Malini, a seven-minute Telugu short film, streaming on YouTube, features a meet-cute story between two introverts who take their time to reflect and embark on a journey of love. The storyline and the narrative style are simple and straightforward. Nothing groundbreaking. The real story, however, lies behind the scenes. This is the first short film from Lights, Camera, Women — a Hyderabad-based open networking forum for women aspiring to enter the film industry.

Founded by Navya Nagesh, who worked as an associate director for Telugu films such as Ghaatiand Satyabhama, the collective has more than 250 members from Hyderabad and several others from Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune. 

Entering the film industry in 2021, Navya noticed that there were very few women on film sets and reached out to other women in the industry through social media platforms. “In the last five years, more women have entered the film industry. But there are several others who do not know where to begin. Lights, Camera, Women began as a sisterhood forum where women can network, learn about opportunities, better their craft and understand how to navigate work spaces,” she explains. 

This collective, which is still gathering momentum, is a small step in the right direction when we consider the findings of the O! Womaniya 2025 report, which analysed the women workforce in cinema and streaming platforms.

According to the report, only 13% behind-the-scenes heads of departments in Indian cinema are women. When analysed specifically across languages, Hindi cinema had 24% women HoDs as against a mere 3% in Telugu and Tamil film industries, 2% in Malayalam and the Kannada industry drew a blank.

Lights, Camera, Women was founded a year ago with an Instagram page and members could join the collective’s WhatsApp channel. “We share information about opportunities and connect aspirants to professionals in the industry as interns or associates. Currently we have more members from Telugu cinema, but we also have a few in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi industries. We notify members about submissions for film festivals. This is a safe space where women can interact and get guidance if they feel overwhelmed in the industry. We also have Pitch Circle sessions in which stories can be shared and members give constructive feedback,” adds Navya. 

The community maintained a low profile in its initial stages, gradually stepping up to host online meets in which established female professionals conducted sessions on screenwriting, direction, editing, cinematography and other streams. “Many of our members are also inclined towards visual effects, sound engineering and several other crafts,” says Navya.

Their two recent offline meet-ups in Hyderabad involved workshops by established professionals. While writer Gautami Challagulla, directors Padmavathi Malladi, Sesha Sindhu Rao and Manasa Sharma discussed the basics of screenwriting and the challenges of making the first film, editor Srujana Adusumilli demonstrated editing techniques. Cinematographer Fowzia Fatima, production designer Manisha A Dutt and sound engineer Vandana Ramakrishna discussed their respective crafts while filmmaker and marketing professional Aishwarya Iyer discussed the prerequisites to navigate film workspaces. 

There is no membership fee and the forum is open for all female film aspirants.

(If you are a film aspirant, check the Instagram page @lightcamerawomen)