A chai-wala delivers drinks to
working men.
A teenager cracks jokes with his uncle
in an auto shop.
A shirtless boy tries to sell flowers
on the streets.
A kid focuses on the
embroidery he sets into place.
A ragpicker gets chased away from
pieces of trash too close to the VIPs.
The scenes crawled across the screen.
The camera lingered on boys trying to help their families
(or just themselves) survive in the richest city in India, as wealthy
businessmen and private school kids zipped by in the background. The
empathy with which the children were depicted was stunning.
Last night I saw “Hawaa Hawaai”, a
Bollywood movie about a child laborer from an Indian slum who
pursues his dreams while trying to deal with serious illness and his
father's death. I went to the movie together with my friend
Mohammed...who for most of his life has been a child laborer
from an Indian slum pursuing his dreams while trying to deal
with serious illness and his father's death.
Neither of us knew what the movie was going to be about when we went to watch it, and we sort of picked it on a whim. Mohammed was treating me to the movie and not only bought my ticket, but insisted on getting me a cold drink.
Neither of us knew what the movie was going to be about when we went to watch it, and we sort of picked it on a whim. Mohammed was treating me to the movie and not only bought my ticket, but insisted on getting me a cold drink.
It was a comfortable, nice movie
theater. As I was moved by the film's scene-setting,
it took conscious effort to focus on the fact that Mohammed wasn't just
any friend laughing at the jokes, but
someone who had lived much of it. I don't know what it
meant for my experience watching the movie. If the characters in the
movie had been portrayed unnaturally or offensively, I'm sure it
would have meant something. But considering the compassion
and empathy with which the characters were depicted...I was happy to
be there with Mohammed, and that was that.
I asked him the next day if he liked the movie, and he said that he did. I asked him what he liked most about the movie. The assumed answer was going to be “the jokes”, since Mohammed had laughed so hard at a number of them. But instead, he answered, “His hard work.”
I asked him the next day if he liked the movie, and he said that he did. I asked him what he liked most about the movie. The assumed answer was going to be “the jokes”, since Mohammed had laughed so hard at a number of them. But instead, he answered, “His hard work.”
There's a bit of Bollywood in the movie, but it is very much worth watching.
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