Journalism of Courage
When the dialogues of the documentary In The Name Of God,reverberated in and beyond the premises of Mhaskoba temple in Veer village,60 kilometers from Pune,some of the youth outside amplified the volume of the Hindi numbers to stifle them. Mottled with Gulaal and brimming with devotees,the place was celebrating Navratri in full swing that evening while a nook of the temple had the screening going on with a temporary projector. Although the place was significantly crowded with devotees from neighboring villages visiting the popular temple,not many turned up for the screening,not even those who were seen on screen.
For filmmaker Rohit Pawar,who was consistently threatened,beaten up once and also had a local villager as a bodyguard each time he went to the village,the assemblage of fewer people during the screening was not a surprise.The viewing marked the end of his two-yearlong efforts and the beginning of the signs of a change. Having shot the documentary amidst severe opposition and constant disruptions,capturing all that he claims is never accessible to an outsider,he was just glad that the film was being allowed to be shown. The 30-minute documentary revolves around Navratri in Veer primarily focusing on the women of the Kolati Community and showing the misdemeanor of the men towards the women during the festival.
Kolati is a community in Maharashtra that has been performing the Tamasha folk art form. This is our art,bread and butter since neither do we get jobs nor do we own lands. We do it for the God,the misbehavior of men is a part and we have grown immune to it after so many years, says Yamuna Mali,oldest of the dancers as she holds the CD in her hand.
And just as they say that there are talks among the villagers of treating these women more decently and restrictions on flinging money,touching and so on,a group of men drives away a group of women who have come to see it during the screening. Though the effort is laudable on the part of Pawar one can’t help but think that it’s going to be one long span of time before things chnage at Veer.
