Mirage

Free as a bird. To wander. To nestle. To take flight. We are not. As India gained its much awaited independence in 1947, a race faced another struggle. Bengal was divided and hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were displaced and divided on the basis of their religion. The Hindus were forced out as East Bengal was made a part of Pakistan and the same fate lay in store for the Muslims of West Bengal. Millions became refugees in their own homeland, and thousands still bear the cross and the scar. The film is a human saga of a truncated land and how people are trying to relive their destiny.

Bokul, a fourth generation manual labour worker, works in a bone crushing factory in the middle of Kolkata's largest dump yard. He is oblivious to his struggles and makes the best of his life in his world. Unbeknownst to him, the world outside is rapidly changing and making space for a new economic boom. His world being traded for a recreational park.

The narrative in Parikrama travels through multiple spaces and times, through parallel experiences of its twin protagonists that criss-cross each other, though they come from worlds apart. Alessandro is an Italian writer-filmmaker making a film on Narmada Parikrama, an age-old pilgrimage along the holy river Narmada. In the course of his cinematic journey, Alessandro meets a village boy, Lala, who fled home to secure dignity and land for his displaced peasant family. Lala is almost the same age as his son Francesco, who lost his mother in the recent past. The narrative unfolds the story of two boys, one without his mother, the other without his motherland. Alessandro’s narrative takes a new turn as the river Narmada flows by.

It is a story of two strangers, perpetually on the fringes of survival. They share a journey and meet a third person carrying an ailing old couple in his vehicle. Endangering their own survival, the three fight it out to save precious human lives.