Accident “Hamaal”
There has to be a strong reason or a cause for me to type in some lines.I think this is the opportune time for to do so again.The moment I delay my urge to write,I lose all the impetus.Something has been bothering me at the back of my mind for the past few days.
Its been almost a year since I have started working.My work makes me travel by Mumbai suburban local trains.Every morning I board a train from Bandra Station and head towards Thane which includes changing at Dadar Station.It used to be a daunting task changing trains.A complete mindfuck even to think about it forget being in the process of doing it.A year down the line I did not expect that this mindfuck would to turn so addictive.A lot of people in this city would be sharing the same addiction.
I tend to feel vulnerable while traveling by suburban local trains.Chances of being alive is lesser when one commutes by the local train.I shall back it up with statitics.On an average 8 people lose their lives every day on the tracks.Co-incidently one of the Engilsh dailies was carrying these statistics on its front page.It is intimidating.
I have seen dead bodies along the tracks.The very sight makes me lose my bearings.It cannot get more graphic than this.Those vivid images haunt you for a while.If you had a bad day,it may just haunt you a bit longer.Lingering long enough to assure that you could be next or it could have been you.Almost everyday,there would be a blaring announcement calling upon accident “hamaals” and station doctors.These “hamaals’ are the people who carry the dead or the injured.What a thankless job!These are the guys who bring dignity to a sudden death or stir up some hope for the injured.It may be a regular job for the “hamaals” .
I have an urge to document the life of a “hamaal” .It could get a bit depressive but the urge to understand their stoic pysche overpowers any other emotion in me.Its a tough job seeking permissions to shoot on tracks and railway platforms but I feel its worth an effort.I am not aware of anyone who has attempted to make a documentary on the “hamaals” .
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
doc or narrative?
well doc would be better..anyday..