{"id":5414,"date":"2016-03-11T15:50:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T10:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5414"},"modified":"2016-03-11T15:50:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T10:20:27","slug":"moti-bagh-oscar-nominated-documentary-uttarkhand-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5414","title":{"rendered":"Why Moti Bagh the Oscar-Nominated Documentary on an Uttarkhand Farmer Needs Our Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

O<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\nn Tuesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat <\/span>tweeted<\/span><\/a> that, Nirmal Chander Dandriyal\u2019s <\/span>Moti Bagh<\/span><\/i>, a documentary based on the struggle of a farmer in a remote village in Uttarakhand, has been nominated for Oscars 2020. Congratulating Dandriyal, Rawat claimed that the film will inspire youth to stay back in their villages and work on the field instead of migrating.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nMoti Bagh<\/span><\/i> chronicles the life of Vidyadutt Sharma, a 83-year-old farmer, who gave up a government job in his younger days to tend to a farm that his family owned in <\/span>Uttarakhand<\/span><\/a>\u2019s Pauri Garhwal region. Farming is not a norm here but an anomaly, as thousands have abandoned their land in search of better opportunities. The documentary highlights how the state has witnessed migration in disturbing proportions, where villages after villages are lying empty with no one to till the land.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nSharma might not have his neighbours, but giving him a helping hand is his Man Friday Ram Singh. The two-minute-long <\/span>trailer<\/span><\/a>, which is streaming on YouTube, shows Ram Singh, a Nepali farmer, working tirelessly on the field. Singh settled in the region\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\nwith his family a decade ago and since then has been working in Moti Bagh. He talks about the time when he faced discrimination along with Bihari labourers. \u201cEarlier locals called us names like Dutiyal, Nepali, and Bahadur,\u201d he says. The trailer employs a fascinating gaze to pinpoint how it is the labour of Nepali <\/span>farmers<\/span><\/a> that is saving the farmland in Uttarakhand. In a perceptive scene, Sharma echoes that thought. \u201cIf Nepalis weren\u2019t here, there would be no one to carry our corpses,\u201d he confesses.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n

Moti Bagh is not just the story of one farmer but it looks at the bigger picture, focussing on issues such as migration and the waning interest in agriculture.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nMoti Bagh<\/span><\/i> then is not just the story of one farmer but it looks at the bigger picture, focussing on issues such as migration and the waning interest in agriculture. At a time when farmer suicides remain rampant and younger generation of farming families are choosing to take up different <\/span>professions<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Moti Bagh<\/span><\/i> is an important documentary that captures lives which remain in danger of being erased. It is not only an acknowledgement of the indispensability of migrant labour but also examines their plight. Ram Singh might have faced bigots but even after the locals have left, he stayed back and helped Sharma soldier on in his endeavour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\nWhen asked about <\/span>Moti Bagh, <\/span><\/i>Dandriyal told <\/span>Scroll.in<\/span><\/a> that <\/span>the film is about \u201creconnecting with the land and being one with nature.\u201d <\/span>He said he has been concerned with the human condition. \u201cI wanted to explore human bonds, rather than take a loud and didactic approach. I put myself into the mix in that way \u2013 my feelings and process came through in the way I framed the film.\u201d<\/span>\n\nBefore <\/span>Moti Bagh<\/span><\/i>, the 45-year-old Dandriyal has helmed documentaries on dancers from Gujarat\u2019s Siddi community (<\/span>All The World\u2019s A Stage<\/span><\/i>), on Chhau, a semi-classical dance from <\/span>Odisha<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>The Face Behind the Mask<\/span><\/i>), and on Begum Akhtar (<\/span>Zikr Us Parivash Ka<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0<\/span>\n\nMoti Bagh\u2019s recognition comes almost seven months after a UP-based documentary film <\/span>Period. End of Sentence<\/span><\/i><\/a>, which focused on menstrual hygiene access for women in the country, bagged an Oscar in the Best Documentary (Short Category). Will it be two in a row for India? <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nirmal Chander\u2019s documentary Moti Bagh is an inspiring story of an 83-year-old farmer from Uttarakhand, who continues to tend to his land even as others have abandoned the village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":356,"featured_media":5415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[166,9218,9219,9220,9221,9222,9223,436,9224,9225,7649,9226,9227,9228,9229,9230,9231,9232,9233],"class_list":["post-5414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-agriculture","tag-all-the-worlds-a-stage","tag-begum-akhtar","tag-migrant-labour","tag-moti-bagh","tag-nepali-farmers","tag-nirmal-chander","tag-odisha","tag-oscar-nominated-documentary","tag-oscars-2020","tag-period-end-of-sentence","tag-professions","tag-ram-singh","tag-the-face-behind-the-mask","tag-trivendra-singh-rawat","tag-uttarakhand-chief-minister","tag-uttarkhand-farmer","tag-vidyadutt-sharma","tag-zikr-us-parivash-ka"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Moti Bagh the Oscar-Nominated Documentary on an Uttarkhand Farmer Needs Our 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