Who Will Bake the Bread?

Set in a rural household of Rajasthan, ‘Who will bake the bread?’ is a film about Santosh. A husband to Roopa and an elder son to Ranjeet, Santosh is a character trapped in the conventional ideas of patriarchy and masculinity. He’s constantly reminded of his failures and unworthiness by his father. Contrary to his father’s belief system of keeping the women housebound, he wants to support his wife Roopa, to go for her last chance at a government job exam. The film explores the ideas of patriarchy and how it propagates from one generation to another through father to son relationship. The film is a forthright portrayal of the everyday struggles of women in Rajasthan as well as the whole of society raising the concerns of inequality, wrongful ideas of manhood and the various sections where man and women both are oppressed due to patriarchal practices.

The film is an exploration of patriarchy, how it propagates from one generation to Another. It comes from my effort to tell stories about gender inequality, how the system of patriarchy affects both the men and women. I intend to express this through a father-son relationship where men are conditioned to seek validation from their own father’s in order to feel worthy of themselves. The consequence of toxic masculinity is that it affects women the most and they become the ultimate victim of the system. I hope to create more conversations about these issues among both men and women.