Stark frames
|
Filmmaker Amudhan's documentaries screened recently by Vikalp-Films for Freedom capture the dehumanising work of the Indian dalits
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"Shamelessly shot,
edited, produced
and directed by
Amudhan R.P."
scrolls up in the credits in
"Vande Mataram - A Shit
Version" and "Shit". Stark
facts and realities about the
brutal 5000-year-old Indian
caste system essay Maduraibased
documentary filmmaker
Amudhan Ramalingam
Pushpam's documentaries,
screened recently by Vikalp-
Films for Freedom at the Centre
for Film and Drama.
As "Vande Mataram - A
Shit Version", A.R. Rahman's
version builds up to a pitch
there are brief moments capturing
the humiliating and dehumanising
work of India's
dalits. From manual scavengers
in the garbage, sanitary
and crematorium setups,
quick snippets with startling
facts about the employees of
the Madurai Municipal Corporation
(MMC) make up this
visually-telling documentary.
"Shit" follows the individual
story of manual scavenger
and dalit Mariyammal who is
also employed with the MMC.
And as the camera follows her
on her daily work of cleaning
human excreta, ironically on a
street known as Temple
Street, adjacent to a temple,
she shares her degrading journey
of 25 years with the Corporation.
She cleans the shit,
bending over like how someone
would serve food on banana
leaves at a typical Indian
function. And as she becomes
more comfortable with the
camera, she is able to challenge
and rightfully threaten
those who shamelessly choose
to line the street with their
excreta, despite community
toilets.
"The Road" is another short
documentary filming the displacement
and usurpation of
land and housing that the National
Highways Development
Programme (NHDP). Lost livelihoods,
identity and belongings
mark this ironical
road to development, which
provide no access to nearby
villages and make travelling
dangerous for villagers.
"Night Life" is a poetic attempt
to capture a homeless
woman sleeping on the divider
in blurring shots in the fastforward
mode. While "Notes
from a Crematoriam" yet
again films the unhealthy profession
of manual scavenging
in MMC a crematorium, cruel
and harsh facts about discrimination,
death and the poignant
song of "Where is the
poor and the king/Where is
the intellectual and the idiot/
Only place in the world where
you'll find reconciliation"
rings in your mind.
"Seruppu" (Footwear) captures
the pathetic condition of
the Catholic Arundhatiyars of
Dharmanathapuram in Tiruchirappalli
in Tamilnadu who
make footwear.
As caste-based discrimination
persists in Tamil Nadu,
neither the Church nor the
Constitution takes responsibility
for the centuries-old situation
of these dalits. And as
an Arundhatiyar remarks: "It
is an ad that people are
suffering."
R.P. Amudhan's documentaries
are simple and straightforward.
They do not use
sophisticated camera shots to
highlight the state and position
of dalits today. Their apparent
situation is captured in
the work they do and the lives
they still lead, 5,000 years
thence.
AYESHA MATTHAN
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