The Exodus: ‘Bheed’ Depicts the Plight of India’s Underprivileged Classes Ravaged By the Pandemic
- Moving to America has made me appreciate the marginalized existence of India’s poor as I manage work, domestic chores, raising children, etc., all by myself.
“Bheed,” a film by Anubhav Sinha pays homage to the plight of the COVID-driven mass migration of Indian immigrant workers in 2020 but gets enmeshed in the popular caste trap.
When the first trailer of “Bheed” dropped on social media in spring, I was drawn in because the images of mass migration of immigrant workers from urban city centers to their villages had burnt unhappy trails in my mindscape.
In my living consciousness, I have interacted closely and compassionately with maids, orderlies, cooks, security guards, chauffeurs, sweepers, valets and general helpers since childhood. I have thanked them profusely, helped them and written about them cooking, cleaning, gardening, ironing, mending, and tidying our lives for small stipends whilst staying far away from their homes, land, and families.
Moving to America has made me appreciate their marginalized existence more as I manage work, domestic chores, raising children, helping them with their assignments and driving back and forth on my own. Back home, I am guilty of my cook running up to the car to hand me my cup of tea, delivering my food to the hospital and my housekeeper standing on a step stool to tie my organdy saree.
Now my housekeeper’s son drives my grandson to school and our cook of 40 years still makes vegetable omelets, appams, halwa, and organic hummus in our family kitchen. Only most of these lovely people who are members of our family now have a home close to our residence so they were not subjected to leaving their homes during the pandemic and caught in the “Bheed.” I am still looking for my dad’s caregiver because he made me promise to educate his children.
In “Bheed,” Anubhav Sinha captures grubby throngs of confused daily workers subjected to extreme distress. Not only were they forced to leave their extended family in villages, thrust into overcrowded shantytowns to clean city dwellers’ dirty dishes and dirty laundry but these workers come to a grim realization that even that “infinitesimal” space they called home was not their own.
Although feeding the hungry is considered to bring good karma in any religion or caste, the pandemic forced every household to close their doors on those who were left outside homeless.
The very talented Rajkummar Rao delivers a wonderful performance as inspector Surya Kumar Singh who outwardly is viewed to be a Rajput because of Singh in his name but his psyche is buried under the “lower class” identity of Tikas.
Bhumi Pednekar plays his love interest Dr. Renu Sharma. She encourages Surya Kumar to rise above the insults he received as a lower-caste child but does not pack a punch in her role. Pankaj Kapur butts head with the police establishment to provide food for the hungry children as a security officer Balram Trivedi but his powerful stance is dwarfed by the long-rooted ignominious “Hindu- Muslim” trope.
Another character who delivers a realistic performance is Ashutosh Rana as inspector Shiv Yadav, trying to create a semblance of order in the burgeoning chaos among the “Bheed’ stationed outside the checkpost. He refuses to color between the lines and rises to the “humane” calling along with Surya Kumar.
It was surreal to see that humans can starve just a few paces away from a food court stocked with food. Although feeding the hungry is considered to bring good karma in any religion or caste, the pandemic forced every household to close their doors on those who were left outside homeless. Remember “Go away the door is shut now, do not disturb my sleep. My children and I are comfortable your nagging need will keep,” from the school choir?
Dia Mirza plays a distressed housewife in a chauffeur-driven SUV trying to retrieve her daughter from a college campus. The heroine of the film was unarguably the scrawny teenage girl who manages to hitch a ride with her almost “vanquished” alcoholic father in a cement truck. She crawls out of the hole in the unseemly container with her trusty bike, straddles her father on the back and drives away off the beaten path.
This was the most poignant part of the story and speaks volumes of the grit and determination of the female of the species. I recommend that you watch the film on Netflix to remember the gritty story of the 140 crore Indian citizens grappling with their plight. The reality for the underprivileged classes ravaged by floods, war, and natural disasters is often raw. And it will happen again.
With one foot in Huntsville, Alabama, the other in her birth home India and a heart steeped in humanity, writing is a contemplative practice for Monita Soni. She has published hundreds of poems, movie reviews, book critiques, essays and contributed to combined literary works. Her two books are My Light Reflections and Flow through My Heart. You can hear her commentaries on Sundial Writers Corner WLRH 89.3FM.