Inside hunger republic
Inside hunger republic
When journalist P. Sainath talks in public—be it in Parliament, addressing political leaders, or to a motley group of Mumbaikars at an auditorium, as shown in Deepa Bhatia’s documentary Nero’s Guests—it is impossible to let the words breeze by. You have to listen, react—even feel guilty. He is an impassioned speaker about India’s agrarian crisis and its unsavoury manifestations. He gesticulates a lot, his voice changes timbre as he describes families who have lost sons and fathers to suicides. He knows how to be heard. One of his friends once told Sainath, and he says this at a public forum filmed by Mehta, “Give us some good news sometimes!"
Mehta records Sainath in the crumbling bamboo huts of farmers who have committed suicide in Vidarbha, on a train where he travels with rural women who are forced to work 12 hours a day as manual labourers, at his home where he preserves reams of papers about—and hundreds of photographs of—people he has met.
There are parts in the film that seem to be there simply to make those who don’t acknowledge the issues Sainath is talking about look small and inhuman. These parts are sweeping, preachy and affected.
But Nero’s Guests is a must-watch. Sainath’s subjects must be heard and seen.
To buy the DVD of Nero’s Guests (Rs500 for individuals and Rs750 for institutions), write to nerosguests@gmail.com
—Sanjukta Sharma
sanjukta.s@livemint.com
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