‘The reality punch harder to
conscience if you have closed your eyes and ears for long and suddenly you face
it close to close as it is…uncovered in its striking and shocking side of life
questioning itself.’
No, this is not some quote but
exactly my state of mind after watching this documentary. The documentary hit
me so hard that all those Italian Neorealist tearjerkers that I’ve watched till
day seem too mild. The reason is quite genuine- it’s authentic, direct, striking
and features the everyday survival reality of underprivileged citizens of
enigma named India .
The film was made on India ’s
business metro- Bombay ,
where behind all those rising modern skyline & archives of Victorian gothic
buildings of the city, almost half of its population survives under striking
reality and plight of being a slum dweller. It shows us the ratlike life
pulping in ugliness of those large shanty slums full of squalor and sadness and
a story to move your conscience. These are your everyday helpers in form of
construction workers, roadside thelawala, domestic servants, industrial
laborers and many things more devoid of all sorts of daily utilities from
water, sanitation or electricity.
The film portrays the demolition
drive of slums backed by cops and municipal corporation based on SC’s order.
The rehabilitation or legitimate shelter of the underprivileged remains an
infinite illusion when nexus between politicians, municipal corporation &
builder lobby concern only for one another’s interests. With forced eviction
drive the dispossessed slum dwellers surviving on pavements and footpath. The
footage of interviews with many of this slum dwellers made us realized their
everyday horror and tragedy of life. Contrast to slum dwellers, the film also
captures the high society’s views about the underprivileged. It also shows
Government’s rigid and ridiculous census & population policy for the city
that remained the hub of India ’s
urbanization. Patwardhan’s moving camera captures punching irony and hypocrisy through
images juxtaposed with what those glorious officers stating as rule of law. In
private air conditioned halls of business class of Indian Merchants Chamber, we
witness the felicitation of the members who successfully manage to remove the encroachment
of public places. As shanty squalor of slums which from long tarnishing the
image of the city to the world, there were two men who became poster boys of
media, business houses and progress. Then Police Comiisioner J F Ribeiro and Municipal
Comissioner D M Sukthankar’s eviction drive mission that made multiple
headlines in its time.
The film managed to capture the
humane side of the whole unlikely reality of Bombay ’s poverty and slum dwelling. The images speak volume of irony here on the face of
world’s largest democracy where the engraved equality of constitution rocks are
just another filthy joke played on injustice and misery of the children
of lesser Gods.
No comments:
Post a Comment