Whether formally crowned or dethroned, Rani is a leader. She’s taken many forms in the past – a rebel, a recluse, a reformer. She rehabilitates & rejuvenates. She is the source of love & life but is sometimes voiceless & unseen. Rani is equal parts romance & revolt; leadership & lore. There is no doubt that she captures popular imagination.

It is within this context that Rani, that age-old figure of power has existed within & despite frameworks of inequality and injustice that continue to haunt our realities, is provocative as we reclaim the power of the vernacular and its historic status, as well as wistful, in terms of both what was and what can be. In Urdu, Rani is the Queen Regent, not one who lays claim or usurps but rather one from whom energy & strength flows outward. She is the life force and feminine energy of the earth. In South Asian idiom, Rani evokes many images and forms: from Raat ki Rani (a fragrant night blooming jasmine) to Bitya Rani (a daughter who is the Queen of her parents’ heart) to Jhansi ki Rani (a powerful historic figure who played an important role in defying colonial powers), she is the matriarch as well as the romantic female form in poetry, art and songs.

Equally, the theme shines lights on thousands of invisible & forgotten women in our country. Ranis in their life-giving and nurturing status but underappreciated & uncredited for their profound influence on family & community life. Too many women have historically been excluded from the mainstream & to continue to paint a picture of the world in which they are not centered does us all a disservice. By curating this festival theme, we want to actively participate in the act of documenting, giving voice and visibility to & creating a new narrative around who ‘counts’ and what power looks like.