The last act of dignity: Sumira Roy on National Award-winning documentary Bhangaar

A decade ago, actor Deepika Padukone said in an ad campaign: ‘My body, My choice.’ But, in reality, when it comes to older people, society often wrests that agency from them. Last week, as the world observed both International Day of Older Persons (October 1) and Gandhi Jayanti (October 2), Mumbai-based Sumira Roy’s documentary film Bhangaar (Obsolete), raised the question of dignity in death and the right to die for the elderly.

The yet-to-release Marathi film, which won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film last month, was screened by the Kriti Film Club in Delhi NCR.

Bhangaar trains the lens on Narayan and Iravati Lavate, an octogenarian Maharashtrian childless couple, who petitioned for active euthanasia in 2018. Iravati succumbed to cancer in 2023, Narayan lives in an old-age home. His eyesight and memory, too, have deserted him. After the news of the National Award came in, Roy wanted to share the moment with Narayan. She rang up Prakash Joshi, the brother of Iravati, who also appears in the film. Joshi told her that due to Narayan’s present old-age health and impediments there of, nothing would register with man.

While Nilesh Maniyar and Shonali Bose’s documentary A Fly on the Wall (2024) is also on the same subject and travels with Chika Kapadia to Switzerland for his last days, Roy’s documentary shows how only privilege can afford that right.

Monisha Advani, Bhangaar’s producer and partner, Emmay Entertainment, calls the film personal, “My late mother was a Maharashtrian and while growing up, the frugality of my maternal grandparents’ lives somewhere was mirrored in the Lavates. Sumira has given me the opportunity, in a private way, to pay tribute to my familial pedagogy."

Excerpts from an interview with director Roy:

Bhangaar (Obsolete) screens on October 1 at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi, and on October 4 at Museo Camera, Gurugram at 4.30 pm.