Saturday August 29, 2009, NagpurA young farmer dies in the arms of his friend. The friend screams Nandyaa. The wife, the son, the mother, sister, everyone starts crying. Another family loses their only earning member to farm debt, this time on reel life.
At a time when almost half of the country is battling drought and the lives of farmers across the nation is in question, zooming in on just how a family survives after their earning member commits suicide is a Marathi film running to packed houses in Vidarbha region.
'Goshth Chhoti, Dongraa Evadhi--A Small Story, as Small as a Mountain--is a recent Marathi release making headlines, as much for its story on farm suicides, as for bringing the farmers of Vidarbha region to the multiplexes.
One such man is Maruti Kambli, whose son Devendra killed himself last Diwali.
"He killed himself over a debt of Rs 23,000. Had he been given a government loan, he wouldn't have gone to a moneylender. He would have been alive today," Kambli said.
In the film, the hero abducts the agriculture minister and makes him witness their misery. But in reality, no minister found time to visit the Kamblis. They got no compensation because technically Devendra was not a farmer since he had no land to his name. His widow is now a daily wage labourer and the only earning member of the family.
According to Shyam Pethkar, a journalist, "We urban people consider the farmer a very small being. If he is dying, so be it. He must be crazy or drunk."
For Shyam, the story is a factual narration of a problem, as complex and self-contradictory as the title of the movie.
However, as art imitates life, for the people of Vidarbha, the film has struck an eerie connection and they have been coming literally for every show.
At a time when almost half of the country is battling drought and the lives of farmers across the nation is in question, zooming in on just how a family survives after their earning member commits suicide is a Marathi film running to packed houses in Vidarbha region.
'Goshth Chhoti, Dongraa Evadhi--A Small Story, as Small as a Mountain--is a recent Marathi release making headlines, as much for its story on farm suicides, as for bringing the farmers of Vidarbha region to the multiplexes.
One such man is Maruti Kambli, whose son Devendra killed himself last Diwali.
"He killed himself over a debt of Rs 23,000. Had he been given a government loan, he wouldn't have gone to a moneylender. He would have been alive today," Kambli said.
In the film, the hero abducts the agriculture minister and makes him witness their misery. But in reality, no minister found time to visit the Kamblis. They got no compensation because technically Devendra was not a farmer since he had no land to his name. His widow is now a daily wage labourer and the only earning member of the family.
According to Shyam Pethkar, a journalist, "We urban people consider the farmer a very small being. If he is dying, so be it. He must be crazy or drunk."
For Shyam, the story is a factual narration of a problem, as complex and self-contradictory as the title of the movie.
However, as art imitates life, for the people of Vidarbha, the film has struck an eerie connection and they have been coming literally for every show.
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