'Vishwa Hindu parishad trains girls to hate Muslims and Christians'

PANAJI: The people in the Vishwa Hindu parishad (VHP) are "not monstrous, but their teachings to young girls are problematic", says Nisha Pahuja, maker of the documentary 'The world fefore her', based on the right-wing organization.
"The people in the VHP are like all of us. But some of their teachings are problematic as they teach them to hate Christians and Muslims. They have so much of love for the country, which I like, but it is complicated.Their message is one of hatred," Pahuja said. Her documentary provides a peak into a training centre where the VHP disseminates its ideology and trains girls in self-defense.
Pahuja said that it took her two years to get access the training centre and win the trust of the VHP to shoot the film. "After interacting with members of the VHP at different levels, they finally trusted me enough to let me into the training centre. But they wanted me to portray them in favourable light," she said.
The Canada-based filmmaker said that there was no pressure on her to make her film in VHP's favour or not to portray them in poor light. "I did feel insecure every now and then when I was interacting with VHP leaders," Pahuja admitted.
Her film also provides an insight into the lives of women training for the Miss India pageant and brings out the contrast in between them and the VHP trainees. "My original idea was to see the changes in India post-liberalization and the role of women. I wanted to show it through women who participate in the Miss India beauty pageant. But then I came across this strong woman training with VHP and I decided to make the film showing the contrasting ideologies of these two women," Pahuja said.