“AIDS Jaago”: Films that awaken

A scene from “Migration”, directed and produced by Mira Nair.

What could be more opportune on World AIDS Day (December 1) this year than a series of short films by well-known Indian film directors that combine a socially relevant theme with gripping storylines?
That's a brief rundown of “AIDS Jaago” (AIDS Awaken), a series of four short dramatic films, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on HIV-AIDS, which were screened at the American Centre in New Delhi.
The films: “Migration” (directed and produced by Mira Nair, of “Monsoon Wedding”, “Mississippi Masala” and The Namesake” fame), “Blood Brothers” (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj the award-winning filmmaker behind “Omkara”), “Positive” (by Farhan Akhtar, a most prominent young filmmaker) and “Prarambha” (The Beginning) by renowned cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan.
What binds the films together is that each of them convey their message forcefully, without the didactic droning that such works are prone to. In “Migration” we have a star cast of Shiny Ahuja, Irrfan Khan, Sameera Reddy and Raima Sen (grand daughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen). This Mira Nair film reveals the criss crossing of rural and urban India through the rural protagonist Shiny Ahuja who migrates to Mumbai in search of work. His life is changed forever after an encounter with a bored homemaker (ably played by Sameera Reddy) whose husband (Irrfan Khan) is a closet gay. He returns to his village and his young wife (Raima Sen) only to discover that he is HIV positive and that his newborn child has also contracted the deadly virus.
The films carry nuances not only of agony and despair but also of hope and courage. Take “Blood Brothers”, for example. With Siddhartha (of “Rang de Basanti”), Pavan Malhotra, Ayesha Takia and Pankaj Kapur in the cast, we get to see how a young man with a positive HIV diagnosis (which turns out to be negative later) allows his life to fall to pieces, while another man whose file has got mixed up with the former, knows that his is HIV positive, yet carries on with optimism and courage.
More than rallies and long-winded discussions, films of this calibre can go many miles in dealing with the stigma and discrimination that are conjoined with the disease.
Director Mira Nair, the brain behind the “AIDS Jaago' project, has been quoted as saying, “We cannot underestimate the potential of films to change behaviour and transform the world.” Needless to say, more such films that raise awareness on this blight and demolish the numerous myths that surround the disease are necessary.
As recent figures indicate, an estimated 33 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide. India and Bangladesh are regarded as the hotspots for the disease. The “AIDS Jaago” series could strike a responsive chord in audiences in the subcontinent. They could also act as a clarion call to a complacent public that believes that HIV/AIDS is a distant threat and all victims pariahs of society.