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By:

Shoma A. Chatterji

21 August 2024 at 4:19:40 pm

Childhood for Sale

Khilawadi, a short fiction film directed by the young and sprightly Shobhita Thakur, alumnus of the FTII, Pune, is making news wherever the film is being screened. Why? The subject of the film is shocking in its inhuman brutality. Through a brief but powerful narrative, the film tells the story of the 12-year-old Sapna who is good in studies and dreams of becoming a doctor one day. The term “Khilawadi” is a locally used word associated with the Banchada community in Western Madhya Pradesh,...

Childhood for Sale

Khilawadi, a short fiction film directed by the young and sprightly Shobhita Thakur, alumnus of the FTII, Pune, is making news wherever the film is being screened. Why? The subject of the film is shocking in its inhuman brutality. Through a brief but powerful narrative, the film tells the story of the 12-year-old Sapna who is good in studies and dreams of becoming a doctor one day. The term “Khilawadi” is a locally used word associated with the Banchada community in Western Madhya Pradesh, particularly in the Neemuch-Mandsaur region. The word is believed to have evolved within the local dialects as a descriptive label for women employed in sex work, especially those living along or near major highways. Over time, strangely, the changes in social customs, in media technology, in traditional rituals, have not affected the age-old custom of putting daughters to prostitution the minute they reach puberty. Therefore, the term “khilawadi” has become an informal, locally used word associated with the Banchada community used rather pejoratively to refer to girls or women from the community who engage in highway-based prostitution, a practice historically linked to complex socio-economic and caste-based circumstances within the region. The term carries social stigma and reflects structural inequalities faced by the Banchada community. “We could not shoot in the actual location because we were told that it would be dangerous for the team to shoot there. So, we shot several kilometers away at a different location to keep the rural spirit of the topic intact. As a woman filmmaker and an artist, I feel compelled to tell this story of unimaginable suffering and exploitation of young girls. This film is not just a reflection of their pain, but a call for social change, urging society to recognize and address this persistent injustice,” says the director. The film uses a raw, unembellished cinematic style that highlights the stark realities of their lives. It opens in the classroom of a girls’ school. We are introduced to the 12-year-old Sapna. On her way back, she waits outside the window of the community health centre in the area to watch the lady doctor at work. The lady doctor beckons her inside and asks her why she is waiting at the window. Sapna asks her whether she can become a doctor like her. But when she is asked by the teacher what she wants to become when she grows up, a giggling classmate mocks her saying, “She can only become a dhandhewali - a vulgarized term for one who sells one’s body for money.” Sapna belongs to the Banchada tribe and while her mother, a prostitute herself, plans to sell her to prostitution planning to make some money from the “nath utharna” ritual, a traditional term for the first night, the price for the first night’s customer who gets the right to strip the girl of her virginity. The doctor however, takes the help of a social worker to get a caste certificate for Sapna which will convince her mother to continue her education as she will be entitled to a scholarship for her further education. But all attempts at getting a caste certificate come to naught and while the mother sits in front of the highway for customers in vain as she is ageing, she also prepares for Sapna’s initiation into the profession. Strangely, the males in this community extract huge dowries when they get married though they are practically pimping and their wives are drawn from communities other than the Banchada community and they do not practice prostitution. The entire family then begins to live off the daughter’s earnings. When Sapna fails to get a caste certificate, she is forcibly prepared for the nuptial night and the first customer who pays Rs.10,000 is a middle-aged man. The film closes on the figure of a crying Sapna squatting on the floor after the first night, while the camera pans to focus on the bed and captures the image of an ointment Sapna’s mother gave her to prevent from the first night turning into a torture of pain. The film is aesthetically well-crafted with beautiful cinematography, good music and above everything else, brilliant piece of acting by every single actor. The film is currently on its international festival circuit, having won major awards at the FascinAsian Film Festival (Canada) and been officially selected for the Kazan International Film Festival and Festival du Film de Nancy in France. (The writer is an award-winning film scholar and author of several books.)

AI in Sperm Sorting: An Unbiased Decision for A Better Outcome

Artificial Intelligence or AI is revolutionising fertility treatments of the future. The inclusion of AI enhances the accuracy, efficiency, and objectivity of sperm selection, hence potentially improving fertility outcomes by leaps and bounds. Traditionally, sperm sorting through manual methods is subjective to judgments. Processes like centrifugation and swim-up methods are used to separate sperm based on motility and morphology. Although they are effective, they have their limitations, leading to human errors that affect the success rates of fertility treatment. For instance, studies have shown that traditional sperm sorting techniques can have variability in success rates, with reported live birth rates ranging between 15 per cent to 25 per cent per cycle depending on the method and quality of sperm. Hence the introduction of AI helps in maintaining consistency in evaluations of sperm, using the same data set for every sample which leads to better judgments.


Automation and Standardisation- Automation of sperm selection and also introduction of AI in the process have improved the results in ART. AI-assisted sperm selection improves the accuracy in choosing high-quality sperm for fertilisation purposes, and also, pregnancy and live birth rates might be improved. Technologies like Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection along with AI ensure the chances of pregnancies increase by about 10-20 per cent compared to the standard procedures. AI and Automation will decrease time taken to analyze sperm and increase opportunities to select better sperm with DNA integrity for better development and higher success rates in embryo selection. These processes ensure that the sperm selection process follows consistent criteria, reducing variability in outcomes caused by human error.


Analysing Complex Data for Better Outcomes- AI plays a crucial in improving IVF outcomes by analysing complex data and providing tailored recommendations. AI-driven tools and models such as those on SpOvum.ai point towards an opportunity to optimise ovarian stimulation decisions by assessing patient characteristics and follicle growth patterns. A study revealed that the use of AI in IVF improved egg yield and reduced medication costs. AI enables fertility specialists to make data-driven choices, improving overall IVF success rates and streamlining treatment processes.


Reducing Human Error- AI models can continuously learn and refine their performance by being trained on newer data. This adaptability ensures the technology remains unbiased and up-to-date with the latest scientific insights into sperm quality and fertility success rates. Studies have shown that AI-driven sperm sorting can decrease human-related errors by up to 25 per cent, improving sperm selection quality in terms of morphology and motility.


Reduction of Sperm Damage- The new AI-driven sperm sorting techniques also include microfluidic systems that are known to exhibit several advantages over the most commonly used conventional method, which is centrifugation. Traditional centrifugation methods, such as density gradient centrifugation, also cause severe oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation of the sperm because of the very high mechanical forces involved. The AI-infused microfluidic sorting minimises this damage significantly by involving gentler processes that mimic the natural pathway of sperm selection. The studies show that the process of microfluidic sorting decreases DNA fragmentation in sperm, which gives improved opportunities for success for IVF. For example, DNA fragmentation is 20 percent lower in sperm sorted using microfluidic processes than in traditional processing methods.


AI is bound to play an increasingly definitive role in fertility treatments, which will improve the outcomes for couples experiencing infertility.


(The author is a Co-Founder & CEO at SpOvum® Technologies. Views personal.)

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