“No woman should disbelieve herself; society does that enough” – Madhureeta Anand

From directing award-winning films to developing a safety app to writing socially charged fiction, gender has been the common thread that connects all of Madhureeta Anand’s work. Having created award-winning films such as the docu-drama Kajarya (2013) and the short film Walking on a Moonbeam (2006), the Mumbai-based writer and director recently turned novelist with Krishna Circus (Om Books, ₹295).

The novel is a mythological superhero tale with a female protagonist, Krishna. Like Anand’s films and documentaries, the themes of gender justice and ecological awareness continue to be at the forefront of this book as well, making the reader experience both thrilling and thought-provoking.

Mother of a young daughter, Anand is the founder of Phree for Safety app, which is aimed at giving vulnerable social groups a platform to band as a community and share their awareness and support.

eShe caught up with her about her new novel.

In Krishna Circus, you reimagine one of Indian mythology’s most iconic figures as a female superhero in a post-apocalyptic world. What inspired this bold gender inversion, and what layers did you aspire to add to the Krishna archetype?

I lean towards writing women characters – it’s what I gravitate towards naturally. Also, my Krishna was meant to be a force that restores, sustains and is a warrior for mother nature.

She works with intuition and an understanding of the unity of life. Women’s close relationship with nature and ability to sustain convinced me that Krishna could only be a woman. 

My Krishna is literally a force of nature.

Your films have tackled deeply rooted social issues, especially those affecting women. What drives your commitment to telling these stories, and how has your perspective evolved over the years?

My life, like the lives of many, has been riddled with patriarchy. My father was in the Army and passed away when I was seven years old. Later, my mother remarried, and we were plunged into a “step” family. It was terrible.

But amidst all of that, I saw how the spirit can rise, and how women’s hearts are so much larger. I had these glorious aunts and uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, sisters, and my lovely mother.

Growing up, I saw that women’s agency is perceived as a threat. That’s why patriarchy’s main goal is to take it away. It starts with cornering economic resources and ends with total control. It’s a system of dominance in which everyone suffers – not just women.

And society at large continues to perpetuate this imbalance. Patriarchy cannot exist without the enablers who stand by and cheer as a woman is robbed of her agency. But I did not understand this when I was younger.

To begin with, I always felt very privileged. I went to great educational institutions and had access to knowledge and information because of my family background. I used to think that – because of the class I came from – feminism didn’t really apply to me. Time taught me how wrong I was.

Both in my career and personal life, I’ve faced the many gates of patriarchy, each one demanding to be unlocked, navigated, or broken through.

As I began to recognise this more clearly, the injustice started to bother me deeply. The more it happened, the more I became convinced that things must change. What drives me isn’t just anger –it’s also a deep concern for the state of the world and what we are creating for the next generation.

I decided that if the path ahead was going to be hard anyway, I might as well pursue my most expansive vision – one that brings meaning not just to me, but to others as well.

So I gave in to myself. I girded up for the hard ride ahead, chose to move forward one day at a time, and made a promise: to never, ever disbelieve myself. No woman should. Society already does that enough.

You’ve spoken through your work about reshaping narratives around women. How does this novel reflect your vision of female empowerment, especially in the face of ecological and political collapse?

The women characters we see today are often either secondary to male protagonists or, when portrayed as powerful, they tend to adopt traditionally ‘male’ methods to resolve conflict. As a result, we only glimpse a partial truth of women’s identities and the deeper sources of their strength.

Women’s link with nature is undeniable and unavoidable. Our bodies are constant reminders of how nature works. This relationship with Earth is personal. Consequently, women’s indignation and sorrow for its ill-treatment is also felt in that way. 

Also, women naturally possess intuition, this makes them empathetic. These wonderful qualities are often weaponised by patriarchy and so women shy away from these attributes. However, at this juncture in history these are precisely the two things needed to turn us away from the tide of utter self-destruction.

Humanity needs intuition that will tell them that there are no “outsiders” or “others”.  We need empathy to feel the pain of another. Without these you get what we have now – a greed-centred society. The world has put material objects above human life. How else can you explain why so many are silent as children are murdered in cold blood every day in the name of religion or country? 

My novel’s characters choose nature over greed, sustenance over depletion, and cooperation over tyranny. Krishna and her team of four superheroes have all faced the abyss of trauma and became superheroes because they looked for solutions within. Therefore, the character offers an alternative to not just how women are characterised, but also to the prevailing political discourse.  

The domed city of Mathura in 2124 is a haunting metaphor for a world gone wrong. How close do you think we are to living out such a dystopia?

The Mathura of 2124 in Krishna Circus is perhaps a few decades away. However, conceptually we’re already there. The concept of enclosing oneself in a gated and guarded space so as to not feel the effects of crime and general degradation already exists.

We fill these spaces with water bodies and lush green foliage while outside it is arid and dusty. We separate ourselves from the “mess” and have to buy our access to basics like clean water, nature and even clean air. How is it okay to live in a world where we are paying a premium for what was free all along?

And the relentless striving for immortality means we have more and more formulas and ways of living longer – we are determined to overcome death. The synthetic and artificial have become acceptable and integral parts of our lives. 

From here it’s a hop, skip and jump to Kams’s Mathura, as depicted in the book. 

You’ve been a filmmaker and activist for decades, especially focused on gender-based issues. What made fiction – and this novel in particular – the right medium for your message at this point in your journey?

If one has to create a female superhero and her band of “Avengers”, one has to write it in great detail first. I had written this as a script but when I started to put to page the whole Krishna Circus universe, I realised I was writing a book. There were pages and pages of description, which doesn’t lend itself well to the screenplay format. 

Also, in the current scenario, where we lack nuance, it was an opportunity to express some of the constructs that interest me like gender, ecology and feminism in a more fluid, entertaining way. 

The other factor is that it is much easier to make a series or film out of a book.

What was your daughter’s reaction to the book?

I tested Krishna Circus on her numerous times before I wrote it. When I had her attention, I knew I was going the right way. So, she naturally has a very close relationship with the book. She loves to read anyway and then this is her mother’s book! I did not tell her much about the book per se, I wanted her to be surprised and she was.

She loved it of course – I’m her mother so what else is she going to feel, right?

You’ve worked across formats, from documentaries to fiction to activism. How did your background in visual storytelling influence the way you wrote this novel, especially its world-building and pacing?

With screenplay writing and film direction, my process begins by seeing something visually in the mind, and then describing it or bringing it to screen. This is how I approach screenwriting too, and Krishna Circus emerged in much the same way. I shaped the world in my mind and then put it to paper.

I really enjoyed writing the novel because it felt freeing and almost meditative. I could immerse myself in that world and write with abandon – and I loved that. Interestingly, some of that novel-writing style has started to influence my screenplays as well.

Krishna Circus follows many of the conventions of film and series writing. The chapters are structured like episodes. The pacing too is shaped by my screenwriting background. People who’ve read the novel often say it feels like watching a movie, so I suppose it worked.

Coming to your other endeavours, you founded the Phree for Safety app as a response to the urgent need for women’s safety. How do you see the relationship between creative expression and direct activism in your work?

No matter what you do, you come from somewhere. Unfortunately, right now there are many men out there who are bringing their childhood traumas straight into leadership positions while acting like their actions are objective or rational.

It’s ridiculous to pretend that our work and life are not expressions of who we are. One way or another, your life will be defined by your belief system. That’s why the belief system is of utmost importance and so all my work comes from there.

Writing and directing are part of who I am. I adore both roles. But I can’t stop and say my belief system ends there. If something truly matters to you, it should move you, no matter what. Also, creativity has many forms and it’s not limited to writing or directing. Extending my creative world is an exciting process and I have learnt so very much.

Running Phree for Safety has taught me how creative it is to run a startup. There are so many parallels between the worlds of filmmaking and startups. In both, you’re making your vision a reality – while convincing others that your vision is worth investing in. 

How do you maintain your fire as a storyteller especially when navigating the challenges of being a woman in both the film and literary industries?

It’s not easy but sometimes it’s the only way. The fire is maintained by my constant inner quest to go deeper within. By understanding oneself, one can understand the world. Trauma and pain, not just mine but the world at large, is also a motivator. It’s a relentless pursuit to help love to win. 

Life, in the end, is quite banal. To transcend that, I choose to follow my dreams and intuition. I understood early that life without meaning is a sad life. And while I’m here I have no wish to be sad. So, instead, I celebrate. All this work is a celebration and service.

Outer circumstances that used to weigh me down do not anymore – mostly! This leaves a lot of space to work patiently and wait for the right person(s) to come along. 

Patriarchy is all around us and so one’s very being has to be in opposition to it. One must live one’s belief system. I feel sorry for those who support patriarchy. They must be unhappy and weak to support a system of inequality and dominance. But understanding them only makes it imperative to push back. After all, fear should not rule the world. 

I firmly believe that if we transform the current gender dynamic, we will save Earth and transform human society. We need the yin and yang, shakti and shiva, masculine and feminine to be in balance to sustain a habitable and joyous planet.