"We promise to keep going with this play… as long as audiences will keep coming and as long as women continue to be violated,” noted theater director and actor Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal while accepting the 10th Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2020 on December 15, 2020 at an online event. Mody-Kotwal, her son Kaizad Kotwal and their production company Poor-Box Productions were recognized for bringing the play The Vagina Monologues (TVM) to India 17 years ago. The play, written by American playwright Eve Ensler, explores consensual and nonconsensual sex, body image, vaginal care, reproduction and related topics through the eyes of women from different cultures. "Over 1,000 shows” have been staged by Poor-Box in English and Hindi for the public, in schools and colleges, and for economically disadvantaged people in urban areas.
Responding to Parsiana’s request for information on December 18, Mody-Kotwal stated, "We have had innumerable women who have shared feedback on the transformative impact of this play… Some have seen the show over a dozen times… One mother came backstage after a show and said that she had been genitally mutilated. She said that when it became apparent that her elders wanted her own daughter to be similarly mutilated, she left the family with her daughter, sacrificing much. She said she was doing everything to fight to keep her daughter ‘whole.’”
The actor stated that a victim of an acid attack, who left her home for the first time since being abused and disfigured, came to one of their fund-raisers. "We introduced her to the audience and she spoke non-stop to them for 15 minutes…This was the first time she was able to tell her story in her own voice.” That individual now helps other victims of acid attacks using various digital technologies. "Though she can never return to the normal of before her attack, she has shown what survival is all about,” stated Mody-Kotwal.
From l: Mahabanoo Mody- Kotwal, Eve Ensler and Kaizad Kotwal
"The applause, tears and laughter we have created with our audiences has been rewarding and deeply gratifying…It is the stories of real lives changed, and even saved, which have proven to be the ultimate rewards any artist, any human could possibly ask for,” stated the actor-director in her acceptance speech. "Sometimes when giving up seems easier, I remember the words of (writer and artist) Mary Anne Radmacher who said, ‘Courage doesn’t always roar… Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow.’
"Through our work with the global movements V-Day and One Billion Rising (to end abuse of women), we have raised awareness and funds to try and end violence… Our deepest thanks go to Ensler, who now wishes to simply be known by the letter V… She trusted us with her work and her love and unyielding support have forever changed our lives,” she noted.
The Laadli award program, instituted by nongovernmental organization Population First, is supported by the United Nations Population Fund, notes their website. Awards are given to gender sensitive films, documentaries, books, advertisements, news reports, etc. This year 32 persons were recognized, while their lifetime achievement award was given to Usha Khanna, "one of the first women music directors in Bollywood,” notes the video of the awards program hosted on YouTube.
Journalist Jyoti Shelar’s article "The conflict within: Parsis and gender rights” in The Hindu of May 22, 2017 had won the 2017 award for highlighting the conflict between liberal and orthodox viewpoints on women’s equality among Parsis (see "Commendable writing,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, October 7, 2018).