The Hindu : New Delhi News : A journalist documenting lives

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Monday, Nov 12, 2007
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New Delhi

A journalist documenting lives

Photo: S. Subramanium

Storyteller with a difference: Documentary filmmaker Yasmin Kidwai in New Delhi.

From narrating the history of the game of polo to recapturing the horrors of the Gujarat riots, Yasmin Kidwai has used the medium of documentary films to tell many a story, says Madhur Tankha

She may have written articles for film glossies and produced shows for television, but filmmaker Yasmin Kidwai says the sheer pleasure of making thought-provoking documentaries gives her life a new meaning.

Speaking from the plush confines of her Golf Links home here recently, Yasmin said her latest documentary “Chukker -- Around Polo” is on the history, culture and the passion of polo in the country. “A film with exclusive interviews o f some of the most important historical and contemporary names in polo, ‘Chukker’ weaves together the story and culture of polo in India. The film starts from Ladakh and the Northeastern State of Manipur and then moves to Delhi, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Patiala where the sport epitomises glamour, media excitement, Army honour and faded aristocracy.”

Stating that the film explores the heart and soul of today’s polo by looking at the lives of players whose passion for the sport is simply insatiable, Yasmin says her extensive research for the film was like tracing a family tree.

“I met future and past polo players from across the country. The modern game of polo originated in Manipur and was later organised on a grand scale by the British. I went to Manipur with a big crew but found all the roads closed because of insurgency. It was also a tad too expensive to live there. These days, Jaipur is the cradle of polo and I was fortunate enough to have my film screened at Rambagh Palace Hotel there.”

Behind the glamour and grace of horse and rider is the sport’s reality of endless hard work and struggle. Filmed over a period of four years, “Chukker” was screened at South Asian International Film Festival in New York in October.

The Gujarat carnage in 2002 was a blood-curdling experience for Yasmin, who went to some of the cities and villages of the State where the riots took place.

Narrating some of her nightmarish experiences, Yasmin says she interviewed the man whose wife’s stomach was slit open. “It is too ghastly to even speak about what unfolded in Gujarat. I also interviewed Zahira Sheikh and former super cop K.P.S. Gill. But I couldn’t speak to anyone from the Narendra Modi administration. It was a numbing experience for me, suddenly life seemed so cheap. As I am a mother myself, I could sympathise with a woman who showed me the exact place where her daughter was burnt alive by rioters.”

The film “Borders and Beyond” was made but then came some uncharitable comments from some people in Delhi who thought that Yasmin could empathise with the riot victims as she herself came from the minority community. “They bluntly told me that I made the film about the Gujarat riots because I belong to the Muslim community. Actually, it was not even a riot, but a State-sponsored program against the minority community. I am only a journalist and even if some other community was at the receiving end of such gruesome attacks I would have made a documentary on it.”

Yasmin says she often asks herself why she is not switching to working for a television channel instead of continuing as a documentary filmmaker. “Well, I guess you need a little bit of madness, commitment and passion to be in the business of documentary films. It is economically not as rewarding as television. When I started out as a journalist I was a little curious about people. My friends even now tell me that I ask too many questions. It suits me to be in this profession.”

Stating that she makes a documentary only if the subject moves her emotionally, Yasmin says “Purdah Hai Purdah” breaks the misconception that the “purdah system” was introduced by the Mughals. “Long before the Mughals, women in some parts of the country were covering their faces with veil. While making the film, I came to know that women were covering their faces with veil either due to social pressure or religious reasons. And the purdah system is decreasing in those places where there is economic empowerment.”

Yasmin’s debut short film on Madhya Pradesh won her an IOTA award.

In directing 20 documentaries including “Healing Kutch”, “Family Ties” and “Punjab the Nest Revolution” Yasmin has braved inclement weather, crossed high tide rivers, drunk water with snakes floating in it and literally spent days chasing tigers in the jungle.

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