Nicolas Jaoul

La Chapelle neighbourhood, Paris. Hundreds of exiled people from East Africa survive on the streets, chased violently by the police, yet seeking to defend their rights as asylum seekers. Some months later, having finally obtained their rightful housing, two Sudanese young men return to the sites where they first landed and talk about their arrival in Paris during this agitation.

Shot in Uttar Pradesh in the late 1990s just after the BSP lost political power and the BJP took over, Sangharsh takes us deep into the lifeworld of Dalit Panther activists in the state. By following three activists, one is taken on a rough trip in the slums and villages of Kanpur region, where these characters are determined to continue spreading the revolutionary messages of Ambedkar, come what may despite the backlash, and in a creative way. It is an emotional journey into the urge to struggle in order to assert one's humanity, when humiliation, exploitation and violence remain always around the corner.