Urban migration may have been a socio-political reality but it seldom finds space in our mainstream discourse. Once upon a time Bimal Roy evocatively dealt with it in “Do Bigha Zamin”. In the late 70s, Muzaffar Ali captured the pain in “Gaman” with Shahryar’s timeless song “Seene Mein Jalan Aankhon Mein Toofan Sa Kyun Hai”. However, for the mainstream it largely remained just a plot point to unleash the angry young man on the rich industrialist and his daughter as the writers and directors were busy delivering poetic justice in three hours.
This week Hansal Mehta’s trying to rediscover the pangs of loss of identity in search of dignity in a big city. His protagonist Deepak, who migrates from a small town in Rajasthan, is not much different from Roy’s Shambhu. If Shambhu drove the rich in his hand-pulled rickshaw, Deepak delivers the black money and drugs of the rich as a security guard. “There is a line in the film where Deepak’s supervisor says that we are running the city but these people are enjoying the ride.” Isn’t it an answer to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s diatribe against the North Indians? “Not on the surface but yes, the audience can draw their inferences,” says Mehta, himself an outsider, who considers Mumbai as his muse now.
An adaptation of “Metro Manila”, the British-Filipino independently produced crime drama which was Britain’s entry at the Academy Award last year in the best foreign language film category; Mehta says the subject is such that it can be adapted in any part of the world. “The whole world is facing this phenomenon.”
The fact that Deepak’s wife gets into a dance bar to make the ends meet, gives an indication of usual trappings of commercial cinema that Vishesh Films, the producer, is identified with these days. But Mehta promises that it doesn’t go the usual way. “In fact the female character is shown to be very strong, at times even stronger than Deepak. Yes, the songs have been included at the behest of the producer because the banner is known for its soulful music. However, it is not used as an excuse. I incorporated the songs in the background after completing the shooting of the film.”
Mehta is not alone. A number of young filmmakers are now dealing with the issue in different ways.
Killa
Debutant Avinash Arun brings the nostalgia of relocation alive through an “experiential film”. “Killa” has recently won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival where according to Arun German kids lapped up the theme of relocation seen through kids. “I feel the more rooted a film is, the more global it becomes. It is a children’s film seen from an adult’s perspective. In a way it is a reflection of my own experiences as a kid where I had to move from the place to another because my father was in a transferrable job. I don’t remember the names of the places but still cherish the little-little experiences I had in various parts of the country. They made me what I am,” notes Arun, adding this also answers the reason behind setting the film in the late ‘90s.
The film captures the experiences of an urban kid when he relocates to a rural setting in Konkan region. “He is surprised with the ferocity with which the kids in the village live their life. Coming from a high density region, he is shocked to see the open spaces and is surprised to see how people deal with the elements of nature…heavy rainfall, total silence, pitch darkness play with his psychology. As time passes, the adjustment leads to attachment and the story gets its moments,” says Arun, an FTII graduate with a diploma in cinematography. He has assisted Anil Mehta and it reflects in the visual tapestry of the film. “This is the reason that I chose to make an experiential film instead of a plot-driven one.”
Arun maintains migration is losing its aspirational appeal even in mainstream cinema. “After the outburst of the angry young man in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the ‘90s sold only dreams to us. That is perhaps the reason music industry was on top in the ‘90s. “Dil Chahta Hai” was the height of the aspirational zeal which happened when economic liberalisation was in full flow. Now the urban audience wants to stop and ponder about the mindless rush for material gains and look back at its roots.” He is right for it reflects in the popularity of Nilesh Misra’s radio show where he narrates nostalgia-laced stories from a fictional town Yaad Shahar.
Talking of roots, Arun says he always wanted to tell the story in Marathi. “I didn’t want it to lose its authenticity just because to reach out to more numbers. Thankfully, Marathi is the only major industry which has not fallen prey to star culture. It was always content rich, now with the new generation of filmmakers, the cinematic craft is also improving.”
Naya Pata
Set against the backdrop of closure of sugar mills in Bihar in the late ‘80s, which led to widespread exodus, Pawan K. Shrivastava, “Naya Pata” tells the story of a migrant. Scheduled to release next month under PVR’s Director’s Rare initiative, Pawan says, “Today there is no issue of isolation. I come from Chhapra and I don’t feel really feel the pain of leaving my village because I can connect with them on a daily basis because of several means of communication but it was not like that in the 80s.”
Pawan, who has made the film through crowd funding over a period of three years, says he is not judging the issue of migration because for some it could be aspirational and for others it could be forced. “What I am trying to capture is the life between two addresses, the lack of sense of belonging and the loss of identity. After spending 25 years in Delhi, when my protagonist returns to his village he finds that things are still the same. He is not really embraced by his people and as his son has migrated to Nasik. In the pain of his daughter-in-law he sees what his wife must have gone through when he shifted to Delhi. He realises that it is a vicious circle.” Pawan says young directors from remote parts of the country could tell these “authentic stories” because cinema is no longer an expensive medium that it used to be. However, Arun underlines that distribution and marketing is still an issue. “Killa” was scheduled to release later this month but now the producers have decided to take another round of festivals to generate interest.
