Jhalki: A sister's search for her brother lost in the dark world of child labour
Not many people are aware that one in every seven child is a laborer and over 200 million children between ages five and 14 work worldwide as some kind of laborer or other, according to media reports..
Mumbai-based award winning film-maker, director/producer Brahmanand S Siingh's film Jhalki is a moving tale about these hapless children and their lost childhood.
At the global First Look Launch of the film Jhalki, organised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the film stunned the spectators with a story encompassing the environment of bonded child labor in India.
"Jhalki is a mirror to our society and draws our attention to a social malaise that many aren’t even aware of. Children are trafficked, put into forced labor when what they long for 24x7 is to return to their family," said Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, founder of Save Childhood Movement.
He makes a special appearance in the film produced by Brahmanand S Siingh and Annand Chavan. The film is co-produced by Vinayak Gawande and Jayesh Parekh, and co-directed by Tanvi Jain.
The film stars Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Divya Dutta, Tanishtha Chatterjee, Govind Namdev, Joy Sengupta, Akhilendra Mishra, and Bachan Pachera.
The story of the film centers around a nine year-old girl, Jhalki and her serch for her seven year-old brother, Babu. Like innumerable other kids from her village, one day, Babu had been traded-off in a very unlikely situation for the family.
Seven year-old Babu was from a poverty-stricken family but was happy to stay with his family. Suddenly he finds himself thrown into an inhuman world of child labor, into a terminally gloomy and depressing workplaces, a carpet weaving factory in India.
Jhalki's love for her sibling compels her to follow her own instincts to take on a strenuous journey in search of Babu, when all other inquiries fail.
In spite of the bureaucracy, corruption and exploitation, that she faces during her journey, Jhalki, compared to a tireless sparrow that gets her lost grain of food back for her children, does not give up. With her presence of mind and strong determination, she is able to free Babu along with thousands of other children caught in the vicious trap.
"Jhalki’s journey is a journey of hope, of confidence, and of self-belief. Jhalki’s struggle is a relentless process of overcoming the odds and of looking for solutions in a way that even the most ordinary citizen may feel inspired to fight (against these prevalent practices) and emerge triumphant!" said Satyarthi.
The film is expected to only make the global audience aware about child labour but also galvanise them to participate in a movement that can impact 200 million children worldwide.
Jhalki will be released in India in February 2019.
Siingh is known for his films like Kaagaz Ki Kashti, a biopic on legendary ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh and his National-Award winning feature-length documentary on RD Burman, Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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