Two walks lead through the film; they occasionally meander and merge into one another; two paradoxes parody one another. One of the beautiful old Indo-Islamic architectures, filled with domes and serpentined stairs, reverberating Dohas of the Gulams and Kabirs, scents of kebabs and Gulkand permeating through the picture frame paralleling the cloistered houses, one wall shared by many with tinned roofs. Two ragpickers going about their daily lives mechanically picking trash; dead bodies mar the streets like empty food packets. Swach Bharat becomes comparable to a man’s destiny, as he’d made his way to Delhi years ago with a desire to leave the country.
The film focuses on four men and later on the communities residing there, bringing forth several questions in occurrences of sheer vulnerability, for instance, when Patru’s father inquires about the source of the money and whether it was his own. Stories of the struggle of people he knows who dreamed landed in that city. Jain Saheb’s role as a heritage walk conductor allows one to think about the different roles a person plays to support their family along with social pressure. It also focuses on the dreams and fears of common people who wish for a simple and carefree life.A pivotal subplot unfolds when Patru hijacks Akash’s tourist business, offering visitors a glimpse of “apni Dilli”—the Delhi that resides in the shadows of heritage sites and glossy brochures. This shift exposes the tourists to uncomfortable truths—roadside curries, makeshift medical clinics, and the harsh realities of poverty. The clash between the tourists’ expectations of exoticism and the gritty authenticity Patru offers serves as a sharp critique of societal perceptions and inequalities.
Poverty traps are a result of economic and environmental circumstances that reinforce themselves to reinforce poverty for generations, and trapped they are! as their needs become dreams and dreams farfetched desires.
The Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon film, produced by Gutterati Productions and directed by Anamika Haksar, was screened at the Ark Foundation of Arts in Vadodara on 5th June 2024. The 2-hour runtime with a hybrid mode of storytelling flaunts itself as the antithesis to the often romanticized, insipid portrayal of poverty in popular culture. The film’s storytelling capabilities lie in visuals of Devis flying out of a kadai, where one of our characters fries samosas and another makes love to a wall as he reminisces of his past lover. The quips on the class divide are fervently sprinkled over the looming narrative of life in the gullies of Shahjahanabad. The name in itself is an ode to the colloquial of the area.
@text written , Saloni and Snehal, Himanshu