Naata

The Bond

English, 2003, 45 Mins.
Produced by the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
www.cmcs.tiss.edu Enquiries: sales.cmcs[AT]tiss.edu

Directed by KP Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro

Naata is about Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan, two activists and friends, who have been involved in conflict resolution, working with neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi, Mumbai, reputedly, the largest ’slum’ in Asia. This film explores their work, which has included the collective production and use of visual media for ethnic amity.
Waqar and Bhau’s work raises several uncomfortable questions for the filmmakers, so-called modern, middle-class, secular, urban beings. Naata juxtaposes the multi-layered narrative on Dharavi and the ’stories’ of the filmmakers, thereby attempting to foreground a critical and active viewership.
Naata is the second in a series on the people and the city of Mumbai. It is a sequel to Saacha (The Loom), 2001

“About a friendship that conveys a moving message to an increasingly polarized city…” Times of India
“Creating conflict resolution strategies through peoples’ co-operation…” Deccan Herald

“As a text which draws our attention to the power that finally rests with citizens to effect a change in the lives of their communities, Naata showcases the secular energies that make Dharavi, and in turn, Bombay, a place that takes great pride in celebrating its cosmopolitan identity” Art India
“A moving personalised tale of communal harmony in the Mumbai’s biggest slum, Dharavi” The Hindu
“[About] Two souls on the healing side of a communal divide” Indian Express
“A moving personalised tale of communal harmony…” Himal South Asian

Festival Selection:
Film South Asia 2003, Kathmandu
Travelling Film South Asia, 2003-4
River to River Film Festival 2003, Florence
The First and the Last Experimental Film Festival 2003, Sydney
World Social Forum Film Festival 2004, Mumbai
Vikalp-Films For Freedom 2004, Mumbai
Social Communication Cinema Conference and Festival, Kolkata, 2004
Goettingen International Film Festival 2004, Goettingen, Germany
II International Visual Anthropology Festival and Conference, Moscow, 2004
Zanzibar International Film Festival 2004, Tanzania
The Fourth Annual Festival of Visual Culture 2004, Joensuu, Finland
8th Ismailia International Festival for Documentary & Short Films 2003, Giza, Egypt
8th International Film Festival of Human Rights of Spain 2004 at Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Girona and Vinaroz
7th International Festival of Documentary Film & Visual Anthropology Astra Filmfest 2004, Sibiu, Romania
Platforma Video 2004, Athens, Greece
Budapest HumanRights Film Festival, 2004, Hungary
South Asian International Film Festival 2004, New York
3rd Forum for Visual Anthropology 2005, Geneva

Credits
Voice Overs
Monteiro’s voice: Shoba Ghosh
Jayasankar’s voice: Anik Ghosh
Technical Assistance
Bharat Ahire
Location Sound
Harikumar M.
Sound Mixing
K.P. Jayasankar
Harikumar M.
Camera
K.P. Jayasankar
Script, Editing & Direction
Anjali Monteiro
K.P. Jayasankar
Produced and distributed by
Centre for Media and Cultural Studies
Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai 400 088, India
Telephone: +91 22 25563290 Fax: +91 22 2556 2912
E-mail: kpj@tiss.edu URL: www.cmcs.tiss.edu

Distributor in USA: Documentary Educational Resources: http://www.der.org

Directors’ Statement

The idea of making this film grew out of our interaction with Bhau and Waqar and their work. We felt that this story of how Waqar, Bhau and the people of Dharavi have, on their own accord, produced and used various media materials for communal amity (ranging from posters to videos and audio cassettes) had an important lesson for all of us, in these troubled times. We feel that in our present fractured world, it is crucial to share stories of hope and struggle, stories that give us the courage to go on. We also wanted to explore the language of a non-confrontational dialogue with the viewer that gently prompts him/her to look within, to reflect on personal prejudice.

As Asia’s largest slum, with a population of about 800,000, Dharavi has often been represented as a breeding ground for filth, vice and poverty, full of ‘migrants’, whose right to live in the city is often questioned by vigilante citizens’ groups and right-wing politicians. The film attempts to question these dominant representations of Dharavi in the popular imagination. Dharavi is shown as having a long history, with migration taking place from the late 19^th century. It is a productive space and plays an important role in the economy of the city, as it is one of the major hubs of the informal sector that produces commodities ranging from food products to leather goods that cater to a large export market. The film pays tribute to this creativity, vitality and enterprise of Dharavi.

We felt that the sheer energy and inclusiveness of informal grass-roots initiatives for communal amity raises several uncomfortable questions for us, so-called modern, middle-class, secular, urban beings, which we need to reflect on. We thought that the film needed to move beyond a ‘feel good’ story of the impressive work being done by Bhau, Waqar and the citizens of Dharavi. Hence, in terms of the structure of the film, we have introduced an element of reflection, through ‘our’ stories which could possibly lead to a critical and active viewership. These, we thought, will be spaces for the audience to reflect on their own ‘stories’.

Naata and Ekta Sandesh Review by Infochange India:
Naata: Directed by Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayasankar
Ektaa Sandesh : Directed by Waqar P Khan
Produced by Waqar P Khan, Mohalla Committee Movement Trust and Dharavi Citizens
Hindi with English subtitles, 62 mins

Monteiro and Jayasankar’s Naata is about Bombay, and about Dharavi, the city’s most economically efficient neighbourhood, but the heart of the story lies with two extraordinary citizens, Waqar Khan and Bhau Korde and the making of their film, Ekta Sandesh.

Khan and Korde are both long-time residents of Dharavi and both first-generation migrants to the city. Both count on Dharavi for their livelihood and for their perceptions of the nation. When the deadly riots of 1992-93 tore the city and their community apart, both were (separately) moved to act, to make sure that something like this never happened again. In Dharavi, as in other parts of the city, the Rashtriya Ekta Samiti and Mohalla Committees swung into action, soothing and repairing emotionally and materially fractured communities. While Bombay appeared to settle down and returned to business as usual, the communal cauldron continued to simmer, culminating, 10 years later, in the devastating conflagration of Godhra and Ahmedabad in 2002.In the intervening period, Khan and Korde had been busy, thinking of new and innovative ways to bring the message of communal harmony to their neighbours, friends and enemies. Khan used local children to pose for a picture, dressed as a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sikh and a Christian, bearing the slogan, ‘Hum Sab Ek Hain’, a poster that dominates the beach at Juhu Chowpatty even today. But over the months and years, Khan and Korde decided that film was the best medium for this message and, even as they were starting to shoot their film with the help and talents of local residents, the genocide in Gujarat began and their message and its dissemination became more urgent. Naata follows these remarkable men and their personal commitment to secularism, a commitment that sets them on the challenging path that results in the making and screening of Ekta Sandesh. Woven through Khan and Korde’s story of Bombay, a city of dreams and a city of shattered hopes, is another story of first-generation migrants, the story of Monteiro and Jayasankar themselves, who also came to the city separately and met there, and then followed the path of their (henceforward) conjoined commitments and destiny. Monteiro and Jayasankar use Naata and the documentation of Khan and Korde’s journey as activists for harmony as a moment to reflect on their own lives. We hear their voices without ever seeing them, as they construct a “self-reflexive ethnography”. Their young daughter (another unseen but fully articulated presence) provides the thread upon which the beads of identity and difference, of confusion and resolution, of questioning and answering, are strung. Her childish clarity sprinkles fairy dust on the issues that vex her parents, and this is where the personal story of the filmmakers collides with the determined idealism and activism of their subjects, Khan and Korde. Naata is among the new generation of documentaries where filmmakers forcefully place themselves and their concerns at the margin (if not at the very centre) of the films they are making. The filmmaker revealing her/himself in the process of filmmaking, or placing personal history in the service of a narrative, cannot be regarded as merely a nod in the direction of intellectual post-modernism or a narcissistic acknowledgement of intervention: rather, we must agree to recognise the filmmaker as a creating subject and an object at the same time. In Ekta Sandesh, Khan and Korde do not use personal narrative as the momentum for their film, instead, they make full and florid use of shared cultural narratives to make their point. Their film is unabashed in its exploitation of Bollywood: Ekta Sandesh is a montage of clips from Hindi commercial cinema, where heroes (Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Sunny Deol, Aamir Khan, Arvind Swamy and Ajay Devgan, to name a few), produce fiery and inspirational speeches about the secular nation and communal harmony. The film strings together another set of hopeful beads on a commentary (written by Dr Ram Puniyani) and interspersed with messages of how to nurture and develop communal harmony from former police commissioners (including Julius Ribeiro and KS Sahni) and local celebrities like Ravindar Jain and Ameen Sayani. The opening sequence of Ekta Sandesh consciously employs the full-blown elements of Bollywood cinema to tell us that pain and suffering are not coded by religion or community, that they affect us all, equally. Ekta Sandesh is much more than the sum of its parts. Khan and Korde themselves embody the message of secularism and communal harmony that they seek to spread. Traveling with a projector and a screen, Khan and Korde show Ekta Sandesh (at their own expense) in communities that have been savaged by manufactured distrust and prejudice. More than any other self-consciously post-modern film that I have seen, Ekta Sandesh conflates filmmaker, form and content to the point where the maker, the medium and the message become one. Add to that Naata, a film about this film, and you reach the point where instead of your head spinning, you have utter and complete clarity about what is being said. http://infochangeindia.org/documentary09.jsp

Naata - Some Links:

Infochange India News & Features Documentary Film Forum NAATA and …
Naata: Directed by Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar Produced by the Unit for Media
and Communication, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Hindi and English with …
infochangeindia.org/documentary09.jsp - 28k - 28 Jun 2004

Lessons in communal harmony from Asia’s largest slum
… Naata“, a lively documentary film made by a couple of Goan-Keralite origin - Anjali
Monteiro and KP Jayasankar - tells the story of two activists belonging to …
in.news.yahoo.com/031101/43/2910i.html - 25k

The Hindu : Sharing South Asian angst
… In “Naata” (”The Bond”) directors KP Jayashankar and Anjali Monteiro provide
a moving personalised tale of communal harmony in the Mumbai’s biggest slum …
www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/ 2003/10/26/stories/2003102600200500.htm - 30k

Their sane voices prevented a Godhra in Dharavi
… Something that Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar from the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences turned into a 45-minute documentary called Naata, which was shot …
www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=47699 - 40k

News
… This is where Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar from the Unit for Media and … cameramen,
light boys and provided all other skills needed to make “Naata -The Bond …
www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep21/sh2.asp - 16k

Indiantelevision.com’s Breaking News : Irked filmmakers shun MIFF …
… 11, Naata, Anjali Monteiro & KP Jayasankar, Film South Asia, Travelling Film South
Asia; World Social Forum Film Festival, Conference of Social Communication …
www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/jan/jan227.htm - 26k

International film festival promises lively fare - The Times of …
… Amar Kanwar’sA Night Of Prophecy, Rahul Roy’s The City Beautiful, Vani Subramanian’s
New Improved Delhi and Anjali Monteiro & KP.Jayasankar’s Naata. …
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/471320.cms - 52k

[PDF] Bhedako Oon Jasto
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
… In a climate of increasing religious divides, directors Jayasankar and Monteiro
provide a glimmer of hope in their film, NAATA – THE BOND (India, 2003). …
www.ektaonline.org/events/tfsa2004/press/PK021004.pdf

Communal amity recipe comes ‘Made in Dharavi’ - The Times of India
… Added her husband and colleague K P Jayasankar, “We wanted to use this relationship to explore the changes in Mumbai, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-112729,prtpage-1.cms?

HIMAL SOUTH ASIAN | November 2003 | Opinion | Jury out on the jury
… Likewise, ace directors KP Jayashankar and Anjali Monteiro provide a moving personalised tale of communal harmony in Mumbai’s biggest slum, Dharavi, in their

http://www.himalmag.com/2003/november/opinion_2.htm

About the Directors

Jayasankar and Monteiro

Anjali Monteiro is Professor, and K.P. Jayasankar is Professor, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Monteiro has a Masters degree in Economics and a Ph.D. in Sociology. Jayasankar has an M.A. in German language and a Ph.D. in Humanities and Social Sciences. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching and research. A presiding thematic of much of their work has been a problematising of notions of self and the other, of normality and deviance, of the local and the global, through the exploration of diverse narratives and rituals. These range from the stories and paintings of indigenous peoples to the poetry of prison inmates. Jointly they have won twenty one national and international awards for their films. These include the Prix Futura Berlin 1995 Asia Prize for Identity- The Construction of Selfhood, a Special Mention of the Jury at MIFF `96 for Kahankar: Ahankar, the Certificate of Merit at MIFF `98 and Best Innovation, Astra Film Festival 1998, Sibiu, Romania for YCP 1997, the Second Prize for Saacha at the New Delhi Video Forum 2001 and the Best documentary award at the IV Three Continents International Festival of Documentaries 2005, Venezuela, for SheWrite. Their most recent awards are the Special Jury Award at the Signs 2007 Festival, held in Thiruvananthapuram, Certificate of Merit, Mumbai International Film Festival 2008, Indian Documentary Producers Associuation (IDPA) Gold for Best Sound Design, Gold for Best Script and Silver for Editing for the film Our Family.

They have several papers in the area of media and cultural studies and have contributed to scholarly journals such as Cultural Studies. They are both recipients of the Howard Thomas Memorial Fellowship in Media Studies, and have been attached to Goldsmith’s College, London and the University of Western Sydney. Monteiro has been awarded a Fulbright visiting lecturer fellowship for 2006-07 at the University of California, Berkeley. They also serve as visiting faculty to several leading media and design institutions across India, such as Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and University of Hyderabad and Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. They are both actively involved in ‘Vikalp‘ and ‘Films for Freedom’, which are collectives of documentary filmmakers campaigning for freedom of expression. They are also associated with various media and voluntary organisations.