‘Tomorrow We Disappear’ captures a sad tale
Venkat Raman –
Governments the world over are being chastised for not allowing the ‘requisite freedom’ for the private sector to grow and become a true partner in economic progress but what happens if an administration falls short of its duty will be evident at the forthcoming International Documentary Edge Film Festival.
The Festival will run at the Q Theatre in Auckland from May 20 to June 1, 2015 and at Roxy Cinema in Wellington from June 3 to 14, 2015.
The Documentary Edge Film Festival, which marks its tenth anniversary this year, is Australasia’s premiere international documentary film festival.
Truly tragic
‘Tomorrow we Disappear’ will undoubtedly be a talking subject of the Festival, for it will bring to the fore not only an end of a residential colony, and worse a community of performers who have stayed in the area for more than half a century
Perhaps their stay was illegal but the government should have made alternative arrangements for their living.
The film depicts ‘Kathputli Colony,’ with all the makings of a slum, including its putrid canals. It depicts children climbing on drooping electrical wires, construction cranes and an ever-expanding metro-line loom on the horizon.
Fading traditions
But Kathputli is a place of fading traditions. For more than 50 years, about 2800 artiste families have called its narrow alleyways home; there are jugglers and acrobats, puppeteers and painters, folk singers and magicians, many of whom are well-respected artists in India and abroad.
In 2009, the New Delhi government sold Kathputli to developers for a fraction of its worth. The land is to be bulldozed to make room for the city’s first-ever skyscraper, ‘The Raheja Phoenix.’
Fighting puppeteer
‘Tomorrow we Disappear’ unravels the life of three talented performers of Kathputli.
Puran Bhatt learned puppetry from his late father, Manoram, the first President of the Kathputli Colony. Puran grew up to become one of India’s most talented puppeteers.
He has travelled to more than 25 countries to perform his puppet acts, and in 2003, the Indian President honored him with the prestigious National Award for Traditional Arts.
But as plans for the colony’s redevelopment are unveiled, Puran sets to work fighting the government’s scheme. He writes letters to the government, marches a giant protest parade with 15-foot puppets through the busy streets of Delhi, and argues with poorer members of the community who want to sign away the rights to the Kathputli land in the hopes of getting allotted flats.
Gruesome magician
Rahman Shah heads to the street every morning to perform a comedic and gruesome magic show. Policemen force bribes from him, and with his income dwindling, he wrestles with whether to pass his family’s traditions onto his two young sons who idolise him. When he sees the plan for Kathputli’s redevelopment, Rahman ignores the pleas of his friend Puran and contemplates a future beyond Delhi.
Fearless Performer
Maya Pawar prepares to stand up on the tightrope, as children from the colony gather to watch. She is a fearless performer who feels that Kathputli needs to change.
She hates the colony’s grime, its mistreatment of women, and her endless run-ins with artists broken from years of unfulfilled promises. Maya looks toward the relocation with optimism because she believes it will force the artists to either modernise or move on.
The story begins with the fate of thousands of marginalised performers in Delhi.
The film chronicles a turning point in the lives of these performers, with the hopes of anticipating what has to come in India’s future and preserving what is being left behind.
Tickets online
Tickets for the Auckland festival are on sale now at http://www.qtheatre.co.nz/, while tickets for Wellington can be purchased at http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/
Photo :
A scene from ‘Tomorrow We Disappear’
