Womb on Rent Synopsis
An impoverished but spirited mother of three decides to rent her womb for income, embarking upon a roller coaster of emotions at the heart of an economized medical procedure: surrogacy.
Womb On Rent was an official selection of the 2016 WVN Online Film Festival and was the recipient of the Leslie J. Sacks Grand Prize and Audience Choice award in the Documentary Feature category.
Watch Ishani K. Dutta’s acceptance speech for the Grand Prize Award (2016).
About the Filmmaker
Ishani K. Dutta has been making films for almost two decades. Before her work as a filmmaker, she was a media researcher with the Indian Institute of Mass Communications. She joined IIMC after completing her post-graduation in English Literature.
Ishani’s inspiration for making Womb on Rent was to uncover the murky underbelly of the surrogacy industry in India. She sees documentaries as a key medium for communicating and inspiring social, cultural, and environmental change.
She finds it a great medium to spur perception change, increase awareness of India’s rich cultural and historical heritage, and inspire a new generation by empowering them with knowledge about India and its relation with the world.
Ishani founded Carrot Communications in early 2000 and, today, Carrot is proud to be associated with leading corporate houses, NGOs, and the government sector.
Ishani’s recent projects include Black Pepper White Pepper – Stories from the Trenches, for the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India. She was Series Director on Adolescent Heroes from all over India for UNICEF & DOORDARSHAN, and Series Director on Natural Resource Management for NABARD & GIZ, India.
She is also an integral part of the Concept Research Direction of the following Documentaries: Interrupted – Child Rape in India (Research & Production Stage), Trans Formation – Story of Trans woman Amitva Sarkar, and Manufacturing Terror – Story of Aamir Khan.
She plans to make a sequel of Womb on Rent with the same character.
