BORDERLANDS: Human Stories Beyond Frontiers
A writer from Mumbai, India
Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Samarth Mahajan worked in a high-profile job with ITC in Kolkata. But the desire to bridge India’s growing socioeconomic divide and explore the narratives of marginalized people led him to his calling. His first feature-length documentary, The Unreserved, examined the lives and struggles of train passengers who travel in general compartments. It was conferred with a National Award for Best Non-Feature Film Audiography in 2018.
A Different Perspective on Border Life
Samarth grew up in the Indian border town of Dinanagar, Punjab and stayed there for the first 17 years of his life before joining IIT Kharagpur for graduation in mechanical engineering. The idea for his latest documentary feature, Borderlands, stemmed from his experiences of being raised close to the Indo-Pak border, and the myopic perception of mainstream society towards these regions. Samarth and his team — consisting of his producer Ashay; editor Anadi; cinematographer Omkar and associate director Nupur Agrawal — had to extensively research the borders, plan the filming schedule and work around logistics. The production cost was levied by a crowdfunding programme (via Wishberry Foundation). The documentary had its world premiere at DOK.fest Munchen in May, before being screened virtually as part of the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF, June 4-13).
Borderlands puts the spotlight on six individuals whose lives have been impacted by borders, not just physical but emotional as well. Samarth adopts an unconventional approach to present their stories. Instead of exploring one story in its entirety and moving on to another, the filmmaker briefly introduces each individual residing in different regions. After we’ve had a glimpse into their lives, the vignettes are revisited and explored in detail to provide a holistic perspective of these people and their conflict-ridden existence. This method of storytelling proves to be effective as it evokes curiosity in the viewer to know more about the characters. Additionally, the frequent interspersion of background music on the dotara injects zest into the screenplay and is supplemented by the lone song “Aami Tomake” which ensures to lift spirits and end the documentary on a positive note.
Rebuilding Connection
Out of the six diverse portraits, Samarth exposes the malice of human trafficking through snippets of two girls on opposite ends of the spectrum. Kavita, residing in Birgunj, Nepal, is employed to prevent human trafficking at the Nepal-India border check-post. Whereas, Noor from Bangladesh is a victim of trafficking who was sold by her maternal aunt in Kolkata. She has been rescued by the police and is now in a shelter home for girls. It is here that she fell in love with a female inmate. Noor hopes to marry her and return to her hometown in Bangladesh one day. The longing to connect with family runs deep in another Bangladeshi lady named Dhauli who was married off to a Bengali man in the Indian border town of Nargaon. Once every year at the “Milan Mela”, she gets to see her siblings across the other side of the fence and experiences happiness in exchanging gifts with them through the barbed wires.
In comparison, Deepa, a vivacious teenager from Pakistan appears luckier. She migrated with her family to Jodhpur and feels India is safer for women than her native country. But starting life afresh in a new land has been challenging. During the transit period of waiting for her school certificates to reach India from Pakistan, she was constantly worried that her parents might get her married. Adjusting to education in Hindi from Urdu and Sindhi has been tough for her. She dreams of becoming a nurse in the future and until then happiness seems far away to her. Ironically, it is Deepa who adds a dash of humor to the documentary with her enactment of a mock treatment. This endearingly funny scene brings the makers in front of the camera as Samarth role-plays as the husband, while the associate director Nupur plays his pregnant wife in labour pain.
The remaining two individuals of Borderlands have origins on the Indian side of the border. One is Surjakanta, a filmmaker from Imphal, whose films showcase the freedom movement of revolutionaries fighting for an independent state of Manipur. He has trained many young filmmakers in Manipur and hopes that after his death, stories of the Manipuri people will continue to be told. The other story is a deeply personal one for Samarth as it entails his mother Rekha in Dinanagar. In a heartrending moment, Rekha breaks down while revealing to her son that she feels lonely and hurt when he doesn’t respond to her calls or messages. By venting out her feelings and expressing her thoughts to Samarth, Rekha manages to dissolve the emotional frontier between them.
Conclusion
Perhaps for a documentary of this nature, it is only fitting that no editing transitions have been deployed to demarcate the stories. The six lives have been woven together seamlessly to symbolize the continuum of life and inseparability of human agency. As for the physical frontiers between nations, Dhauli‘s words of wisdom encapsulate the sanguine message of the documentary: Fences can divide lands but cannot divide hearts!
What do you think? What are your favorite documentaries on borders? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Watch Borderlands
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