JOURNEYS

Vinayan Kodoth
India 2003 | 39 Min. | 35 mm, OF

A hell­ish trip. Every day in Mumbai seven mil­lion com­muters use the sub­ur­ban rail net­work. Every year almost 4,000 people die in acci­dents. They fall off the trains, are dragged along or run over. A five hour jour­ney to and from work is not unusu­al. The trains are over­filled. Pas­sen­gers on the plat­forms are driven into the trains by rail­way employ­ees with batons. A hand grasps an iron grill. Elbows touch. One pas­sen­ger tries to breathe past the arm of his neigh­bour. It is quiet. The only sounds are the rat­tling of the wheels and the swelling of noise as the train gath­ers speed. Sud­den­ly a hubbub as the train stops at the sta­tion and even more people force their way onto the train. “In a few years Mumbai will have a pop­u­la­tion of 20 mil­lion, all of whom will be on the move. What are the politi­cians doing about this? Progress in India means expan­sion to a Super­pow­er status with nuclear weapons. Count­less mil­lions flow into research, while every­where else basic neces­si­ties are lacking.”
Vinayan Kodoth has made a cin­e­mat­ic work of art as his protest against this night­mare city.