Ashok Rane’s documentary film ‘Aankhi Ek Mohenjo Daro’ (Yet Another Mohenjo Daro) on the cultural life of textile mill workers of Girgangaon in Mumbai is a very important document . It won the best film award in the historical film category in the national film awards announced in Delhi last week and it was screened at a packed Y.B. Chavan centre auditorium in Mumbai last evening.
The Mumbai textile industry is a very big subject covered in much controversy and one can understand that Rane has focussed on the cultural life. One cannot cover everything, there is a huge potential to make at least one very penetrating documentary on the issue of land grab in Mumbai.
Rane has traced the history of the industry from the beginning upto the textile strike of 1982 dealt with the the rich cultural life of the working class area and the protagonist, a simple worker, in a sentimental way at the end of the film laments the loss of a way of life.
One can understand the sentimentality, this is not in that sense a protest film and there is a serious need for a strong film on this, the wonder is why none has emerged over all these years as contradictions in Mumbai are sharpening in a grave manner. The whole class character of the city has changed with the rich cynically becoming powerful in a city in which the workers had played a very big role, the workers were in the forefront of the freedom struggle.
The riches of Mumbai are built on the toil and exploitation of workers, they were denied basic amenities while the mill owners made big profits, diverted the profits to other enterprises and brought about an end to the textile industry so they could sell the land for huge profit. Datta Samant is blamed widely for the failed strike that led to mill closure but that was just one cause.
Many workers lived in one small room, sleeping in batches, once the day shift workers went for work, the night shift workers would use the premises and so it went on.
It still goes on in another form all over Mumbai as the space crunch grows, now family members use the premises through some form of shifts, recently when I went to the sprawling working class housing board colony of Abhyudaya Nagar in Sewree, I met a man sitting on a roadside bench, he said he does this for hours as he has to leave time for others in the family to have a more free time in the small house.
Contrast this with the most cynical display of wealth in Mumbai where the new rich boast of their vast houses without any sense of guilt whatsoever, older capitalists had at least some sense of guilt, ethics, some conscience, fear of god.
Rane knows the Girgangaon culture both here and in the textile town of Navasari in Gujarat where his father was a worker. He has known the film medium well for decades, having worked as a film critic, documentary film maker and has served on the jury of several prominent international film festivals.
His film is titled Ankhi Ek Mohenjo Daro, one more Mohenjo Daro, suggesting that just as that civilisation disappeared, this working class civilisation has disappeared too.
Personally I can relate closely to the film since I was an active participant, witness in that era. The film mentions the dismissal of 100,000 textile workers during the strike, that reminds me, I reported this for the Times of india after getting the confirmation of the news from the then chief of mill owners association, Nusli Wadia, I had met him. The news was promptly killed by editor Girilal Jain.
Rane has brought alive a rich cultural life of the mill area of which the middle class, leave alone the upper class, has no idea. Such a divided society we live in though geographically we live not far off.
For political and labour analysis he has relied on the observations of Kumar Ketkar, prominent journalist, his partner Sharda Sathe, feminist and lawyer, Sandip Pendse, writer and son of veteran Lalji Pendse, a fine Marxist intellectual and a much quoted authority on the Samyukta Maharashtra struggle. Ketkar was also very close to S.A. Dange, the former Communist party chairperson who was a much loved leader of the textile workers and very good public speaker, very well read, he never had to use cliches.
The most interesting are narrations , observations from prominent people in the field of culture who have grown up in the mill areas, including Achyut Palav, calligrapher, Shivaji Satam, TV film actor, Ashok Hande with his multipole talents, Shrinivas Narvekar, stage actor, and last but not the least Vijay Kadam, actor, whom we lost only last week, it was too early an exit.
Most of that culture is gone, only the Ganapati festival , now approaching, survives, it has grown tremendously but it now mainly a huge spectacle that so impresses many people, the real cultural, educational content of those days is now sadly missing. Big money has now taken over the festival from the workers, they are now mainly passive spectators,they ARE prominent in organisation but the real controls lie elsewhere.
The film is dedicated to Jayant Pawar, prominent playwright who grew up in the textile area and portrayed that life effectively. One reason for the rich cultural life of the area was the long tradition of folk arts, music, theatre from the Konkan and the ghat areas of Satara and other area from where many of the workers came as migrants, many leaving their families behind, the sadness of that bereavement is expressed in Annabhau Sathe’s immortal line, Mazi Maina Gava kade Rahili, a worker says he has left his beloved behind.
Sadly missing in the film is the contribution of Dr Ambedkar who spent a good part of his life in the area and of Dalits.
That apart what vibrant culture existed with all sorts of folk theatre, music, films, tamasha, sports, indigenous like kho kho and kabaddi, brass band groups, tamasha theatres like Hanuman theatre and so much more.
To get an idea of the world some of the talented people in the area, one looks at the life of actor singer Ashok Hande, he is a wonderful narrator in the film with good use of mimicry.. He was born in the village of Umbraj in Pune in a family of Varkaris, a devotional sect of the deity of Vithal or Vithoba. From childhood he had a liking for Bhajan, Bharud, Ovya, Tamasha etc. Later, his family moved to Mumbai and Hande grew up in Rangari Badak Chawl in Lalbaug, which had 16 buildings and 10,000 residents.
Many cultural activities took place there including dombari khel (street acrobats), bhaloo naach (bear dance), powadas (short performances about patriotic leaders and historical figures), lezim (a drill routine with cymbals), kirtans (songs from religion and mythology) and political speeches. Hande participated in competitions during the Ganapati festival. He saw Vasudev (a dervish announcing the arrival of dawn) visiting homes in early morning, people going for khandoba jaagar (staying up through the night in devotion of Lord Khandoba) which helped him to learn folk music. In college, as part of the NSS (National Social Service) group, Hande walked over 100 km through the tribal areas of Vangani where he learned their music. In school days, he was actively involved in local Ganesh Utsav, Navratri Utsav, Kho-kho and other sports and cultural activities. While in school, he participated in drama competitions through the Chikitsak group. During college days in Ruparel college, he appeared in one-act plays, singing competitions, etc. Hande learned music from kirtankars Sonopant Dandekar, Nijampurkar Buwa to Shahir Sable, Amar Sheikh and Balakram Worlikar Kalapathak
Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist, culture critic and author of a book on public transport
