On 26 December, Vikalp@Prithvi presents...
BILAL (“story of a little boy growing up with blind parents”)
Shamim and Jharna are both twenty-seven years old and stone blind. They met in a blind school, and fell in love. They got married, despite intense opposition from both families due to their different religions. They now live with Shamim’s mother in a 8 ft by 10ft room in a very poor area of Kolkata.
Shamim had been operating a telephone booth, but recently he lost his job due to the insensitivity of the telecom company and the unscrupulous behaviour of a middleman. Since then he has been struggling to make ends meet and keep his family from begging on the streets. Currently he runs a food canteen in a student’s hostel of a film school located in the outskirts of Kolkata.
Shamim and Jharna have two kids, both with normal vision. Bilal, the older child is two years old, while the younger one is still an infant.
This film is about Bilal and his special relationship with his parents and the world.
Though of a very tender age, Bilal is fully aware of the physical handicap of his parents. He knows how to communicate with them through sounds and touch.
Very unusually for our times, Bilal’s upbringing and care seems to have become a collective responsibility of all the neighbours, and even people with whom Shamim’s family had little contact before Bilal was born now show their concern and care for him. In a way, Bilal has become their window to the world.
Though Bilal is only two years old, he is already beginning to take on the responsibilities of a guardian. It is a curious sight to see the kid, almost a toddler, confidently guide his father on the streets of Kolkata or inside the campus of the film school and Shamim give in to his directions with complete confidence.
The film tries to record, over a period of about a year, Bilal’s interaction with his parents, both at home and outside, to try and capture how it feels to grow up in a special family like theirs.
Note by Director Sourav Sarangi:
On a Saturday evening in 2005, I received a panicky phone call from my wife to organise a hospital bed for an eight-month-old boy Bilal with a serious head injury. I met Bilal in the hospital bed. His life fascinated me. This film made in 2008 is a rough assembly of my moments with Bilal.
The film is not issue-based and I am not trying to resolve a problem. I have just observed Bilal closely.
Awards:
The film has won over 17 awards, including the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award) at the 57th National Film Awards in 2010.
http://bilal.in
Duration: 88 min
Languages: Bengali and Hindi (With English sub-titles)
Screening Details:
On Monday, 26 December, 7 PM
At Prithvi House, Opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, Bombay
Entry Free, On A First-Come-First-Seated Basis
For any queries, email
vikalp.prithvi@gmail.com
