Taboo no longer
Bringing light to issues that are usually hush-hushed about, Shanuki de Alwis and Shifani Reffai are the creators behind the popular online talkshow
Shifani Reffai. Pix by Priyantha Wickramarachchi
Shanuki de Alwis
‘Shhh Talkshow’ that has been creating waves on social media by lifting the veil behind social stigmas and topics that are not openly discussed.
Just having wrapped up Season One last November, the talkshow which aired their pilot episode on Youtube, titled ‘A Buddhist, A Christian, A Muslim…’ on June 14, 2019 has garnerned the attention of people both locally and globally. The straight-cut, open conversation between Shanuki and usually two other hosts has reached out to a lot of people and inspired them to be more open about the tough topics most people tend to avoid.
“Actually, Shanuki had already been thinking of a talkshow for women and I have always been dreaming about a Sri Lankan show for women especially because I couldn’t think of who would run it and who would be the face for it,” shares Shifani on how they grew to become a YouTube channel with over 2.43K subscribes and that excludes the shows other social media platforms.
Shifani explains that things began to flourish after Shanuki reached out to her with the idea.
“I don’t have technical expertise but I know I can talk like there’s no tomorrow. I don’t know the whole film-making thing because I am a writer and not a film-maker. I am not a visual story-teller but I knew she had done that kind of thing. I also knew that her style would work as she had the passion for it and I reached out to her,” shares Shanuki on how they both contribute to the show and why they make a good team.
Having known each for around 10 years and being in the same social circles, led them to becoming friends and knowing that each other were the right partner. They both knew that the passion for the project had to be there, from both the face of the show and the face behind the camera.
If the story isn’t told properly or if the story wasn’t captured right, the content would not have interested its viewers. Both of us had the same objective of creating a show where women would feel safe and women could talk freely about things they are told not to talk about. We had that goal in common and we wanted to make it about women and about the integrity of that issue that women don’t have a space to talk about things,” Shifani tells us . The two of them (being quite cynical, they add) didn’t have much expectations for the show and were alright with it not catching the right lift as long as they were able to start giving a voice for women somewhere.
However, the response was so overwhelmingly good, that it boomed suddenly and grew. There were a lot of people who wanted them to tell them more and they did. From religion, LGBTQ topics, the flipside of motherhood, menstruation and body positivity, Shanuki and Shifani have touched on quite a few taboos that have been encountered by women. The taboos that have been swept under the carpet and the ones women have been told to ignore such as child molestation, mental health and divorce. “Our thing was that every time someone goes through something they are scared to talk about it and because they don’t talk about it, they don’t know that there is someone else out there who has gone through it as well,” Shanuki explains.
Adding that there is a stigma many Sri Lankans have with reaching out to people and how they wish to break those walls down as everybody needs somebody to talk to especially in situations where one is brought up in traditions where one never airs dirty laundry and not to bring shame on the family by talking about such problems, Shanuki and Shifani hope to change that culture with their platform — and they are.
There was never a question of whether they wanted to put out their content as they felt what they brought to light was an important conversation to be having. Using their connections and friends, they got a pretty solid lineup of hosts for Season One and will continue to do so for Season 2 that is planned to be released in lieu of International Women’s Day in March. They are aiming to be inclusive with hosts by talking about topics that all genders, races and ethnicities face as well as provide Sinhala and Tamil subtitles.
Check out their work on the YouTube Channel with the handle – Shhh Talkshow and on Facebook and Instagram -@talkabouttaboos.