A five-year-old documentary on drug trafficking in Punjab is now gaining popularity after the CBFC clash with Udta Punjab. Director Sahil Bhagat tells Sharang Bhaskaran that nothing much has changed over the years
It is hard to imagine the pain a mother who has lost six out of seven children to drug addiction within a span of only one and a half years, has to endure. This is just one case out of several in the state of Punjab where a large number of youth have succumbed to the monstrous ill of drug addiction and lost their lives as a result.
Much before the controversy surrounding Udta Punjab, a documentary called Glut, based on the drug epidemic in the state, was made in 2011, directed by student filmmaker Sahil Bhagat. He found that one in three boys and one in 10 girls, mostly college students, were addicts, and up to 85 per cent of the population had been exposed to drugs in one form or another.
These numbers are not new. The drug problem that seemingly exploded overnight in our collective consciousness was recognised more than a decade ago. But the issue has made it to the national television domain and become a hot topic of discussion ever since the entire controversy surrounding Udta Punjab and the Censor Board’s demand of 89 cuts blew up. The good partIJ Bhagat’s documentary is getting an avalanche of hits online.
The documentary explores in detail how the drug is trafficked in Punjab from the India-Pakistan border and this network spreads through the country. Narrated by Rahul Bose and citing activists and first-hand accounts from people affected by the epidemic, the film takes a bold look at the issue and turns out to be an eye-opener. The documentary has been screened at several national and international film festivals including the New York International Film Festival.
In 2011, Bhagat was looking for a subject for a college project. He then chanced upon an article in a major magazine publication talking about the rising drug addiction and smuggling issue in Punjab. Drawn to the topic because of its relevance, Bhagat started working on developing a concept and script for the documentary and got in touch with the author of the article, Vijay Simha, who provided him with necessary research and information.
Bhagat and Smaran Sahu, the co-director and cinematographer of the film, led the team of 10 people across Punjab where they shot the film, an experience he calls challenging and exciting. “We had our shooting equipment that we brought from Mumbai but we had to be careful not to use any fancy or large equipment since we did not want to draw attention to us making a film on drugs. We did get a lot of help from the people once we told them what we were doing. So we got a lot of support activists and de-addiction centres that provided us with information,” Bhagat said. “Also, we had to travel to some remote spots and meet with some rather dangerous people, so we had to be cautious at all times,” he told us.
Through the process of shooting the film, Bhagat and the crew came face to face with the drug epidemic and the casualties it caused. “We went to a town called Maqboolpura which is a highly infested haven. There we contacted a school that is providing education to children who lost their fathers to addiction. We met and talked to some of the people in the town who had lost their family members. These subjects helped us in making the film,” he said. “What we wanted to do was present the facts relating to the issue without passing a judgement.”
Drug abuse is merely a symptom of a larger social and economic problem of the state still reeling under illiteracy, lack of proper schools, poverty and unemployment. The streets are swarming with peddlers and drugs are easily available for as little as `25 a packet. But while the rich are able to afford heroin, smack, poppy husk and opium, the poor make do with cheap substitutes like Iodex and petroleum. A recent development has been the pushing of synthetic drugs through illegal chemist shops.
“One of the major problems with combatting addiction is the lack of infrastructure and education on the subject. What people know is that drugs give you a momentary high that makes you feel good at the time. But what they don’t know is that the harm it causes to the body and the effects it can have on the health,” Bhagat observed.
He is happy that the documentary is being watched by more people on Youtube after the entire issue surrounding Udta Punjab. Asked about the controversy related to the film, Bhagat said, “This is not a Kya Kool Hai Hum kind of film with silly jokes but a serious film addressing an exremely important issue relating to the youth of the country. It is a stupid thing to say that a film showing drugs is glorifying usage of drugs and it is counter-productive to cut scenes from a film because it will only stop people from understanding the real situation. I think it’s not something the government can hide. If they stop one film, there are 10 other films and documentaries on Youtube or the Internet that are talking about the issue.”