Shelly J. Morais was keen on making a feature film but when he discovered that reality was stranger than fiction, he decided to make a non-fiction documentary. “The story I was writing was on refugees who had to cross a river to reach safety. But mid-way through, they are trapped in a boat and become a people with no place to call their own. That was around the time I happened to read more about the Rohingyas. Their plight was almost similar to what I was trying to convey through my film. That is when I decided to make a documentary on the lives of the Rohingya refugees in India and in other countries in the Indian sub-continent,” says Shelley, a native of Pulluvila, Thiruvananthapuram.
A visual communication graduate from Loyola College, Shelly’s destination has always been cinema though, at present, his focus is on his documentary, Invisible Banks . To capture their story, Shelly has been travelling, doing research and talking to some of the refugees living in camps in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
Shelly J. Morais (middle) on the sets of the film
“It was not easy to gain access to the refugees. Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with Maung Abdul Khan, a Rohingya working closely with the refugees, and Ubais Sainuladulbin, a Malayali from Nemom, who is providing the refugees with legal help in Delhi,” he says.
Identity crisis
Through the story of eight-year-old Jannutara and 29-year-old Maung Abdul Khan, Invisible Banks, explores the extent and depth of loss suffered by the people in search of a sanctuary to put down roots. Jannutara lives with her family in a garbage dump on the outskirts of Delhi and does not have much of a future to look to as she does not go to school and lives in the fear of being deported any day. Maung’s family is still in Myanmar and while he is in touch with them, he wonders if he would ever be able to meet them again. His sense of isolation, uncertainty and angst is magnified as he is trapped in an identity crisis.
“More than 65 million people are caught in the middle of a crisis. Their homeland does not seem to want them while even the countries they flee to are trying to throw them out. Among the refugees are farmers, entrepreneurs and professionals. Most of them would like to return to their homeland. But, more than that, now all of them have only one wish: to be allowed to lead their lives away from the shadow of the gun,” Shelly adds.
Displaced in three countries in the sub-continent, the Rohingyas also face a great deal of discrimination in the places they have been permitted to stay.
“The hapless refugees have also been at the receiving end of false Whatsapp messages and fake news on social media. They have little or no education and they come from an extremely conservative patriarchal set-up where the women seldom go to school. I am trying to throw light on the man-made wounds of religion and belief,” he says.
Poster of the documentary Invisible Banks
The youngster recalls his dismay when he found the dismal conditions of the camps in which the refugees were housed without proper food, sanitation or ever shelter. “While I was talking to one of the members of the refugee camps, a question was thrown to me and it clung to my conscience ever since. ‘Why are we referred to as refugees while you are still called a human being? How do we cease to become human beings even though we are refugees?’” says a statement in Shelly’s project statement.
Shelley’s multi-track narrative proceeds along three trails: the situation of the Rohingyas in the Rakhain state of Myanmar, the camp in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh and the Indian cities of New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mathura and Jammu. Produced by Haiku and Trivi Arts Concern, the film, says the director, will follow the protagonists for three years. He wants to shoot in Myanmar and Bangladesh as well. As of now, those involved in the film has been spending from their pockets. Shelly will open up the film for crowdfunding on July 20.
Check www.invisiblebanksmovie.com
