In search of justice

Four years ago when Sachin Shirke a lawyer read a newspaper article about how a man was acquitted after a 15year wait in cases of the 199293 Mumbai riots in less than an hour he was appalled by the ludicrousness of the Indian judicial system He decided to film a documentary Audi Alteram Partem mdash Hear the other side which would help the affected voice their emotions Sachin Shirke shot the 80minute documentary for two years while juggling his u00a0job and has funded the movie himself Pic Suresh K K The 31 yearold started off by attending the court trials interacting with lawyers and activists and getting the contact details of the victims His friends chartered accountants by profession stepped in to assist him as they believed in the cause u00a0Shirke recounts that winning the confidence of the victims and making them recount their trauma was one of the biggest hurdles ldquoInitially it was difficult to track the victims as in some cases we just got the first name and had to locate them among 10 namesakes within a slum When we finally met them they were too traumatised So we would just chat with them to gain their confidence There were times when they would assign us a time for the interview but failed to show up I realised they still feared they would be implicated We had to assure them that we had their best interests in mindrdquo The Mulund resident also had to face the humongous task of capturing the riots and the victimsrsquo acquittal within a span of just 80 minutes After interviewing 62 individuals right from government officials to politicians legal experts social activists and the common man he had to verify facts separate the wheat from the chaff and present an accurate picture Shirke says ldquoIt was extremely frustrating but the injustice meted out to the acquitted kept me going I wanted to make this documentary to highlight the plight of the common man who is a victim of the judiciary the police and the governmentrdquo Shirke who has attended a filmmaking course from the Film and Television Institute of India Pune and assisted director Sai Paranjpe for four years knew that he wouldnrsquot get any finances for this documentary So he invested in it himself He however admits that his filmmaking experience as well as his stint as a lawyer helped him a lot ldquoSince I was a part of the system it was easy to see the loopholesrdquo Audi Alteram Partem a commonly used term in legal circles that means hear the other side got a censor certificate in December 2010 and was screened at the 8th Indian film festival Bollywood amp Beyond at Stuttgart Germany last year where it was nominated in the Best Documentary category Shirke is happy with the response his film has garnered at various screenings in media institutes and hopes it will make a difference in the long run As for his future plans the lawyer who had earlier shot two short films is now keen to helm a fulllength feature film that will take a satirical look at social issues ldquoThe two and a half years that I spent in making the film took a heavy toll on me I was reeling under its pressure for eight months Now I want to follow my mentor Sai Paranjpersquos footsteps and make a film that will make people think as well as laughrdquo he concludes u00a0Audi Alteram Partem mdash Hear The Other Side will be screened at Alliance de Francaise near SNDT campus Churchgate on June 6 at 630 pmu00a0