Zari

Filmmaker's note

Zari (pronounced ZUH-ree) is a cross-cultural, queer coming-of-age short film set in and around a Delhi sari store amidst the preparations for a wedding.

As an Indian American woman, I have long been fascinated by the workings of the typical Indian sari store on my trips back to India with family. The sari is a quintessential Indian woman’s garment, but Indian sari stores are almost always run by men. In these bustling spaces, gender norms are both upheld and, curiously, subverted as salesmen often drape the saris on their own bodies to show them off. Men modeling saris in these stores is a normalized phenomenon in a largely patriarchal and homophobic county—and yet, the sari store is also the site of frenzied wedding shopping, through which gender norms are stringently upheld. In this strange and liminal space, I wanted to explore how the liberating performance of drag can serve as a point of connection between two outsiders learning how to express their gender and be their true selves.

“Zari” was filmed on location in Delhi, India. This was of utmost importance, not only for the sake of authenticity, but because I felt an Indian cast and crew would best understand how to capture the nuances of Indian society. Here, queerness is stigmatized while being undeniably present, both through longstanding third-gender communities and a modern queer movement. I wanted to explore these contradictions from a uniquely cross-cultural perspective that embraces the complexity and shows the many little ways we learn to subvert norms, find our community, and be true to ourselves.