Sengadal
Encyclopedia
Sengadal is the first full length feature film of Leena Manimekalai
, who also stars in the film. Several local actors form the rest of the cast. Produced by Janaki Sivakumar under the banner of Tholl Paavai Theatres, the film features cinematography by M. J. Radhakrishnan and editing by Sreekar Prasad. The film was initially banned by Regional Censor Board and then after several months of legal struggle with the Appellate Tribunal Authorities at New Delhi, CBFC had cleared the film without any cuts but with an Adult certification by July 2011.
The film shows how the ethnic war in Sri Lanka had affected the lives of fishermen in Dhanushkodi. It highlights human rights violations against fishermen and depicts their rage against atrocities perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government. It incorporates the stories recounted by widows of fishermen killed by Lankan Navy, Tamil refugees from across the sea and the local fishermen who have to deal with the state police and naval authorities of both countries. The period is set between February and May 2009, the last stages of civil conflict in Sri Lanka. The censor board refused clearance certificate to the film, stating that it made denigrating political remarks about the governments of Sri Lanka and India, and uses unparliamentary words.
For, there is no one fighting their war back home now. Heroic images have turned to dust. The bunkers run with the wasted blood. Smoke rises from heaps of putrid flesh. Unwanted lives rot away in barbed wire human zoos.
The misery spills over to the Indian shore. Fishermen fishing in fear in ignorance of friendly and enemy waters get dumped as rebels, spies and smugglers and unceremoniously beaten to death or shot or maimed. Yet, each morning sees their boats launched once again to the sea as the sea is their motherland and the language of fish their mother tongue.
Manimekalai, the filmmaker, Munusamy, the fisherman, Rosemary, the social worker in Jesuit Christian Refugee Services, try hard to retain their sanity in this mad jumble. Their interactions with the dead or living refugees, their skirmishes with the Indian and Sri Lankan States, their personal lives overrun by external events - form the kernel of this narration. Soori, a half-wit Sri Lankan Tamil, who connects to the world through his radio, stands aloof in this bleak world of despair sending lightning jolts of truth into the dark recesses of History. No wonder, he vanishes into the blue and Manimekalai is forced by the State to return to the world of civil obedience. Munusamy is killed and Rosemary turns to her God, the same God who parted the Red Sea to save his flock in their flight from annihilation.
Leena Manimekalai
Leena Manimekalai is an Indian Filmmaker,Poet and actor based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She has nine documentary films and a feature film to her credits. She has acted in several of her movies and has published three anthologies of poems. She is also a much acclaimed street theatre artist...
, who also stars in the film. Several local actors form the rest of the cast. Produced by Janaki Sivakumar under the banner of Tholl Paavai Theatres, the film features cinematography by M. J. Radhakrishnan and editing by Sreekar Prasad. The film was initially banned by Regional Censor Board and then after several months of legal struggle with the Appellate Tribunal Authorities at New Delhi, CBFC had cleared the film without any cuts but with an Adult certification by July 2011.
The film shows how the ethnic war in Sri Lanka had affected the lives of fishermen in Dhanushkodi. It highlights human rights violations against fishermen and depicts their rage against atrocities perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government. It incorporates the stories recounted by widows of fishermen killed by Lankan Navy, Tamil refugees from across the sea and the local fishermen who have to deal with the state police and naval authorities of both countries. The period is set between February and May 2009, the last stages of civil conflict in Sri Lanka. The censor board refused clearance certificate to the film, stating that it made denigrating political remarks about the governments of Sri Lanka and India, and uses unparliamentary words.
Plot
On the Indian mainland, across the waters, arrive the Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, an unending stream of people dispossessed of their lands and Gods, to an uncertain future with ever receding hopes of return. Dhanushkodi, the Indo-Sri Lankan border town, is the crucible wherein History is brewing this concoction of defeated lives and exhausted dreams. Hope is a big word and resistance but a tired expression. Three decades of struggle for a nation is washed out, a race obliterated.For, there is no one fighting their war back home now. Heroic images have turned to dust. The bunkers run with the wasted blood. Smoke rises from heaps of putrid flesh. Unwanted lives rot away in barbed wire human zoos.
The misery spills over to the Indian shore. Fishermen fishing in fear in ignorance of friendly and enemy waters get dumped as rebels, spies and smugglers and unceremoniously beaten to death or shot or maimed. Yet, each morning sees their boats launched once again to the sea as the sea is their motherland and the language of fish their mother tongue.
Manimekalai, the filmmaker, Munusamy, the fisherman, Rosemary, the social worker in Jesuit Christian Refugee Services, try hard to retain their sanity in this mad jumble. Their interactions with the dead or living refugees, their skirmishes with the Indian and Sri Lankan States, their personal lives overrun by external events - form the kernel of this narration. Soori, a half-wit Sri Lankan Tamil, who connects to the world through his radio, stands aloof in this bleak world of despair sending lightning jolts of truth into the dark recesses of History. No wonder, he vanishes into the blue and Manimekalai is forced by the State to return to the world of civil obedience. Munusamy is killed and Rosemary turns to her God, the same God who parted the Red Sea to save his flock in their flight from annihilation.
External links
- Article in Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil)
