Selection

Screening: Professional Competition 8
India 2021
Duration: 09:00
Directed: Abhishek Verma, Jayesh Pillai
Screenplay: Abhishek Verma, Yogini Mukund Oke
Production: Abhishek Verma, Jayesh Pillai
Dialogue Language: Hindi

Manual scavenging is the occupation of sanitation work in India, involving manually cleaning and disposing of human excreta from street manholes, gutters, sewers, etc. This job is usually taken up by people from marginalized lower-caste, who are deemed impure and fit only for such roles by an ancient social stratification system that still tacitly prevails. Compelled by the exigencies of poor economic life and caste identity, Amitabh, a young law graduate, becomes a manual scavenger. One day, to earn some extra money to support his family, he decides to get inside a large unsafe sewer to clear a blockage. He neither has protective gear, nor the accompanying engineer to check for poisonous gases. Will Amitabh come out safely?