Suman Ghosh’s latest film The Scavenger of Dreams recently had its South Asia premiere at the ongoing Jio MAMI Film Festival 2023 in Mumbai, provoking thoughtful discussions on socio-economic disparities in modern India after the screening.
Ghosh revealed that the idea for The Scavenger of Dreams was inspired by an article published in The New York Times. “It had an interesting headline: ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’ It was about a waste collector in California who used to collect waste from the billionaires there… old iPads or phones and things like that. Sometimes he did not even know the use of those things. But he used to collect them and dream about the lives that the rich people had,” said Ghosh.
“I found it interesting and let the idea germinate for a year or two. I also have genuine concern about the larger issues that this film points out. That was the inspiration of this story. The research took three years, while we shot the film in six days,” added Ghosh, who is currently working on the film Kabuliwala starring Mithun Chakraborty in the title role.
The Scavenger of Dreams presents a powerful narrative that delves into the life of Birju, a young man who ekes out a living by collecting waste in Kolkata, all the while dreaming about a better life. Shardul Bhardwaj plays Birju, while Sudipta Chakraborty plays his wife Shona, a homemaker who also collects waste with her husband in the morning.
Ghosh effectively juxtaposes the protagonist’s dreams against the backdrop of a modernised India, highlighting the growing chasm between the impoverished and the affluent.
Speaking during the Q&A session at Jio MAMI, Sudipta said there was no traditional script for the making of the film, with only the central idea guiding the narrative. She mentioned that Ghosh cast real-life ragpickers, with the exception of Shardul and her.
“There was no script, just the idea. When the seed germinated in his brain, he started passing it on to us. From the very beginning, he was clear that he wanted to work with non-professionals in the roles of waste collectors. You work with actors every day. This was fascinating and challenging,” Sudipta said.
“What was even more fascinating was that there was no script. Not even a line written. We had a crazy filmmaker who used to give us one-liners and tell us ‘maidan khula hai, jao khelo’. We knew what he wanted from the scene,” she added.
“We would all go out to the dump yards to meet the ragpickers for research. We used to have our evening adda where we let the idea formulate its way. You enter a dump yard and the tragedy of it is enormous… You meet people… I talked to them about their lives, their work. I was constantly learning,” said Shardul, about his process of preparing for his role.
