Thank you #AmitMasurkar for making such an important film. No, it was not entertaining, or holds the same thrill as Steven Spielberg's Jaws did. This was not an ideal weekend film that I expected. And I also couldn't be more thankful that I didn't end up watching it on the big screen. Fifteen minutes into the film, it seemed familiar... it was pulsating with the same core as Swades did. I remember walking out of the theater disappointed as I didn't understand what had I just watched. But the film kept haunting me. I couldn't get the image of Shahrukh crying in the train when he was returning from some village, out of my head. The music, the unconventional odd village characters, the theme of transformation and acceptance, everything about the film started to unsettle me. In days to come, the movie completely shook me from my myopic center of understanding life and things around me. Swades overwhelmed me with its anti-cinematic, life approach. And I know just like Swades, Sherni will also keep disturbing me for days to come. But this time round, I already know why this film has made me restless and exposed some old wounds.
Sherni is based on true events (disclaimer: the film doesn't say that, this is strictly my personal observation); the murder of tigress Avni also called T-1. The plea of thousands of animal rights activist were rejected. The Supreme Court ordered that the animal be tranquilized and transported elsewhere, failing which the authorities were given permission to kill her. The mother of two ten-month old cubs was brutally murdered in the Yavatmal region of Maharashtra on November 2nd, 2018.
The 2021 World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a French NGO, has again placed India at 142nd rank out of 180 countries. If things were different in India, I am sure the director's narrative would have included Adanis and Birlas who bought Avni's home; her jungle from the government to build their commercial plants, and that's the main reason (what popular mainstream Indian media will not say) why the poor animal had to be eliminated. Yet, I want to sincerely applaud Amit V. Masurkar for attempting an endearing and brave social satire.
There will always be people who won't fight for tigers or other animals, there will be those who will not care if the forests are cut or burnt, or habitats of thousands of species destroyed for metro, or sprawling multi-storied malls. Yet, we need films like Sherni to shake us up, until we realize that nature, animals, human beings, are all interconnected. Nothing and no one can exist in isolation.
In 2019, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at the age of 16, gave a very angry and emotional speech to hundreds of world leaders at the United Nations in New York City. If we can't learn from this pandemic, or appreciate the intent of films like Sherni, and fail to raise our voice against the cruelty and atrocities to the nature and animals, we will have no place to hide our faces. Our children will also ask us the same question as Greta did. "How dare you?"
Sherni is based on true events (disclaimer: the film doesn't say that, this is strictly my personal observation); the murder of tigress Avni also called T-1. The plea of thousands of animal rights activist were rejected. The Supreme Court ordered that the animal be tranquilized and transported elsewhere, failing which the authorities were given permission to kill her. The mother of two ten-month old cubs was brutally murdered in the Yavatmal region of Maharashtra on November 2nd, 2018.
The 2021 World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a French NGO, has again placed India at 142nd rank out of 180 countries. If things were different in India, I am sure the director's narrative would have included Adanis and Birlas who bought Avni's home; her jungle from the government to build their commercial plants, and that's the main reason (what popular mainstream Indian media will not say) why the poor animal had to be eliminated. Yet, I want to sincerely applaud Amit V. Masurkar for attempting an endearing and brave social satire.
There will always be people who won't fight for tigers or other animals, there will be those who will not care if the forests are cut or burnt, or habitats of thousands of species destroyed for metro, or sprawling multi-storied malls. Yet, we need films like Sherni to shake us up, until we realize that nature, animals, human beings, are all interconnected. Nothing and no one can exist in isolation.
In 2019, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at the age of 16, gave a very angry and emotional speech to hundreds of world leaders at the United Nations in New York City. If we can't learn from this pandemic, or appreciate the intent of films like Sherni, and fail to raise our voice against the cruelty and atrocities to the nature and animals, we will have no place to hide our faces. Our children will also ask us the same question as Greta did. "How dare you?"
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