New Delhi: The trailer of Amazon Prime Video’s Ziddi Girls has sparked outrage at Delhi University’s Miranda House. The college management is simply unable to get behind the upcoming show’s portrayal of its women students – laughing, kissing, discussing pornography, and protesting hostel curfew timings.
“We are deeply shocked and anguished by this portrayal. We have demanded that they take down the objectionable trailer and the short-form reference to MH [Miranda House] on an urgent basis. If the filmmakers do not respond, we will explore other remedial measures,” said Principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda about the webseries, directed by alumna Shonali Bose and starring former student Nandita Das. It is slated to release on 27 February.
The Miranda House Students’ Union also shared a notice on its Instagram account. “The circulating trailer contains content that raises serious objections, particularly regarding the dignity of our esteemed institution. It tarnishes, defames, and demeans the 77-year-old legacy of Miranda House, a college renowned for its commitment to women’s education and emancipation.”
The show was shot on the premises in 2023, with permission from college authorities.
‘Ban Ziddi Girls’
Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President Ronak Khatri made a video calling out the makers of Ziddi Girls, demanding a ban on the webseries and resignation of the principal “who permitted the shooting”.
“The recently released trailer of Ziddi Girls by Amazon prime is a direct attack on the dignity of Miranda House, one of the most prestigious women’s colleges in the world. Portraying its students in a sexualized manner is an insult to their academic excellence and hard work,” wrote Khatri in his X post.
However, not everyone agrees with the calls for a ban. “We are behaving as if none of the things shown in the trailer have ever happened in Miranda House, or any other girls’ college, for that matter. The world has changed, with technology and access to various things. You can criticise content, but creating a hue and cry ‘that nothing like this happens’, or that ‘it affects academics’ is a medieval idea,” a college professor told ThePrint on grounds of anonymity.
Miranda House is considered among Delhi University – and India’s – topmost institutions. It holds the second rank, after Hindu College, as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024.
“After watching the trailer, I realised it is showing the ‘Pinjra Tod’ movement. It is actually great that the movement was so impactful, that the makers are showing it. I did not find anything offensive in it,” said Diksha Singh, a former student of the college.
The Pinjra Tod (break the cage) movement took shape in 2015 – when the students of Jamia Millia Islamia submitted an open letter to their then-Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmad, protesting stifling curfew timings for women students. The feminist movement soon spread to Delhi University, as evident from the massive Jan Sunwai (public hearing) held at DU’s Arts Faculty on 21 February 2017.
A scene in the trailer of Ziddi Girls alludes to Pinjra Tod. “An 11:30 pm curfew is not a privilege, but their right,” a male professor (Nandish Sandhu) tells a college principal as throngs of women students protest in the backdrop.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)