‘I've always been interested in women's lives and stories’
I never knew boxing was such an important sport for some women in India. How did you find out about this?
Ameesha Joshi: I discovered them randomly when I was at a World Press Photo exhibit in Montreal in 2005. I saw a photograph of a woman practising and I was intrigued. I thought to myself, “There are women boxers in India?”
After that, I did some research. There was next to nothing about them on the internet, but I did find out they were some of the top boxers in the world!
When did you realize you had to make a movie about this? What spoke to you about this project?
AJ: I actually went to India later that year for a family trip. I was there for a month, and I told my mom, “I can’t explain it, but I just need to find and meet them.”
So I went to Chennai to see these women training in person and get a sense of what they were like. I thought, this film has to be made. I came back to Montreal and shared this with Anna, who agreed.
Anna Sarkissian: I've always been interested in women's lives and stories, so I was really excited to help with the project once Ameesha told me about it. We found out there would be a world championship in Delhi in 2006, so we booked last-minute flights to go document the competition. It was the best decision we could have made.