Shalya ..... Director Bipin Khedekar

The First Goa Short Film Festival was organised by Marathi Chitrapat Parivar from Pune and what an amazing array of movies there was, such a variety of topics touching virtually every subject of interest and relevance today, child rape, the ills and benefits of internet, loneliness, terrorism, education for girls, and many more. We were truly spoilt for choice.

Sadly I managed just one entry from Goa, ‘Shalya’ directed by Bipin Khedekar and missed the much acclaimed ‘Chedum’ directed by Sharon Mazarello.

Shalya

Director: Bipin Khedekar                                               Screenplay: Sarvesh Naik

Producer: Damodar Naik                                              Language: Malwani Konkani

Cast: Anil Raiker,

Rati Bhatikar,

Ramprasad Kelkar,

Saieesh Naik

What a strange and a haunting film Shalya is. In a beautiful verdant setting, a man stands atop a log, his head in a noose; the men around him wear pristine white dhotis. Without any warning the log is pulled away from under him and you give a shout of horror. The man falls to the ground dangling at the end of the rope, he has died and Shankar, the hangman has finished his work. One more day in the life of a hangman, he bathes in the river and makes his way home to his wife and son.

Although it is a just work for Shankar, and work is very difficult to come by in this hamlet, Shankar is beset with sorrow, with doubt, with fear for his soul. He pesters his wife with his dark thoughts. Do you know he tells her, I feel such sorrow, such pain when I do my job, do you think ‘they’ curse me? His wife full of sadness for her husband says, maybe, but you are doing your duty. I dream such terrible, terrible dreams. Shankar spends his days in agony, in despair, with no way out, times are hard. So ashamed is he of his work that he never tells his son about his duties but promises his wife, as soon as our son begins to earn, I will give up this terrible, terrible work. 

Four school boys return home from school and like all boys start flinging stones at some stone markers, aiming with more and more precision all the while chattering about their father’s jobs. Everyone has a father who works crushing stones, the hangman’s son says, my father works at crushing stones. At this all the boys look at him in utter surprise, your father a stone crusher? A pause and a boy says in a rush, your father hangs people for a living. The hangman’s son is livid with anger, he cannot believe it, his father a hangman, his kind father, his father who loves him dearly, who always brings him his favourite ladus, his father who urges him to do his homework, who laughs with him, his father a hangman. His confusion is complete, he is devastated. There is a fight. The boy returns home and angrily confronts his parents. Leaves home without even a second glance.

What a terribly sad life for Shankar and his wife. Shankar a broken man just drags his body through his day and his terrible job. Is it a punishment for all those lives he has robbed? No point in looking back, no point in agonising. It is over; he has paid the price for all those lives.

Eleven years later, a constable enters their humble hut and hugs his parents…..

This very unusual film is truly remarkable because it is a first attempt for the Antarang Club, winning an Award at the First Goa Short Film Festival came as no surprise to anyone. The young and extremely talented Director Bipin Khedekar’s immense energy drew the best from every actor even the veteran Anil Raiker. As for the young boys they were a bunch of chattering birds just raring to go. That Antarang Club will have many more movies is something that everyone knows and expects.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shalya/154793391296955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88B5He88D-4