Movie screened to raise funds for families of victims

 Scores of Bengalureans had gathered at St Joseph’s College to watch the movie ‘Amaravathi’.

The movie was screened for the first time in a non-commercial set up to raise awareness about the plight of manual scavengers in the cosmopolitan city.

The main aim of the screening was to raise funds for the family of the three workers who were choked to death while cleaning a manhole in C V Raman Nagar on March 7.
“Though entry to the movie was free, everybody who watched the movie contributed some money to the families of the deceased.

We are not doing this for money, but to raise awareness among people against the present system and to urge the government to stop manual scavenging,” said Giriraj B M, director of ‘Amaravathi’.

The movie is also a tribute to Dantha Yarrayya (35), Kore Anjaneya Reddy (34) and Tatta Thavitayya (28) who had entered a 12-foot deep live manhole to clean it.

They were hired by a contractor who had undertaken the work of laying the lines between KR Puram and Kadabeesanahalli and cleaning the manholes along the stretch.
The movie was an eye-opener for many who had not watched it when it had hit the screens after its commercial release on February 12. Though the movie was not well appreciated at the box office, it received a lot of critical acclaim. The movie has been screened to different sections of society like human rights activists and women’s organisations.

“When the movie was released, we had organised the screening for 500 pourakarmikas and it was well received,” Giriraj said.

Giriraj and producer Madhava Reddy have been getting many requests to screen the movie again in mainstream commercial theatres, but the makers are not interested. They said that they are now keen to showcase it to certain sections of society and effect a change in the attitudes of people and the way the government system works.

The movie shows the life of the manual scavengers and pourakarmikas who are harassed by contractors and what they go through to earn their livelihood. The movie also showcases how the labourers are treated as social outcasts. The film
was given an ‘A’ certificate by the censor board before its screening because of the use of abusive language in the film.