Upavahana

Upavahana which is Pali for ‘washing away’ is a humble effort at narrating the story of the Rohingya refugees in 12 minutes,probably the first docu fiction movie on the issue. Upavahana criticises the response of India and other nations like Bangladesh to the Rohingyan refugee crisis,but in a unique manner of filming.The story of ants, symbolising the lives of the Rohingyan refugees, is recounted by a refugee mother to her daughter in India. The narration therefore is in the Rohingya language, which doesn't even have a script.The arrival of red ants in the maroon cloth (symbolises buddhism) and how black ants were forced to flee heir homes and seek refuge in safer hands, and how those perceived as guardians of humanitarian values refuse to accept them in the name of resource scarcity and national security, form the crux of the story.The aim of the movie makers has been to initiate a discussion on our response to the Rohingya refugees and kick-start an essential introspection into ourselves as a nation. The shortfilm does not throw facts or figures, and does not right away rebut the arguments of national security and resource scarcity. Those are arguments which the filmmakers want to elicit from the audience who watch this thought provoking shortfilm that ends with asking the pertinent question, ‘Have we forgotten to aspire to be a moral Republic?’ In an age where headlines change at the speed of thought, it is imperative that the apathy of us as a nation to the Rohingya refugees who knock on our doors, burns alive in the public conscience. That is what the shortfilm aims to achieve. As Rabindranath Tagore once said, “Patriotism cannot be our final shelter, my refuge is in humanity.”