CANDLES IN THE WIND
Director Kavita Bahl
Countries India
Duration 52 min
Synopsis
Punjab., - the land of the five Rivers..., - the food bowl of India..., The petri-dish of the 'Green Revolution.' Today, Punjab is in the news for policy-induced non-remunerative agriculture and escalating farm-suicides. Where men found an easy escape in death, the widows bear the burden of their debt, and yet affirm their faith in life - taking care of children, ageing parents and the chemically-abused fields. These women stand for the feminine principle... of creation, of love and of nurture. Today, with their backs to the wall, they fight the State and the almighty Corporations, like the brave Antigone defying the edict of Creon, to follow the unwritten laws of God. History will not record the dirges of men who chose to die. Poets shall tell the stories of the women who silently shoulder the sky, standing tall amidst the ruins of the Punjab they love. 'Candles in the wind' witnesses the silent march of these women as they re-negotiate the rules of engagement and the politics of domination in their bid to survive. Their struggle gives us a window into the social-economic flux in rural India. The strategies of survival and re-negotiation of spaces lends itself to a nuanced understanding of the silent under-currents of a gender-specific struggle in the larger narrative of surviving as a farmer in these times., The film is a poignant portrayal of these brave farm-widows, with minimalist narration and a cinematic interplay of image and soundscapes.
Punjab., - the land of the five Rivers..., - the food bowl of India..., The petri-dish of the 'Green Revolution.' Today, Punjab is in the news for policy-induced non-remunerative agriculture and escalating farm-suicides. Where men found an easy escape in death, the widows bear the burden of their debt, and yet affirm their faith in life - taking care of children, ageing parents and the chemically-abused fields. These women stand for the feminine principle... of creation, of love and of nurture. Today, with their backs to the wall, they fight the State and the almighty Corporations, like the brave Antigone defying the edict of Creon, to follow the unwritten laws of God. History will not record the dirges of men who chose to die. Poets shall tell the stories of the women who silently shoulder the sky, standing tall amidst the ruins of the Punjab they love. 'Candles in the wind' witnesses the silent march of these women as they re-negotiate the rules of engagement and the politics of domination in their bid to survive. Their struggle gives us a window into the social-economic flux in rural India. The strategies of survival and re-negotiation of spaces lends itself to a nuanced understanding of the silent under-currents of a gender-specific struggle in the larger narrative of surviving as a farmer in these times., The film is a poignant portrayal of these brave farm-widows, with minimalist narration and a cinematic interplay of image and soundscapes.