BILAL
Sourav Sarangi | India 2008 | 52 Min. | OmeU
The story begins inside an 8X10 feet partitioned room in central Kolkata. Almost nothing is visible inside. In fact, Bilal’s parents don’t need any light to see things around; they are blind. Bilal is just three years old and he has an infant brother. Both can see. So together they live as if in a game of seeing and not seeing. Though of a very tender age, Bilal is fully aware of the physical handicap of his parents. He knows how to communicate with them through sounds and touch. He is never jobless – be it guiding his blind parents through the traffic or training up the art of making mischiefs to his brother. Whenever Bilal is in the mood for mischief, his parents become strict and their son jumps into the world outside.Bilal tastes life on street from his elders – it’s hard. But he never gives up. Very unusually for our times, Bilal’s upbringing and care seems to have become a collective responsibility of all the neighbors. The film tells this curious story by observing the little boy over a year and capturing rare moments of sharing love, fun, cruelty and hope… the wonder world of Bilal. Bilal won the Golden Award for “Long Film” at the Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival 2009.
