Moving Images

Ten-year-old Monu loved to play with his friends in the street,didn’t like to complete his homework and loved football. But that’s where the similarities ended. Monu was also a drug addict who would scavenge through garbage so that he could sell off plastic bottles and packets to buy a “tube” — a tube of pasting solvent,easily available at local hardware shops,that Monu would pour in a cloth and sniff on until he was unconscious. He admits this on camera,his voice hoarse with years of substance abuse.

As The Life I Left Behind,a documentary based on the life story of Monu,played at its first screening held at Sri Aurobindo School of Integral Education,Sector 27,a few days ago,it offered a shocking insight into a child’s life scarred by neglect,ignorance and drugs. Produced and directed by city-based filmmaker Sumeer Walia in association with ASHI,Haryana,a NGO working for social health and welfare based at Panchkula,the 22-minute documentary film follows the little boy’s journey through recovery over five months.

“When I met Monu,I was shocked to learn he was a drug addict,” reminisces Walia,who first shot candid videos of him at Ashiana,a children’s home in Panchkula. Through constant touch with the NGO,Walia,who also works as executive director at The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE),Chandigarh,kept track of Monu who was beginning to show a positive change. “That’s when I thought of filming a documentary with an aim to highlight the issue of drug abuse amongst children,” explains Walia.

The documentary has been shot professionally with a sensitive eye. “My friend,American filmmaker Dean Evans,also helped me piece Monu’s story together on camera,” says Walia. There’s no dramatisation and inputs of various people associated with the 10-year-old are put together. “While we and our children are lucky to live a life of comfort,there are many unfortunate yet brilliant children who get sucked into a life of drugs and despair just because of poverty and consequent neglect. I wanted to share Monu’s story as he’s pulled out of such a hopeless situation with love and care,” says Walia. While The Life I Left Behind will be screened for the community at various forums,the director is looking to sending it to film festivals where “Hope” is the theme.