Research

While researching this documentary, I encounter this attitude now and then. “Why do you want to reveal this facet of Parsi life to non-Parsis? Why don’t you focus on something positive instead? Why do you want to paint such a sorry picture of our community?” Like me, they too want to turn away their gaze from them.

But this time, I’m not turning away. I’m confronting my prejudices. And hopefully I will get my community to confront their prejudices too.

Surprisingly, others turn out to be encouraging. “Yes, there are a lot of poor in our community. And their story deserves to be told.”

Armed with a list of Parsis dependent on the Poona Parsi Panchayat for a meagre monthly dole, I begin knocking on doors. I do not know what to tell them. I am facing a dilemma. My reasons for making this film are selfish. I am not an activist fighting for their cause. I am making a film because I have to, and at the most, through it I might come to terms with myself. And yet this film could also help them. I decide to be honest with them. I do not know how they will react. Parsis, even the poor among them, have their pride.

Some did shut their doors to me. Their shame or their pride did not want to be photographed. But most others were matter-of-fact about their poverty and were more forthcoming.

Keki Irani in his house at Rasta Peth, Pune