To Kill a Tiger documentary review: Dare to Fight

If I do nothing, I’ll never be able to face those men,” says Ranjit in the Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill a Tiger, directed by Nisha Pahuja. The film, which details the disturbing story of 13-year-old Kiran (name changed), a gang-rape survivor in Jharkhand’s Bero district, and her father Ranjit, speaks of their relentless pursuit of justice—and there’s so much more than what meets the eye. Kiran, now a major in the documentary, consents to showing her face, so she can stand in support of girls like her.

Nisha, who has made this film over a span of three years, charts out the lives of the marginalised farmer and his daughter, and their trials and tribulations through court proceedings, police cases and activist meetings, to bring the assaulters to justice.

Cinematographer Mrinal Desai turns the camera to show the stigma surrounding rape survivors in a village—the girl is constantly shamed, and her family ostracised. Marriage to the offenders is openly suggested as a solution despite the existence of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) laws, and the documentary shows how women too are upholders of patriarchy.

To Kill a Tiger is as much Ranjit’s story as it is Kiran’s. The man carries a mountain of guilt of not being able to be a protector figure. Even when hopes are bleak and savings run dry, he pushes on. Beneath the quiet person, lies a vulnerable heart that hopes to bring back happiness to the lives of his children.

On testimony day, Kiran wears bright clothes, hoping to win her “final exam”. She narrates her harrowing experience. It’s the first time you see her change her ribbons from orange to white. Later, she adorns her hair with flowers and hair clips. The documentary helps you see what justice means to victims. You see her more forthcoming, smiling and standing as an inspiration for girls, trying, against odds, to show that a woman doesn’t need to define her life by her trauma.

However, Nisha’s decision to reveal the identity of the survivor raises conundrums. Would the victim be able to understand the power of a space like OTT where her identity gets revealed to millions of viewers? As Ranjit observes in a scene, the filmmaker’s involvement in the lives of her subjects could create changes in their lives. These are some moral questions that need to be pondered upon. Ultimately though, it’s a documentary that means well, and one that notes how much our society needs to change to make the lives of victims less traumatic.