The rising waters of the Bay of Bengal offer the perfect backdrop to the bustling Visakhapatnam harbour. Fisherwomen with weather-beaten faces are hard at work, collecting and sorting the catch, before they set out on their market rounds. These women, often underpaid or unpaid, make up nearly 60% of the workforce in the booming seafood industry, and a new documentary attempts to shine the spotlight on them.
The Invisible Hands by young filmmaker siblings Shrinkhla and Shrayansh Pandey is the inspiring story of fisherwoman G. Ratna who opened a food truck with five other women from her fishing colony. The nearly nine-minute-long documentary won the third prize at a short film competition conducted by International Association for Women in the Seafood Industry (WSI). WSI is a Paris-based not-for-profit created in 2016 by a team of seafood professionals and gender issues specialists from across the world.
The film was showcased at international conferences in Thailand and Spain, and will also be screened in France at the International Film Festival of Fisherfolks from the World this month.
The award-winning filmmaker siblings Shrinkhla and Shrayansh Pandey.
“The documentary is an ode to the women in the Visakhapatnam fish trade. They have empowered the industry with their significant efforts in support activities like unloading the catch from fishing vessels, and selling, drying and transporting fish. They are the invisible hands,” says 28-year-old Shrinkhla, a management graduate. The film was shot with a basic Nikon D3100 camera and took about 20 days to complete. “The most challenging part was making Ratna understand the significant role she is playing in spearheading change,” says 25-year old Shrayansh, who recently completed his B.Tech from GITAM University in Visakhapatnam.
Ratna comes from a fishing colony in Mangamaripeta, and has two sons. In the documentary, she talks about the hardships faced by fishermen like her husband who set out for sea before the break of dawn. The narrative sets the tone for a story of everyday struggle and unpredictability that is the life of the fisherfolk. Ratna talks of the times when her husband could not go to work because of an impending cyclone, about how the children could not be sent to school because there was no money for fees.
The turning point in her life comes in the form of a red food truck called the Fish Nutri Cart. Stationed on Beach Road, this is where Ratna and her team today whip up prawn pakodas, fish balls, and fried pomfret and mackerel. They set up the stall in 2017 with a ₹10 lakh grant from the Andhra Pradesh government and the help of activist Arjilli Dasu.
The film ends by capturing the sea change in the lives of the women. Each of them today takes home ₹8,000 a month. “It is running well so far. We have requested the government to give us another van for other locations like Bheemunipatnam or Rushikonda,” says a visibly elated Ratna. Her joy turns into pride when she talks about her children: “My elder son is a marine engineering student in Madurai, and the younger one is in Class XI,” she says.
nivedita.ganguly@thehindu.co.in
