Drik India Vision Pvt. Ltd.

The Audio-visual department of Drik India has been active from the organisation’s inception and has been making documentaries, promotional videos and corporate profiles.

Drik India has produced the critically-acclaimed documentary "One DayFrom A Hangman's Life", directed by the four time National Award-winner Joshy Joseph. The film has also been screened in numerous film festivals, both at home and abroad. It has also made a documentary called 'Making the Face' - a film based in the disturbed north-eastern state of Manipur. The film, produced by PSBT, won a National award in 2007 and has also been showcased in several festivals worldwide. ‘While Gods took to Dancing’ is another film made by Drik India which focuses on the violent ambience of Manipur in the backdrop of the epic fasting struggle of Irom Sharmila. Currently we
are engaged in making a trilogy on the legendary writer, activist and Magsaysay Award winner Mahasweta Devi. Two of them, ‘Journeying with Mahasveta Devi’ & ‘Mahasveta Devi Close-up’ have already been produced and are in circulation in the festival circuit.

ONE DAY FROM A HANGMAN’S LIFE: Duration – 83 minutes

In India after many years, an execution took place in Kolkata, 2004. The heavy media focus on the hangman bore a strong resemblance to the public-attended executions prevalent in medieval Europe.

The mainstream media mostly invented stories, as they had no direct access to the convict at the Alipore Central Jail. The hangman, a gifted story-teller himself, came to their rescue. For a couple of months prior to the hanging, newspapers and news channels carried more fiction than the best thrillers with the debate on capital punishment
coming to the fore.

In ‘ONE DAY FROM A HANGMAN’S LIFE’, director Joshy Joseph tries to de-fictionalise the non-fiction by retreating into the dingy cell-like room of the hangman for a whole day before the hanging. The film adopts an observant style with its lengthy shots, unlike the 60 seconds commercial which may tell everything about a car. Beyond 60
seconds, it may have to tell the ‘truth’ about the car.

MAKING THE FACE: Duration – 28 minutes

‘Making the Face’ is based in Manipur. It talks about identity in general, but at its very core is a personal story of Tom Sharma, a professional make-up artist who is in crisis due to his gender identity. Tom Sharma possesses a woman’s soul in a man’s body. But his gender identity also brings in profits just because of his choice of profession. As a make-up artist he is preferred because all sexes are equally at ease with him. The story is centered around Tom Sharma’s life in the backdrop of the turmoil in Manipuri society owing to the long drawn problems of insurgency leading to State-sponsored violence on the citizens in the name of counter insurgency.

JOURNEYING WITH MAHASVETA DEVI: Duration – 42 minutes

She is always on the move reaching out to people… people who need her presence… people who are deprived of their rights… people who are marginalised. She is 84 years young! She is Mahasveta Devi.

A deeply political social activist who has been working WITH marginalized communities, including de-notified tribes and landless labourers of India, for years, Mahasveta Devi is also one of India’s foremost literary personalities. She is a prolific author of short fictions and novels in Bengali. What is unique about her writing is that all of them are taken from real life experiences of deprivation & marginalization leading to consequent struggle & resistance.

Mahasveta Devi was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1996 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1997. She was also awarded the Padma Sree and the Padma Bibhushan.

For the last two years, the audio visual team of Drik India has been following the legendary writer & activist in her journeys into the tribal belts of India. With her never ending passion to reach out to marginalized people, the writer lets them know that she is with them in their daily struggle for existence. The Drik India team has seen and recorded the activism in her. These are recordings of the journey of an activist-writer who refuses to stop.

‘Journeying with Mahasveta Devi’, is a film on her crusading way of life. Drik India has produced the film.

MAHASVETA DEVI CLOSE-UP: Duration – 39 minutes

This is a sequel to our earlier film ‘Journeying with Mahasveta Devi’, and the second in the trilogy being made on the writer-activist. The viewed and the viewer, the act and the response, form the basic pattern of this film and closes up further with both the inner-self and the outer-self of Mahasveta Devi.

WHILE GODS TOOK TO DANCING: Duration – 39 minutes

The film has Irom Sharmila’s fasting struggle to protest against the violent ambience prevalent in Manipur as backdrop. In the foreground of ‘When Gods took to Dancing’ is the call for peace as the need of the hour.

We have also been producing audio-visual documentations for the NGO sector as well as the Corporate sector both nationally and internationally. All of them reflect important social issues ranging from HIV/AIDS and Violence against Women to Climate Change and Green Revolution.