A drive for arts — the BEST story

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Shuruaat, in many ways, is also symbolic of a small community of filmmakers who have been silently chronicling narratives from daily life. The community of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) employees, right from Class IV employees to officers who now spend hours after their office time discussing, scripting, casting and directing small short films, a few of which have now seen nominations and won international recognition.

Shelar, a Class IV employee, says the idea for his story stuck him as he saw the drama unfold around the 1993 serial blasts judgment. Naturally, he adds, his story had to capture the loss and pain of a person who is a victim of the blast. “It kept playing in my head. I wanted to explore if it really is justice when it comes after so long,” says Shelar.

At BEST, Shelar is not the only one who has chosen a camera to tell stories. Staffers at the old transport behemoth are now part of the short film club, an off-shoot of the BEST culture club that dates back to 1961.

A scroll through short documentaries often pops up a regional movie, The Queen, with three women in different roles — a mother, a wife and a lover — narrating the society’s patriarchal choices. The documentary, borrows its title from the moniker ‘queen’, allegedly used at illegal ultrasound scan centres to indicate sex of the unborn child, often leading to foeticide.

Pramod Surve won a BEST internal award for the movie. His second movie Re-Charge, which essayed mobile phone addiction, won another award.

While the civic transport and electricity provider will soon be releasing advertisements made by their employees, a lesser-known fact about the organisation is the number of artistes and sportsmen it has churned over the years. From the legendary actor Sunil Dutt, who was a bus conductor in BEST, to celebrated comedian Johny Lever, who also worked as a conductor, there have been many in the film industry who were from BEST.

Marathi playwright M L Mayker, actor Madhavi Juvekar, theatre personality Prashant Damle are some of the other names who are still working or have worked with BEST.

“It isn’t just artistes. BEST also has many sportsmen, such like Madhu Patil, a kabaddi player; Vijay Sawant, a powerlifter; and Pradeep Kelkar, a mountaineer. We organise several arts and sports activities. In arts, there are dramatics, music, one-act play and short films, while in sports we organise cricket, athletes, hockey and football matches among other events,” says Manoj Varade, general secretary, arts, of the BEST culture club.

The process of making short films in BEST started recently. The success story of Suresh Shelar inspired others to get into this stream. “Films weren’t something I just watched for entertainment. I would analyse the technical aspects,” recalls Shelar.

During the day, Suresh assists carpenters, welders and plumbers at power stations between Colaba and Mahim. He has spent 19 years in BEST, working in the same department since 1995.

“For me, my job with BEST is only my means to earn a living. I become a filmmaker after 5 pm. My first movie was about same-sex relationship. I borrowed a digital camera for Rs 3,000-4,000 and started shooting. For shooting Shuruaat, it took me a week and I shot it in areas like Bhindi Bazaar, Gateway of India and Borivali etc,” he says.

Shelar joined BEST after his father Motiram retired as a sepoy. His dream is to work with actor Akshaye Khanna. “I have stood outside his house. I am a big fan,” admits Shelar, who likes to introduce a bit of himself in his characters by making his protagonists usually left-handed.

After having taught himself, Shelar has taken on the task of teaching his colleagues filmmaking. With the kind of overwhelming response shown by employees, a separate club has been culled out of the main culture club. “After Shelar won the award, we decided to arrange a lecture-cum-workshop, which included training on handling camera. We even organised a short film competition, which received 22 entries. The employees participating did everything from writing, editing, music and composition.

Issues ranged from female foeticide, eye donation to farmer suicides,” says Varade.

BEST is now busy conducting workshops on make-up and film direction, and plans to hold a workshop on ghazal writing in the coming days. “We are probably the only government organisation in the country or probably in Asia that has taken up such an art initiative for its employees,” adds Varade.

Pramod Surve, who won the internal competition last year, had borrowed the digital camera from a friend to shoot his film. “Queen is about a mother who has lost her husband and daughters. One of her living daughters, who is now pregnant, finds out that she is going to give birth to a girl child. The story revolves around the struggle in the face of her husband’s family asking her to abort the child,” he says, adding that he has sent his films to other festivals also.

Another former employee Prashant Damle, now a known theatre personality, attributes his success to his former workplace as much as to his family. Damle used to work as a typist in BEST. “During your struggling years, the support of your work place is equally important to that of your family. Otherwise, you cannot succeed. I was very lucky to get that,” he says.

Madhu Juekar, who got a job in BEST through the artiste quota, is still working as a clerk at BEST. “The platform created by BEST is different and very necessary as there are many people who have talent but do not have the means to fulfil their dreams,” she says.

BEST is now cashing in on these artistes and sportsmen to improve its own image among people. “If such employees, present or former, become our ambassadors, it is effective marketing for us,” says BEST General Manager Jagdish Patil, who is the president of the culture club. Advertisements featuring former employees like known actors Prashant Damle and Arun Nalawade showcase their travel experiences during their struggling days, while bytes by actor Sonali Kulkarni try to capture how BEST buses are a safe option for women. These advertisements will be shown in the BEST buses.

According to Patil, some BEST employees came up with a short film for National Road Safety Week within a week. “We have great in-house talent. We didn’t need to go anywhere else. Our own employees got together to create an excellent short film for us,” he says.

Another BEST employee recently made an advertisement to show the advantages of paying electricity bills online.

Shelar is now busy making his first full-length feature film in Marathi, Avkaash (Time), a story of interwoven narratives of siblings, a 70-year-old actress who is always cast in a supporting role of a movie even after 40 years in the industry, and struggling actors. To understand the struggle of an actor, Shelar said he didn’t have to go far. He just took BEST buses around suburbs. “I saw it all around me. Boys and girls come to Mumbai every day and a large number of them share accommodation in areas like Andheri, Lokhandwala etc,” he says.

ruhi.bhasin@expressindia.com