In 1927, American aviator Charles Lindbergh made the first trans-Atlantic flight from New York City to Paris. Post the successful conclusion of this 33-hour-long journey, the 25-year-old—who had covered 5,800 km on a single-engine monoplane—shot to global fame. Lindbergh’s accounts were later showcased (and celebrated) through a Lehrstücke—an experimental form of drama that stems from German dramatist Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre—that was written and devised by Brechtas Lindbergh’s Flight, and first performed as a radio play in 1929. The play celebrated a heroic journey of an innovation that was once believed to be impossible, through a medium—the radio—that was slowly expanding the means of communication.
Revisiting this account and Brecht’s piece of work, actor and director Soumyabrata Choudhury—he teaches Theatre and Performance Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)—has created A Migrant Walk as a “documentary caricature” of the former. The roughly 26-minute-long piece takes into account our present social media-oriented world and explores a central question: “What is our experience of the impossible history, particularly in the wake of the pandemic?” A public screening of this film was organised at Studio Safdar on Friday.
An evening spent introspecting
An edition of the A Migrant Walk was first commissioned by the Defence Colony-based arts and cultural development organisation, Serendipity Arts Foundation. A later and final edition—that was screened yesterday—was commissioned and then exhibited at the Worldwide Brecht Festival held in February this year.An enthusiastic audience across age groups joined in to be part of this screening. “We were thrilled with the response. There are these triggers [in the film] to open up a conversation and I think it really did that,” shared Priyanka Chhabra (37), co-director who shuttles between West Delhi and Manali. What made the event important was the fact that the film has been shot in Studio Safdar itself.
Going beyond conventions
Choudhury’s work bears both similarities and differences from Brecht’s drama. The filmmaker has used the same devices as Brecht: monologues—by various human and non-human entities—in the narrative. Consequently, we see many agents such as the train, the newspaper, the migrants, and more, talk. Choudhury also mentions that both the pieces also explore a common concern “of the society being constituted by a set of contradictions”. Elaborating on the same, the 57-year-old added, “Migrants are people without whom one cannot survive in the city but at the same time, they are considered outsiders. This is a global contradiction. In India, it was felt very violently during the first phase of the pandemic.”
Mixing cinema and theatre
This film also incorporates several elements of theatre. Reflecting on the same, Chhabra concluded, “We chose the theatre as a location and we decided that it has to be a part of the image, not in the sense of a documentary, but we are constructing the image inside the theatre.” The screening was followed by a discussion, moderated by Urmimala Sarkar, a professor at JNU.
In retrospect, A Migrant Walk features a thoughtfully-made sound design that amplifies the viewer's interest and also plays an important role in the overall narrative. Visual contrasts and an artful use of lighting help create striking images. Most importantly the film provokes the viewer to think, question, and reflect, which makes the same an intriguing watch.