Meryl Streep to attend US premiere of ‘India’s Daughter’ today

Amidst the ham-handed 'sarkari' ban in India, the BBC documentary 'India's Daughter', depicting the aftermath of the brutal gang-rape and murder of a woman in India's capital Delhi in 2012, will be premiered in the US today.

The premiere will be attended by Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep and Frieda Pinto in a show of support for the film banned in India. Thanks to the ham-handed Indian ban, the screens are likely to see bigger audiences than it would otherwise attract.

Meanwhile, the parents of 'Nirbhaya', as the unnamed victim of the heinous crime has been dubbed by sections of the media, now say that the filmmaker did not show them the final version of the documentary, and they had then refused to sign release papers.

The parents had earlier also objected to the documentary being aired as it not only makes the victim's name public but also includes offensive remarks made by one of the rape convicts.

The US premier of the documentary Storyville: India's daughter will take place at the Baruch College of the City University of New York here and will be presented by NGO Vital Voices Global Partnership and children's development organisation - Plan International.

Streep and Pinto, who is Plan's 'Because I am a Girl' global ambassador, will be joined by the documentary's director Leslee Udwin at the screening.

Udwin, a Plan ambassador, had said the December 2012 rape and the protests that followed was an "Arab spring for gender equality''.

"What impelled me to leave my husband and two children for two years while I made the film in India was not so much the horror of the rape as the inspiring and extraordinary eruption on the streets. A cry of 'enough is enough'.''

Udwin had added, "Unprecedented numbers of ordinary men and women, day after day, faced a ferocious government crackdown that included tear gas, baton charges and water cannon. They were protesting for my rights and the rights of all women. That gives me optimism. I can't recall another country having done that in my lifetime."

The documentary, which was premiered in the UK on 4 March, will be screened in countries across the globe - including Switzerland, Norway and Canada - to mark International Women's Day. It has, however, been banned in India (See: NDTV shows black screen to protest ban on India's Daughter)