The 2001 American camcorder drama Tape, directed by Richard Linklater, will get an Indian adaptation titled How To Not Have Sex, directed by first-time filmmaker Sudharshan Narayanan. The Hindi film stars Aakash Prabhakar, Nishank Verma and Amrita Bagchi. The Hindi screenplay adaptation has been done by Anshulika Dubey, who has also produced the film under the banner Independent Spirit Media.
Most recently, the film became a part of the official selection of the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF). Richard Linklater has also joined the film as an executive producer, along with John Sloss and Stephen Belber. Stephen Belber was the writer of both the screenplay of Tape and his play of the same name. The film’s themes include consent and sex.
Anshulika Dubey, who is nominated for the award for Best Adapted Screenplay at NYIFF, says, “When I first watched Tape, I was struck by how this film explains the concept of consent. The USP of this film is that it places accountability where it belongs—on the perpetrator, not the victim. It was clear this story needed to be retold—this time, for a wider audience, in a society still struggling with sex education. As a woman, I wanted to make this film not just as a retelling, but as a call to reexamine the narratives we accept and the voices we amplify.”
