05-08-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
A fabric of loss in frame
Narrow lanes lead to jute mills in Bengal. The roads are dimly lit. Children play in labour lines. Men listen to the radio as they rest after their shift. These are some of the recurring visuals in the documentary, The Golden Thread, made by Nishtha Jain, a passout of FTTI's film school. She also studied in Jamia Millia's Mass Communication Centre. More than 30 jute mills have shut down in Bengal in a course of five years, from 2017 to 2022. This also includes the old Wellington Mill, which was established in Rishra in 1857, one of the sites where the film—made after eight years of research—was shot. The camera wanders around close packed streets, recording sweat-trickling foreheads, dispirited eyes, and weary faces. This story, however, began years ago, and can be traced to Partition. After Partition, the jute industry of divided Bengal faced an existential crisis. While East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had the finest stock of jute fibre and the best jute growing areas, the jute mills were in India. Outdated machinery, emergence of synthetic substitutes, and competition from Bangladesh and Brazil added to the problems. Jain's film follows low-paid workers, weighed down by daily struggle. In one scene, a dejected labourer appears bluntly speaking about the poor wages in mills. 'A mason gets `300 a day. At the mill we get `200 a day. Besides, there's no guarantee of work,' he says. For the women, the day starts as early as 2 or 3 am — to cook, get ready, and leave for work. A young girl in the film, who once wanted to become a police officer, now dreams of becoming an actor, visiting Goa, and resting by a beach. She speaks with a mix of laughter and sadness.
