
            It is said that our nation is a reality of two countries:
1. INDIA - The India of the 21st century, of gleaming malls, cloud piercing
skyscrapers, expressways and air conditioned metro rails, of English speaking
youth making their mark in the modern world
And
2. BHARAT - Rural, agrarian, still bound to old traditions and cultural roots,
lacking the basics of modern amenities and influences.
Both are true and both exist and the nation continues its progress in slowly
amalgamation the best of both worlds to create an India we all dream of.
Our story is the story of a young tribal girl, Budhni, from rural India who has
educated herself and aspires for the basic dignity of life in the 21st century.
Budhni, our protagonist belongs to a community called "musahar", a term
derived from "musah" meaning rat and "ahar" meaning food, the community
is actually a poor tribal community that subsists on farm labor and rats, even
to this day.
No one knows Budhni's real age as mushars don't document the date of birth,
but she is not more than 16 years old at the time of our story. She is one of
the rarest in her community, male or female who excelled in primary
government school and continued studying. But as her board exams
approached, her family was far more concerned with getting her married.
After all all girls even a year or two younger to her in her community were
married. Budhni's dream of higher education is set to be quashed under
familial and societal pressure, especially in an environment of patriarchal
dominance. But she resists though it's more than clear that her forever drunk
father will soon quash her resistance. Along some, Sugan, a young man who
seems to love Budhni and wants her to continue studying after marriage. He
seems to be enamored with the idea of an educated wife. Budhni sees the
opportunity to keep her dream alive and also keep family and society happy
and she agrees to his proposal. The fact that both her and sugans father work
for the same feudal landlord, helps and they are married off with as much
pomp as their families can dream off. The scale of the marriage itself is
an indicator of how small people dare to dream in some segments of
modern day India and provokes deep thought about the disparity
between haves and have nots.
It's not that people have different means and abilities, it's about the
huge difference in dreams & dreams are supposed to be free.Sugan is surprisingly progressive and wants Budhni to continue studying but
breaking the news to his family, esp his father will take some doing and time
and with each passing day her board exams come closer.
Now Budhni faces another problem, stuck at her inlaws for a while and not
being able to go to school deprives her of the use of the schools toilet and she
refuses to go to the fields to relieve herself like the other women of the
community.
The pre dawn culture of rural women of completing their daily
ablutions in the fields or river banks inspires the name of the film,
"BHOR" meaning dawn. BHOR also is a metaphor for a new dawn or
the first ray of hope and that's what Budhni's struggle could mean for
her community, esp it's women, a new ray of hope.
Sugan temporarily solves the problem by making a makeshift toilet for her at
home and it's a testament to the courage of this young, uneducated and
untouchable man who's progressive thought can put many a educated city
dweller to shame, that he Braves the snide comments from family and friends
to do this for his wife.
Sugans suggestion that his wife continue her education is finally made to his
father and Sugan is rewarded by a literal kick up his backside that sends him
sprawling into the mud of the farm they are working on, as they converse.
But as per norms all important decisions are referred to the zamindar and he
gets impressed by Budhni's ability to speak in english and commands them to
let her study. Budhni appears for her board exams and top the district
but the family doesn't realize the importance of her feat till they are
summoned to the DMs office.
A dazed Sugan and his father watch dumbfounded as the DM asks her what
she wants and Budhni says she wants a toilet at home. The DM immediately
sanctions the money.
Now the story takes a turn, Sugan and his father who have never seen one
tenth this amount in cash, blow it all up in a drunken celebration accompanied
by a performance by a dancer, who is the dream of even the landlords and
Budhni's dream of a toilet at home is crushed.
She refuse to cow down and begins a fight that begins at her home, a tiny
thatched one room mud Hut and ends in the capital and corridors of power in
Delhi. Here Budhni is stunned to learn that her problem of dignity and
sanitation is shared by many in the slums of Delhi and is a mission priority for
the government. But there is the proverbial slip between the cup and the lip,
the government desires but the multiple layers between the govt and the
people are a black hole where dreams and good intentions disappear.What happens, does the first educated girl of her community bring boon or
calamity, does the will and intent of a young girl break down centuries of
neglect or is broken down by the wall of ignorance?
The highlights of the film:
u
u Shot live in real locations in Bihar.
u The main characters who are actors from Mumbai and Delhi theater,
spent 2 months before filming, living on location to learn and
understand the reality of the characters they were playing.
u All the other actors are real musahars living there.
u All costumes are real and locally sourced.
u The one song performance in the film is shot in one go and the music
has been recorded live on location.
u 'Bhor' deftly captures the nuances and emotions that define the
relationship between Budhni and Sugan.
u Budhni was now fighting not only for education but also for sanitation.
The story is a study in contrasts that exists within the society, as well
as the similarities that are not limited within geographical bounds. The
protagonist realizes the problem of inadequate sanitation facilities was
something that not just existed in rural, but urban India as well, after
she reaches the capital, Delhi.
'Bhor' is an attempt to see the reality of an unglamourised ignored forgotten
race of people and a realization that their problems are sometimes exactly the
same as ours, lack of respect for the dignity of a woman, basic sanitation and
hygiene, the right to education for women and so much more.
In this day and age of the #metoo movement, BHOR is a wakeup call,
the struggle for dignity, education and rights of a woman is a lot more
basic in the interiors of our nation and something that we so take for
granted in our lives that we forget that it even exists.
    

Bhor: Dawn


            
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