Return to the City of Joy?

A new film about a rickshaw-puller in Kolkata is dedicated to the late actor Om Puri A tribe of good men

One morning, nearly three decades ago, I saw a front page photograph of a rickshaw-puller in the morning newspaper.

I wondered what was unique about this. Calcuttans are quite used to this sight. But then I read the caption. The photograph was of actor Om Puri and had been shot at 5am as he prepped for his role as Hasari Pal in Roland Joffe’s City of Joy, based on Dominique Lapierre’s award-winning novel of the same name.

Total dedication

Every morning for a month, Puri would leave from the back gate of the five-star hotel where the cast and crew of the film stayed and do a 8-10 km run around the city with his two rickshaw trainers as passengers. He lost 15 kilos to look the part and even ran barefoot. After three months of filming, his pedicurist had to give him three sessions to get his feet back in decent shape. His hair had grown unkempt and his nails were as dirty as those of most of the rickshawalas Puri had observed. He looked lean and hungry. Hungry to essay the role of Hasari Pal with utmost honesty, a role that remains etched in the memories of cinegoers.

So, when journalist-turned-director Ram Kamal Mukherjee (he made a short film called Season’s Greetings as a tribute to Rituparna Ghosh) turned up at home one afternoon with a pen drive, saying, “Please watch this. My film, Rickshawala. Rough cuts. And tell me what

BEADS OF SWEAT

Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s Rickshawala has Avinash Dwivedi (top and inset) essaying the lead; (above) Kasturi Chakraborty, the director and Avinash on the sets of the movie; and Om Puri (left) playing the part of a rickshawpuller in City of Joy you think of it. Because I want to dedicate this film to Omji”, I was flummoxed.

I didn’t want to say much because Joffe’s City of Joy was a masterpiece and Om’s Hasari Pal would be a tough act to follow. But we watched Mukherjee’s film together. It was a rough cut. But something about the film moved me.

Whether it was the lead actor Avinash Dwivedi’s sincerity to his craft and his meticulousness in his avatar as a rickshawpuller (it is difficult to fool me as I’ve seen it at all too close quarters!), or the character of the city, or the fine details in costume, or the art or just the heartwarming story told by Mukherjee, Rickshawala touched my heart.

Our neighborhood rickshawalas ferried us to our classes with utmost care, like we were their own children. They knew each of us personally and our parents trusted them like family members. When women went to the market, the rickshawalas waited patiently for them to return, got them back to their doorsteps and carried the heavy bags up the stairs without demanding a paisa more. And after a hard day’s donkey work, all they had to eat was a frugal meal of sattu (gramflour) mixed with water and some green chilies and occasionally a raw onion. This was perhaps their only meal. Bananas, tea and biscuits got them through the rest of the day.

“RICKSHAWALA ISN’T A FILM OVERFLOWING WITH EXCESS EMOTIONS. THE DIRECTOR SAYS IT LIKE IT IS” —NANDITA PURI

My heart used to break at the sight. And I hated all the aunties and uncles who haggled with them. Maybe that’s why I empathised with Hasari Pal so much. And that is why I could feel the same with Manoj (essayed by Dwivedi) and his father in this film.

Yet Rickshawala isn’t a film overflowing with excess emotions. Mukherjee just says it like it is.

I’m a tough nut to crack and it takes a lot for me to praise a film, especially when the bar has been raised so high by City of Joy. But with Avinash’s dedication to his craft and Ram Kamal’s sincerity as a filmmaker, I had no option but say yes to associating the Om Puri Foundation with the film. Om would have been happy to have this film dedicated to him.

I’m not going to disclose the story as I want all of you to watch it on the new OTT platform Biiggbang from June 30. Only then will you get to learn about the lives of this vanishing tribe, the rickshaw-pullers of Kolkata. brunchletters@htlive.com Follow @Htbrunch on Twitter and Instagram

Nandita Puri is an author and chairperson of the Om Puri Foundation