Watching the farmers protest on the border for the last 60 plus days, a thought crosses my mind that someone, somewhere is already planning a film on the subject. Society has always inspired cinema be it personal betrayals like Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke based on the infamous Nanavati case where the naval officer murdered his wife and her lover (his friend) to bigger tragedies like the bomb blast in Mumbai, portrayed as Black Friday and Mumbai Meri Jaan on the celluloid.
Stories of victimization be it the gang-rape of Sanwari Devi portrayed as Bawandar or Siya Dulari depicted s Lajja have raised social consciousness and initiated a moral debate. Some stories have been aspirational too. If Sai Paranjpye’s Deesha was a tribute to the Maharashtra villager, who spent a life time digging a well in search of water, Shyam Benegal’s Samar saluted the installation of a water pump in Dalit basti of Madhya Pradesh strongly opposed by the upper-caste protest. Pooja Bhatt’s Tamanna talked about a eunuch ostracized for adopting a girl-child and Gadar – Ek Prem Katha was about inter religion marriage during post partition, were all stories inspired from real life.