(Directed by Anand
Patwardhan & Simantini Dhuru)
‘A
Narmada Diary’ is like a river- a river that flows calmly over the ups and
downs of the rugged earth with no complaints and claims. It is like the Narmada
of its glorious days. Whoever came to the banks went back with their eyes full
of green and hearts full of calm. A river has its own language- a language that
only human spirit can understand. It is the language of nature’s care. In the
case of Narmada, it was the language not understood by those who cared only for
their pockets and the wealth of the rich. Narmada Diary speaks the language of
the heart. It immortalizes the cries of a generation, to save a culture, a
lifestyle and a people. Like a poem, it moves through scenes from one
government documentary to another, through the eyes of the camera, swiping
through the pleas for survival and cries for gains. Village after village they
walk, gaining support for the movement. They walk. Speed and technology are
suggested as the sole means of development by the government documentary which
endorses the Narmada Dam Project. The activists, who slowly walk the villages are able to send waves across the globe
and send the World Bank away, thus proving the government’s claim a mere stunt.
Though the documentary never tries to exaggerate facts, facts themselves serve
as great surprises for the viewer. Government never revealed crucial facts
about the indigenous people who would be displaced and never cared for, the
bio-diversity that’s at stake, the ecological crisis that awaits, economical
imbalance it creates, the discrimination it propagates, and the amount of money
it pushes under the carpet. When the camera looks on our behalf into the
conference room of Minsiter Kamal Nath and then returns to the vandalized NBA
office room, the feeling aroused is the same. It is one of silent anger towards
the system. It is a system which conveniently forgets the less privileged and
the less influential, for the sake of the powerful who live away from danger.
The beauty of this film is that it focuses on the plight of the poor and the
arrogant disinterest of the rich and the influential through impartial eyes,
leaving the viewers’ hearts to join sides. The documentary has created such
moments where people sitting in front of their bungalows could talk endlessly
on how others should make big sacrifices to develop the nation. When the camera
spans over the beautiful two storied building owned by the speaker and cuts
into a river side, with a tribal song in the background, the advocate of
development is slapped in his face by the simplicity of the one who has no
place to sleep. We lack a heart that aches for the forgotten. Our age is a
doomed one if it forgets to consider the empty stomachs of a generation who
were chased out of their homeland to provide us with electricity and water.
Such is modernity- it necessarily lacks conscience. It is here ‘A Narmada Diary’ has relevance. It tries
to re-vitalize the conscience of a dead society which drowns its unwanted
elements in a hurry to go farther and further!
Sajit M. Mathews
