[Reader-list] Sagar Cinema.

[tangella madhavi]

  I am currently trying to consolidate the information I have collected so far. I see three patterns emerging. First, Sagar cinema as a public space, which the Telugu migrants visit. Secondly, the history of video theatres in Malad area and finally the migratory paths of the Telugu migrants. 

A spiral is a circle set free


Circle One
Life starts at 5 AM at the naka near Sagar cinema where all the Telugu migrants gather for days work. One can distinctly identify them from the other Mumbaiites at this hour with their pillared steel tiffin boxes, a small towel which they either tie tight over their head or cling over their shoulders. They effortlessly cuddle up their tiffin boxes and stand in groups. A few sip cutting chai. While interacting with chai walla they speak Hindi. 
Amidst the laborers, one can identify the Masters by their rather clean shirt and  an obvious cell phone The Masters arrive much before the laborers. There are approximately eight Masters who supervise 25 labourers each. The Master informs his group the previous evening about the possibility of work the following day. 
Budda Anna was a labourer who now manages his own group now. He is ever anxious waiting for the last two labourers to arrive so that he too can head towards the construction site. The wage for the Master is fixed. Depending upon the Seth, he is paid Rs 250-350 per day. A labourer gets Rs 125-150 per day. At the naka, I met Krishna. He spoke impeccable Bambaiya Hindi and called himself a spokesperson of the entire group. He ensures that in case of any accident at the construction site the labourer is duly compensated. He hails from Andhra Pradesh but has outgrown it. He rarely visits his family back home and likes watching Hindi films. He even owns a room in a chawl. 
“We have issued ID cards to about 500 migrants”, says Krishna. These people keep coming in groups. As a group leaves an equal number of people arrive at this naka. The problem arises when the police pick them up at midnight after work and then question them. In the past they have not been able to defend their identity nor do they have a permanent address. The ID gives them a face and dignity. 
Even at the construction site, there is a need to work in groups. Krishna says, “when we make a mistake at work, the contractors start abusing us. We answer them back, “Mera maa aur behen ghar mei hai, mai yaha hu. Unko kyo gaali dete ho saab!” (My mother and sisters are back at home, Why do you abuse them
).


Circle Two
Those who are certain not to find work for the day, wait. At 9 am, they head for Sagar cinema or their rooms. Over a screening, I talk to a house full audience. They are about 40 of them in the room. They are curious to know from which part of Andhra I belong. “Prakasham Jilla (District)”, I tell them. “Oh! You are from Andhra Desam, we are from Telangana”, a few say emphatically. A moment of confusion and clarification followed wherein I clarify to them that I am from Andhra as they all are. After a moment of slience someone from the audience said, “You don’t know, they are different.” A 15-year-old boy sitting on the first bench casually along with a friend, yells that they need a separate Telangana state.
    “So how different is Andhra from Telangana?”, I asked. It is, in the dialect and issues that separates them. They told me that all the top officials in the government are from Andhra so the problems of the Telangana region are systematically ignored. It is a vicious circle. There is no water for their fields resulting in crop failure.There is no labour work generated by the government. During lean months, they take loans,primarily from rich farmers to survive.And eventually unable to repay the loan, they come to Mumbai. Once they earn enough, they go back Home. And in a few months find themselves back in the city.  
All forty of them told me that they have debts,few of them 1-3 lacks!.  
There is also a cultural grievance. They say that Telugu cinema is made for Andhra people. The language in Telugu films is the Telugu closer to the dialect of the coastal region, while Telangana Telugu is reserved for the movie’s comedians, vamps and villains. 
I plan to do some thorough background study about Andhra politics and its relationship with Telugu cinema. I hope this would enable me to understand the way Telugu migrants look at films they watch at Sagar cinema. 

Circle Three
Recently, the owner of Sagar Cinema rather casually told me that they own another such theatre right in the next lane which is I much older than Sagar Cinema. In fact, there is another one  just minute away from Sagar Cinema, which is almost 20yrs old! It is owned by Suleman who also owns two other such video theatres in Malad.
  In the coming months, I intend to study how these theatres began and evolved through the cable TV era and their growth from VCR to VCD projections. At present, I am falling short of concrete data that is reliable.  

There were few comments from readers. They were curious to know how is it for a woman to access a space like Sagar cinema. Are there are women Telugu migrants labourers in the group? What is their city experience like? 
So far it is the language that has bonded us, not the gender. I have not been made to feel the burden of my body in this space. Also, I am yet to meet a woman labourer. They exist and I will certainly meet them. I do not want to appropriate women’s reality of migration in my study as of now. It needs an elaborate and a different approach altogether. For example, if the male migrants labourers are drowsed with emasculatiing verbal abuses, for a woman migrant her body become the site of exploitation.  For a change, I as a woman want to enter a man’s world and understand how the male gender could be equally entrapping for a man. I have so far not assumed the role and language of a man while interacting with them, neither have they been patronizing my womanhood. 
 Although, vaguely related, I am not going to impose my theoretical connections between Sagar cinema, migration and a call for a separate Telangana state and its relationship with Telugu cinema. I want people and their stories to do that for me. 

Tangella Madhavi,Mumbai.


 

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