The pied pipers of Mumbai

Three years ago when documentary filmmaker Miriam Chandy Menacherry came across a newspaper clipping calling for applications to be a part of Brihanmumbai Muncipal Corporationrsquos BMC ratkilling squad she was intrigued Upon further investigation she learnt that almost 2000 people had applied in response to the ad Most of the applicants were welleducated and had to undergo a recruitment process and training for the job This prompted her to make a documentary on the hithertounknown pied pipers of Mumbai who set out every night armed with sticks to kill rodents The documentary shows how the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is plagued with applications for the ratkilling squad Most applicants are well qualified and all of them have to undergo a recruitment process Titled The Rat Race the documentary was filmed over two years and won the prestigious MIPDoc Coproduction Challenge at Cannes in 2010 It was also screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam It has now been released commercially in multiplexes such as PVR and Big Cinemas in Mumbai from April 20 The movie was handpicked for a theatrical release by the multiplexes from among six other documentaries after it was screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala last December An ecstatic Menacherry says ldquoIrsquom really excited about the theatrical release Irsquom keeping my fingers crossed and hope that the audience will like the film I wish that my movie paves the way for other documentaries to be accessed by a larger audiencerdquo Menacherry who has earlier helmed awardwinning documentaries for BBC and the National Geographic Channel explains that her film uses members of the ratkilling squad as a metaphor They represent lakhs of people who come to Mumbai every year to fulfil their dreams but have to eventually settle for something else In fact The Rat Racersquos protagonist Behram Harda a Parsi supervisor of the squad is one such example He dreamt of becoming a Bollywood superstar but had to become a BMC employee instead on his fatherrsquos insistence ldquoInitially we started shooting with Harda and a ratkiller But during the course of filming six people were inducted into the squad so we decided to shoot the recruitment process Most of them are part of the squad to earn money and pursue further studiesrdquo Menacherry has infused dark comedy into a grim subject which attributes to Hardarsquos quirky sense of humour She adds ldquoHe likens himself to James Bond as he too has a licence to kill Though Harda was cooperative it took some time for the other members to get comfortable with the idea of being filmedrdquo She says ldquoHarda was excited because finally his dream of seeing himself on the big screen would be realised But the other members were embarrassed about their job I had to convince them that we had their best interests at heart Later I also called them to see the rough cut of the movierdquo Now when Menacherry looks back she admits that building a rapport with the squad members was easy as compared to the other challenges she had to face She confesses ldquoInitially when I approached the BMC officials to seek their permission for my film they were taken aback My letter was pending with them for a year Later my crew was beaten up twice while we were filming at public placesrdquo She confesses that the film was also a victim of state censorship ldquoThe ratsrsquo dead bodies are disposed at the Deonar dumping ground But we were unable to document that part as we were denied permissionrdquo Apart from enjoying her moviersquos run at multiplexes Menacherry is now focusing on her next project mdash an IndoPak coproduction It is a young energetic subject that will cater to the youth Ask her by when she intends to wrap it up and she laughs ldquoI have learnt a lesson mdash that documentaries are not in your control When I started filming The Rat Race I thought I would finish it within six months But it took me two yearsrdquo u00a0