mast Mahila Mandali stands as a testament to the spirit of creating a first film together. The documentary shows how Mumbai looks from below, and what it means to live under gruelling conditions and yet continue smiling.

A Standing Ovation at Regal

The film's preview was first held at the historic Regal Theatre, Colaba, on 28 April 2026. More than 1,200 people attended the screening, including grassroots women, development professionals, academics, students, filmmakers, and critics. As the credits rolled, the audience rose in a heartfelt standing ovation for the eleven co-directors—a rare and deeply moving acknowledgement of community-led cinema.  

CORO India's Vision Beyond Sanitation

The film has been produced by CORO India, a community-based organisation that has worked across Maharashtra and Rajasthan for nearly four decades. The organisation is dedicated to strengthening marginalised communities by fostering attitudinal change, building leadership, and nurturing political consciousness through grassroots participation.

It is particularly interesting that Mast Mahila Mandali emerged from CORO India's Right to Pee campaign, a fifteen-year initiative advocating for free, clean, and safe public and community toilet facilities for women and people across genders. What began as a campaign for sanitation evolved into a powerful movement for self-representation and creative freedom.

And the latest gift from that movement is the fabulous documentary Mast Mahila Mandali—a film that reminds us that the most revolutionary stories are often those told by people who have lived them.