Ground Realities

Mumbai-based filmmaker Saurabh Kumar chooses the fiction format to unearth the ground realities of India. In the industry for 10 years,Kumar’s film Handover is based on a true story and has already created a buzz in the film festival circuit. “It’s a film based on Harsh Mander’s article titled ‘Selling One’s Child’,a story that happened in the same place where I come from. It troubled me deeply,and with the held of my friends,producer Ravi Aggarwal of Plus Entertainment and Ishaan Trivedi,I decided to make this film,” says a soft-spoken Kumar,who was in town recently to screen his films at an event by Chandigarh Creative Cinema Circle. Handover revolves around the life of an impoverished Dalit family who,to survive,sell their daughter,but as the news of the sale spreads,they acquire national infamy and prosecution for trafficking. Set in Bihar,the film exposes political greed,police heartlessness,insensitive reporting and abject poverty killing people. “People do not deserve this kind of life,and I feel ashamed of my privileges when I look at them,” says Kumar,who is focused on cinema that is raw,rooted and inspiring.

Jaskiran Kapoor