#communal divide

[vicky-nanjappa]

Murder of BJP leaders in Bharuch aimed at striking terror, creating communal divide

Murder of BJP leaders in Bharuch aimed at striking terror, creating communal divide

New Delhi, July 28: The National Investigation Agency has framed charges against 10 persons in connection with the Bharuch double murder conspiracy case. The NIA says that murder of two Hindu leaders at Bharuch was carried out to strike terror in the minds of the people.

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[kerception]

A Billion Colour Story

image source: thamarai.com 

     Filmmaker Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy is a self-proclaimed poet and through his first foray into feature filmmaking, we see the strokes of his poetry and lyrics, as they gently guide this beautifully humane tale towards its idealistic sunset in the horizon. In a world that is steeped in strife and difference, perhaps you don’t need loud, boastful or even argumentative rhetoric to make a point. And what is the point? .. that we should all respect other humans and not judge or be hateful based on primarily human made differences of religion, ethnicity, social status and the like? I know that’s a little too simplistic, but that’s the simple and lyrical A Billion Colour Story.

     Set on the colorful (the film is all in black and white) canvas of what is contemporary India: from its festivals, to the music, the food, the Diwali sweets and the lights that scatter throughout the length of breadth of it's bustling cities, towns and villages, A Billion Colour Story is life in contemporary India seen through the world of an idealistic, agnostic, man Imran Aziz (actor Gaurav Sharma), born in a Muslim Family. He is brilliantly supported by his Hindu wife Parvathi (actor Vasuki Sunkavalli) and their eleven-year-old son Hari Aziz (brilliantly played with Dhruva Padmakumar), whose voice over brings comfort and maturity throughout the narrative. Imran and Parvathi are filmmakers/screenwriters, who came back to India after having studied in Australia for a few years, where they met. The two marry and we meet them, as they are in the thick of making a movie. Their religious background is important, as the film speaks to the absurdity that is religious/communal strife. Narasimhamurthy smartly makes us privy to the two protagonists’ religious leanings (lack thereof), making their suffering even more ridiculous. 

      The financing for their film is somewhat rocky and they are not sure if they’ll be able to finish it. Before things can improve, they start to get worse. They have to sell their home to pour money into the movie. This sets them on an apartment search, where they are constantly reminded that they are in a mixed marriage. Growing up in India, I thought inter-caste marriage was a challenge; and while things have gotten better, the perils of ignorance and deeply rooted prejudices make it impossible for inter-religious marriages to escape the ere of one's family, community, society, workspace everyone.

     The film attempts to place itself in the constantly deteriorating status of things in India. While most of it has been attributed to the new dispensation, however, I believe that a change in government or the top-down approach may be a catalyst for how things happen, but is never the cause. The hatred that people demonstrate is rooted somewhere in our psyches. The fear of something else, someone else, the “Other” is what plays out in every facet of our lives. 

      As Imran battles to find a home and find money to make his film, Pravathi continues to be his rock. Parvathi is both serene, resilient and oftentimes the pragmatic one of the two.

     Outside of the brilliant performances of the two actors, Hari is the soul of the film. A critical eye may find imperfections, as they exist in everything, but an eleven year old boy’s lens into his parents’ life was sheer genius. 

     The film asks us these fundamental questions: what kind of world do we want to live in? Do we want to deny people a place to live, hate them just because we don’t agree with them, or they don’t look like us, speak our languages, or whatever other reason of difference we can conjure up?

     A Billion Colour Story must be watched for not just its humanity, but the idealistic redemption that Imran undergoes, no matter the extent of his tragedy. 

     Kudos to the filmmaker, who didn’t just make me cry twice over, but also made me realize that idealism isn’t lost, can’t be lost...or else our existence on this planet would be more directionless than ever.