By Hema Vaishnavi:
The dawn of the 21st century has seen filmmakers in a new light, redefining their genres, using them as a tool for raising consciousness and social change and instilling in people a sense of responsibility. These are the makers of the new age Indian documentary films. Early documentary films were single-shot moments captured on film: a train entering a station, a boat docking or factory workers leaving for work. The very definition of a ‘documentary film’ today has undergone a sea-change, thanks to the extraordinary films with a message that appeals to the masses. The makers of today have used this medium to send social messages across.
Red Ant Dream (Maati Ke Laal)
Directed by an independent filmmaker, Sanjay Kak, this film is based on the revolutionary Maoist movement in India. It deals with the issue of Maoist insurgency in the country. The film mainly focuses on the Maoists of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, tribals fighting against industrialists in Niyamgiri in Odisha, and protesters acting in memory of the Leftist revolutionary Bhagat Singh in Punjab. In essence, the film portrays the emotions and struggles of those who believe that they are being oppressed.
Children Of The Pyre
Directed by Rajesh S. Jala, ‘Children of the Pyre’ is a real-life, self-narrative of seven extraordinary children who make their living out of the dead, as they work at the busiest cremation grounds of Manikarniaka, Varanasi. They collect, snatch or steal used shrouds and sell them for petty amounts to make their ends meet. Gaining strength from the adversaries, learning from the stark realities, the innocent kids weave through the pyres and struggle through disdain in this land of the dead. The film explores the lives of these children who are exploited beyond the limits of one’s conscience, as it gives a sneak-peek into the human reality of the ghats of Varanasi.
I Can Love Too
Directed by Mrinmoy Bhowmick, ‘I can Love Too,’ deals with the issues and concerns of specially-abled persons, their need and desire for love and finding a partner. The film portrays the picture of these people and their plight in today’s society, the manner in which they are deprived of basic human courtesy, equal job opportunities, and also when it comes to matter of finding a life partner. The film runs through the lives of different individuals from a different category of disability who represent the fact that the challenged community, mostly neglected, has all right and existence in this society.
Jareena, Portrait Of A Hijda
Directed by Prem Kalliat, this film explores the life of a transsexual and her community in the city of Bangalore. It tries to give an insight into the life of the Hijdas, a society of eunuchs numbering in the tens of thousands who have thrived in India for centuries as male prostitutes. This film provides evidence to the fact that, Hijdas like Jareena, face an identity crisis and how they’re lost in this superficial world. The documentary tells the story of Jareena who was forced to assume the role of a man when she visits her family, explains this duality and how the Hijdas help her come over her identity crisis, and give her an entity.
Seeds Of Plenty, Seeds Of Sorrow
Directed by Manjira Datta, this documentary, talks about the highly touted Green Revolution in India. The much hyped Green Revolution is credited with ensuring that countries like India do not suffer from the scourge of hunger and famine anymore. Through this film, the director asks thought provoking questions that are in dire need of strategic answers. Who has been the principal beneficiary of the biotech package? The poor peasant? The big farmer? The multinational corporation? And what damage has the Green Revolution done to the social structure and ecologies of Third World countries? The film attempts to show the off-side or the darker side of a supposed development strategy that was deemed to be successful. It reveals a darker, more problematic side to the Green Revolution. In India it has helped create a new serf class and the dramatic crop yields of the early years have fallen away in the wake of pesticide poisoning and short-lived miracle wheat strains.
The World Before Her
Directed by Nisha Pahuja, the film explores two mutually exclusive yet startlingly similar worlds of the women in India; the biggest beauty pageant vis-a-vis the women’s wing of Hindu fundamentalist movement in India. ‘The World Before Her’ creates a lively, provocative portrait of the world’s largest democracy at a critical transitional moment. The film tells us the stories of the young women determined to win the crown and the forces that oppose them. If that’s one part of the story, another part tells us the story of Durga Vahini, a youth leader who is willing to die for her beliefs despite the oddities that she faces being a woman of marriageable age. These young women may represent opposing extremes but in their hearts they share a common dream: to help shape the future of India as she meets the world before her.
Mindscapes Of Love And Longing
Directed by, Arun Chadha, this film deals with the sexuality of people with disabilities and the manner they are marred with misconceptions, prejudices and myths. The narrative follows these people as they negotiate widely-held biological, medical, social and cultural beliefs and try to claim their sexual rights as individuals with varying physical disabilities. This issues of identity crisis, self-respect and sexual discrepancy of such people is dealt with. The film attempts to deconstruct the disability and sexuality debate by exploring the lives of those affected few by providing them platform to voice their opinions and the kind of choices they have made as they come to terms with their physical and sexual selves.
The Holy Wives
Directed by Ritesh Sharma, the film explores the lives of three different communities who have been victimized in the name of caste based sexual exploitation in India through stories of their life, struggle and dreams of a dignified life for their children. A few decades ago, women from certain castes were made wives of God in some parts of India. Today, despite the ban on such systems, the practice prevails and these women are often forced into prostitution, sexual violence and mental torture. The film documents the life of a woman who is raped in the name of tradition even before she could understand the meaning of sex and the impoverished life that she leads till death.
Gulabi Gang
Directed by Nishitha Jain, this film explores the daily lives of the fiery women of the Gulabi Gang, who empower themselves in order to fight against gender violence, caste oppression and widespread corruption. The film traces the journey of Sampat Pal, a movement that grew from an individual crusade to snowball into a veritable one comprising of large number of women of the Gulabi Gang. The film shows how the society has become a patriarchal one, wherein even female psyche is embedded with the thoughts of patriarchy as it refuses to speak the language of feminism. The film shows that the struggle for women’s freedom is long and a tiresome one.
Powerless
Directed by Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar, the film talks about the problems of power cuts and electricity shortages in the city of Kanpur. The story unfolds as the film depicts the happenings during a summer when power crisis plagues the city and it gets wired into a conflict. In a city with 15 hour power cuts, hundreds of people risk their lives to steal electricity. With the first female chief of the electricity company vowing to eliminate all illegal connections, the lines are drawn for a battle over electricity. For most people, flicking on a light switch is a mindless daily routine, but the makers of the film say that the characters featured in the film find it more like a class warfare and one that risks boiling over into a nationwide conflict.