my uttarakhand news Bureau
Dehradun, 4 Feb: The documentary, ‘Marriage Cops’, made by Shashwati Talukdar and Cheryl Hess was screened at the Doon Library, here, to a packed audience on 3 February. Anil Raturi (former DGP Uttarakhand) was the Chief Guest, with Amit Srivastava, novelist and IPS officer as the discussant.
Marriage Cops is a feature-length observational documentary that goes behind the scenes of the Women’s Helpline, a marriage counselling centre located at the Police Headquarters in Dehradun. The Help Line is helmed by Sub-Inspectors Sandhya Rani and Krishna Jayara, career officers with very different styles. On the other side of the police desk are the couples whose dreams of domestic bliss have gone terribly wrong. Marriage Cops examines and subverts gender stereotypes and marriages in India by focusing on the agency of women in the film. While the environment and society around them continue to be flawed and patriarchal, Indian women are choosing to resolve marital difficulties with methods historically unavailable to them in order to achieve freedom and independence.
Anil Raturi spoke about the necessity of films like ‘Marriage Cops’ that show the reality of police work through a deeply humanistic lens. The reality of policewomen’s lives, who do double duty at work and at home is not something that is seen often in the public. Raturi emphasised the fact that films like Marriage Cops that are cognisant of the suffering that ordinary men and women go through, create a deeper understanding and empathy in society.
Some of the ‘Marriage Cops’ were also at the screening, including Sub-Inspectors Sandhya and Krishna who spoke movingly of their experience at the Helpline. The distress, pain and also sometimes love that they experienced changed their view of police work, and also what it meant to be a person in a relationship.
Marriage Cops had its world premiere in Toronto at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Since then it has screened at: DokFest Munich, Germany 2025 European Premiere; Doc Edge, Auckland, New Zealand 2025 Austroasia Premiere; Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland 2025; Vancouver International Film Festival 2025; Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2025; Watch Doc, Warsaw, Poland 2025; FIPA Doc, Biarritz, France 2026; Big Sky Documentary Festival, 2026 USA Premiere; Doc Edge Singapore, 2026 Asian Premiere.
Shashwati Talukdar, Co-director/Editor, was born and raised in Dehradun. Marriage Cops is her second documentary feature. She began her professional career in New York City as an assistant editor for Michael Moore, and later worked on projects for HBO, BBC, Lifetime, Sundance, and Cablevision. Her films have screened internationally, including at the Busan International Film Festival, the Kiasma Museum of Art in Helsinki, and the Whitney Biennial. Her work has received support from the Asian Cinema Fund in Busan, the Jerome Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Tribeca Foundation, and the India Foundation of the Arts among others. Shashwati has been awarded the James Yee Mentorship Award from the Center for Asian American Media and the Project Involve Fellowship from IFP (Gotham) New York. She has an MFA in Film and Video Arts from Temple University, Philadelphia, and an MA in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She works as a director and editor between Taiwan and India.
Amit Srivastava, the novelist and IPS officer, and Anil Raturi, retired DGP, were exceptional as commentators in the film. Sub-Inspector Sandhya and Krishna spoke very movingly about their time at the Helpline.
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