Manjuben has broken the gender stereotypes, which are part of the social landscapes she inhabits. She has created an identity for herself against social, cultural & economic odds. Manjuben’s passion for driving and love of danger has fueled her professional choice of being a truck driver and running her own successful transport company in rural Gujarat. This places her in the public culture of the highways of India and this public invariably like all others is not only patriarchal but also an exclusive male-domain. Through all this she conducts herself in a strikingly unself- conscious manner. Her identity of a male macho trucker is drawn from several popular notions of maleness as is evident when we flip through years of her life and journey, looking at the highly stylized studio portraits of herself that she commissions. This betel nut chewing, cross-dressing businesswoman, hangs out with the boys and comes home to a girlfriend and a family who call her ‘big Daddy’.
Sherna Dastur
Sherna Dastur was born in 1971, a graduate of the National Ins- titute of Design, Ahmedabad, specialized on video art and techniques. Filmography: ‘Manjuben the Truck Driver’ (2002), ‘Safdar Hashmi’(2000), ‘Rah Bahari’ (Those Outside the Path, 1997), ‘Latur – An Epilogue’ (1996),‘Jungle Bolta Hai’ (Voices of the Jungle, 1994).
General sponsor
Manjuben the Truck Driver
India
2002, 52', color, video
Directed by:
Sherna Dastur
Cinematography:
Mohanan
Edited by:
Lalitha Krishna
Producer:
Sehjo Singh
Produced by:
Indie Films
