Film
Sunya Anko
Abhijit Ghosh-Dastidar
Gautam Ghose’s ‘‘Sunya
Anko–Act Zero’’ (Bengali, Colour, 143 mins) offers a rich combination of prosperity of city dwellers, the deprived of forest lands, and interwoven story telling. Divided in about ten tableaux stretching from Act One to Act Zero, the film weaves an elegant structure of political thriller, with topical issues. Agni Bose (Priyanshu Chatterjee), Senior Corporate Executive and his wife, Jhilik (Priyanka Bose) are proceeding to Kolkata airport, in a hurry. A girl, busy talking on the mobile, collides with the car. Driver Jugal and Jhilik take the injured girl to a hospital. There is tension in Agni’s office, and he is flying to Ranchi to visit a tribal area, where his company proposes setting up a bauxite mine. In the forest lands full of indigenous people, Raka (Kankana Sen Sharma) with camera is interviewing locals, with the help of an educated local activist (Arijit Dutt). A tribal girl Tula states that she is running the family as her husband is in jail. Tribal women carry chopped wood on their heads, fetching scarcely any income, even as forests are depleted. Bauxite reserves have caught the attention of merchant banking, and cash offers were rising in the New York stock exchange.
Company officials hold a meeting with the local leaders, in the presence of the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police. Besides the destruction of forests the sacred hill of a tribal deity was threatened. There are promises of a tunnel, which will not destroy environment. The press people arrive, and the District Collector explains global tenders, in a global economy and environment friendly displacement. Raka quarries if rich inhabitants would be displaced from the big cities for mineral wealth. There are Maoist squads in mineral rich forests. A friendship develops between Raka and Agni, sitting besides the swimming pool of a city hotel, Raka tries to persuade Agni to keep the bauxite mine project on hold.
PWG activism and fake encounters continue. Agni’s elder brother, Pavan was shot by police on the streets, some years ago. Memory brings back the mother (Locket Chatterjee) screaming. Raka and Agni have tea by the roadside in tribal area, Jagdalpur. A girl in shabby clothes, clutching a mobile phone, begs for money. There are fears that Maoists could infiltrate the agitation by about 3000 unarmed local tribals.
Agni takes leave from the Bidhangiri Mining Operations, and proceeds to Manali, with wife, Jhilik. Raka continues with investigative journalism, into Maoist corridors, inside tribal land. Frequently she speaks to Agni, on the mobile phone. Agni and Jhilik are guests in the house of Dr Chowdhury (Soumitra Chatterjee) and his wife Laila (Lolita Chatterjee). There are panoramic views of Manali under snow. Dr Chowdhury is a scientist, who believes in the unity of all religions, and is working on an internet war against weapons projects. Laila, a devout Muslim, is under psychological disorders, whenever memories of her departed son, Dara revive. Dara was a journalist, a BBC stringer to be precise, shot by security forces in the Kashmir Valley, on suspicions of being a Muslim terrorist. Inside tribal areas, Dr Probal Roy (Dhritiman Chatterjee), a doctor runs a Jamgri Health Centre. He has findings on chronic malnutrition and alarmingly low body mass index. The tribal areas have a long history of tribal revolts against landlords and colonialism. Tribals hold rifles.
Security forces enter houses for searches. Guns, bullets and forces fail to frighten cadres. As Dr Roy gives a talk on Dr Ambedkar’s right to education, to villagers, security forces disrupt the class room. Women are allowed to leave. A tribal girl, Savitri shoots a police informer and a constable. A perfect shot. Maybe a right way to empower women in a situation of occupation. Act Nine is full of the sound of grenades and guns and landmine blasts. Dr Roy is arrested, a bus is blasted, and the injured are removed from the overturned bus. Raka is at the casualty site. Corporate Chief Executive (Barun Chanda) promises schools, health centres, Power and additional subsidies for TV entertainment and co-operative movement. Raka is killed during a combing operation in the plains. Politically conscious people could easily identify by the recent happenings in Niyamgiri, Dantewada and junglemahal of eastern India, ‘Operation Green Hunt’, ‘Binayak Sen Episode’ and tribal resistance in Central India under the leadership of the Maoists.
The political backdrop, Nature’s wealth, the deprived aboriginal inhabitants and the indifferences of the prosperous city bred gather a pulpy profundity in spite of the film’s outlook and urgent story telling. Gautam Ghose’s film sympathises deeply with the dispossessed, but sketches neurotic love making and stereo types. The film is strikingly shot and has a basic compulsiveness. The action scenes are competently staged. Certain facts based encounters between state violence and militant violence are chilling, but prove a meagre source of drama. The screen characters are perfect for their roles. Ghose’s self indulgent camera has a certain intensity, though tending to become static in fixed frame situations. The title cards announcing every Act achieve a certain amount of distancing, but a surfeit of Rabindrasangeet, pop songs, poetry and prose readings disrupt attempts at hyper real reportage.
Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 32, February 17-23, 2013
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