Form of words:
In The atmosphere of debate over citizenship, fueled by NRC exercise Assam and the question of ‘patriotism’ on them india pakistan match, Limit A documentary that is powerful in its lack of linguism and its need to stick to melodrama.
LimitDirected by Samarth Mahajan, was screened and world-premiered at the 2020 Cannes Film Market International Documentarfilm Festival München (Munich International Documentary Film Festival). one of the stories of the documentary, which is now premier Online at the ongoing Dharamsala International Film Festival in India, the protagonist begins with Deepa, an old, all-in-one notebook, scribblings from a farewell party and bones in a human body. The Notebook is a microcosm that presents the documentary – a mosaic of six stories that delve into themes of alienation, remembrance, longing, displacement and hope. The film’s 30-year-old director allows the subjects to speak, without forcing them to fit into our imagination of what border conflict and survival look like in 21st century India.
The 67-minute documentary, produced by All Things Small and Camera & Shorts, spans five languages and six locations – Imphal, Nargaon, Kolkata, Birgunj, Dinanagar and Jodhpur. The film is also deeply personal. Mahajan was born and spent the first 17 years of his life in Dinanagar, a city in Punjab bordering Pakistan. Maybe that’s why the story is less about the borders and more about the people who live in those places.
Read also: Dev Anand’s Prem Pujari talks about patriotism like no other Bollywood film
border violence
for the watching generation border (1999) and regular news of the ceasefire, the popular media has become our reference point for understanding life around borders. But those with experiences of living in border areas interact with the violence of political disputes between countries every day.
In places far from borders, this is an international issue. It is a “us versus them” dichotomy. But those who live close to the borders have lived a reality that is far more complex. It’s not black and white.
Amitabh Ghosh writes, “People like my grandmother, who have no home but memory, learn to be very skilled in the art of remembering.” the shadow lines, This thought seems to resonate everywhere Limit – How does one remember places that were ‘once home’, alive? Dhauli, one of the people on display, says, “I understood that I had to live with my husband.” The marriage itself inspired him to cross the border with Bangladesh. It is not the separation of lovers, but the ‘duty’ of the wife that compelled Dhauli to join her husband in Nargaon, West Bengal. But it comes with the cost of not being able to meet their families, who move geographically to another country despite living only a few meters away.
Mahajan says that he wanted to look beyond the singular understanding of violence and focus on the structural aspect, one of which is the story of Dhauli unable to meet his family. There are more stories of terrorist violence, be it terror attacks Lashkar-e-Taiba Who killed others as well as the person who was the go-to’Chole bhature‘ person for Mahajan’s own family Dinanagar in 2015 Violence is inevitable, but it has its layers, and Limit Curious about those layers.
Read also: As we mark Kargil victory, Hindustan Ki Kasam tells us not to satirize Pakistan
Her Story
Over the years, women’s voices in political events have gained momentum. The ‘personal’ is slowly moving towards being recognized as the ‘political’ and women’s stories are making their way. The stories of Kavita, Noor, Deepa, Dhauli and Rekha in Borderlands serve as anchors of this message. Each story is filled with violence, some of which may not even seem like it unless you are a woman – as life is to obey your father’s or husband’s wishes. Others, such as Noor being trafficked and assaulted and awaiting repatriation as she lives in a shelter home in Kolkata, reflect what gender-related violence is.
Limit Makes sure its musical themes bring nuance to the table. While Kavita struggles with a leg disability, who also makes sure everyone in her school remembers her; Rekha’s life revolves around the monotony in a border town. The poem’s story symbolizes vigil on the Indo-Nepal border, a “friendly border” unlike the India-Pakistan border or the India-Bangladesh border. Nevertheless, the so-called “friendly border” is also a site. Human trafficking on a large scale.
Limit Allows its subjects to speak in the language they are comfortable with. And it allows for deep, tender conversations about love and loss – whether it’s Noor’s love for another woman, or Deepa, who lives in a Pakistani expatriate settlement outside Jodhpur, how she would act if If she can practice nursing in India, she will take care of the patients.
Read also: border dispute? Let’s make it irrelevant without changing boundaries: Shivshankar Menon
art beyond borders and politics
In the popular imagination, or even in the context of direct political violence, Kashmir often becomes the place where duality is expressed, depending on which country you support.
In Limit, the fictional story of Surajkanta fills in for a legend from Kashmir. A sequence of Surajkanta’s story between two brothers – one a “rebel”, and the other a Manipuri – is reminiscent of a similar conversation from Mahajan’s own documentary Unreserved (2017), where a Kashmiri man talks about a fight with his army brother. The 2017 film, which documented the lives of passengers in the unreserved compartment of trains, won the Best Audiography Award at the 65th National Film Awards held on 3 May 2018.
Manipur has its own history of assimilation and through the Inner Line Permit echoes the ‘us-vs-them’ mentality. It also shares an international border with Myanmar and has its own history of the Anglo-Manipur War. Art, however, allows stories to emerge that do not always find a place in mainland news. art allows subjects to speak without hegemony, and both Limit And Surajkanta’s own stories are a medium for these unique voices to speak to us.
Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)
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