MIFF 2010 Diary: Children of the Pyre review
It is an old saying: children should not play with fire. One would laugh at the mere sight of this statement at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika in Banaras. Seven children, the youngest nine years and the oldest just fifteen years old spend their lives on the turn of death. Their job is to cremate the dead bodies at the busiest cremation ground in India. Where normal average kids would spend their childhood playing with rubber balls and cricket bats, these kids play a kind of game with their bamboo sticks making sure that a dead body is burning as it should on the ferocious funeral pyre.
The place plays host to around 150 cremations per day. The director Rajesh Jala gives us a firsthand insight into the lives of these seven kids. Constantly abused and treated as outcasts these kids have a common social standing on the lowermost strata. It is indeed ironical to see the fact that such a magnanimous task of setting alight a flame to an old person is assigned to such innocent kids who have hardly seen life and cannot comprehend the serious nature of the situation they are in.
The camera is candid. Capturing these kids not only playing with flames but also their constant struggle to get shrouds from the dead bodies and then sell them for hardly any money is an experience. Stealing shrouds is the second job they are engaged in. Innocently looking for them in view to sell them and fill their stomachs is something which they are forced to do. The lens follows them closely as they are exposed to situations where they are being given death threats by people many times their age for attempting to steal the shrouds. They are not strangers when it comes to abuses and words of disgust thrown at them. ‘Untouchables’ they are called.
They find their solace in smoking ganja. Escaping the reality for a short time, keeps them in a relaxed state of mind. As the cigarette smoke mixes with the fiery smoke, they are back to work as every five minutes a new dead body arrives. The sun during summer proves to be a sworn enemy. With scorching heat of above 50 degrees, these kids, dehydrated and exhausted clamber to do their job, out of sheer forced circumstances which give them an only chance to do pecuniary tasks for their stomachs.
The one on one question and answers captured are worth praise. Highlighting their innocence and yet establishing the fact that their minds are hardened by the locale. One says that the presidents of India is Mayawati, while the other claims that he has a crush on one of the boy’s sister, one explains his dreams of being a doctor while the other shuns out dreams and faces the fact that he only has to cremate bodies for the rest of his life.
It is a film exposing child labour at its worst. A place where these kids are exploited, beaten up, slapped and pushed around is a revelation as bright as the burning fire to the naïve eye. A sensitive story captured by brilliant images this documentary is one to extol. A must watch.
(1 vote)
