Synopsis
3 men and a Bulb is a story of 3 men
who earn a livelihood from their gharat (watermill)
in foothills of Himalayas (Uttaranchal), India.
The life led by these 3 men is meagre, having
access neither to electricity nor employment that
brings regular income. Farming is very arduous,
as supply of water is scarce. The gharat becomes
a site, which each character wants to own and
sometimes disown, in the quest for a better life.
The story documents the 3 men’s personal
hopes, anxieties and dreams set against the rustic
life in the mountains. The narrative traverses
their changing relationship with self and each
other, offering exciting insights into human nature.
It is a story of Rawat, Satya and young Harish.
What happens when a rural economic system with
a lot of promise is cracked up by administrative
inconsistencies and individual enmity? What happens
when 3 men who could have run the gharat and earned
a comfortable livelihood, are moved by the inner
voice telling them to leave and find a better
source of income, a better life? 3 men and a Bulb
is a story about earning a good living, and a
story about all the larger forces at work that
don’t allow one to do so.
In March, 2004, I was researching
for my documentary film on the Gharats (watermills).
It was a functional documentary film highlighting
the potential of and the need for reviving the
Gharats as efficient indigenous technology. While
talking to villagers in Uttaranchal, I realized
the struggles of the Gharatswamis, (Watermill
owners) who not only revived their Gharats but
also effectively used them to produce electricity.
Often, the meagre electricity produced was distributed
to the neighbours either free or for minimal charges
that went into the maintenance of the Gharat.
I found the relationship between the Gharatswamis
and the villagers untainted by profit making and
a model for the outside world to demonstrate self
sufficiency and harmony.
 During
one such visit, I met Rawat, at Tal village. He
was old and a loner. His family was living in
the near by town of Rishikesh (25kms away) but
Rawat was adamant that he could earn his income
reviving his ancestral Gharat. HESCO, a reputed
NGO had helped him to revive it. Ironically, after
initial praises of HESCO, Rawat started complaining
about non payments by villagers for the electricity.
I was taken aback by the calculative nature of
Rawat. As he spoke, Satya his partner sat listening
in silence. Harish, Rawat’s nephew, was
indifferent in spite of Rawat’s repeated
statements that Harish is going to take over the
Gharat once he finishes school.
I realized that there were a lot of untold emotions
running in the manner Satya, Rawat and Harish
were behaving. Their silence was uncomfortable
and the only reason they were sitting under the
mango tree was because of the Gharat. They were
relying on it for their livelihood. On our way
back, as we were moving away from the beautiful
but hostile terrain around Tal village, I knew
there was a film to be made following the lives
of the three men whom I had just left behind under
the mango tree. Later, when the film was made,
the image of three men sitting under the mango
tree became symbolic. They sat in silence, not
uttering a word. I went back to Tal after completing
the 28 min documentary on the Gharat. In strange
and curious ways, the more time I spent with Rawat
and his Gharat, I was convinced that my previous
film could have been treated in a different manner
both in form and content. The anger was both a
frustration and a release. The frustration reflected
in the fact that the issue based documentary form,
which I was so used to, was insufficient to capture
the essence in 28 minutes dictated by television.
On the other hand, the release was accompanied
by exploring a different form --a form that allowed
me to test the boundaries of Truth and the conventions
I followed in making my documentaries.
June, 2004
For the first few weeks, I kept the camera aside
and spent time talking to Rawat. Satya would join
us occasionally when there was little work at
the Gharat. Harish made his appearance only during
the weekends when he would take a long walk from
his village to join his Uncle helping him clean
weeds, farm and cook. Talking to each one individually,
I realized that there was no animosity between
the three except that each one was trying to come
to terms with their own conflicts. Rawat was worried
about his daughter’s marriage, his dreams
about making the Gharat a tourist spot, forcing
the villagers to pay their dues, trying to balance
the accounts, and ensuring that Harish’s
stays in school so that in future he can take
charge of the Gharat. He spoke for hours, narrating
his woes and experiences in the city. In contrast,
Satya and I bonded immediately as he was curious
what I did in life and how I earned my living.
He was also very curious about the equipment too.
As we shared our lives over hot piping rotis and
aloo ki sabzi at his home, I realized that Satya
was trying to comprehend the loss of his first
wife, trying to adjust to life with his second
wife, expanding his house, and trying to work
harder to raise his monthly income. But throughout
the shoot Satya refused to open up to the camera.
He would mumble or just answer in monosyllables.
In spite of making him comfortable, he just refused.
Even, Harish was silent and observant. But unlike
Satya he did not have much to say. His world was
small consisting of his 2 sisters, stepmother,
school and cattle gazing. He sparsely spoke about
his dreams of going to the city for work or his
lack of interest in pursuing an income from the
Gharat. He would love the sweaters that I would
take for him from Delhi. He would eagerly wait
for me to return to Tal!
Over the conversations, Rawat and Satya kept
repeating that during the rainy season the place
becomes very hostile as getting to the nearest
village takes hours. The harmless looking dry
riverbed next to Rawat’s hut gets flooded
and violent. I was lured to go back during the
monsoon. Firstly, I like rains. All my films have
images of rains. This will have one too. Secondly,
I was lured to get away from city life. No one
could get in touch with me for days while I shot.
The only way to pass on information was to call
Rawat’s son in Rishikesh and leave a message.
He would pass it to the jeep drivers plying between
the forest and the village. (The only mode of
transport plying from dawn to little before the
dusk so as to avoid facing the elephant herd moving
in search of water.) Such inaccessibility also
proved to be physically taxing and called in for
an intelligent pre planning of shoots. I had only
two batteries. There was no way we could recharge
our camera batteries in a village with hardly
any electricity. If I was shooting with one, the
other one was being charged almost five hours
from Tal village in Rishikesh.
August, 2004
I saw Satya’s happy and beaming wife. Later,
he told me that he was about to become a father.
They were expecting their second child. He also
spoke about the ‘budda’ (the old man)
who was being cleaver and cunning. On the other
hand, Rawat kept mumbling that he was unhappy
as the income from the Gharat was dwindling. Also,
hearing that Harish was facing academic problems
at school, we spoke to his teacher for extra tuitions
for his forthcoming Board exams.
October, 2004
 Back
in Mumbai, while reviewing the gathered footage,
a larger structure of the film emerged. I realized
that to present an authentic version of their
lives, I had to treat Rawat, Satya and Harish
as mere characters in the film. That is, the film
will be an attempt to construct a fictional narrative
capturing the drama of their everyday mundane
life. The cinema verite style of documentary had
to be purposefully merged with the dramatic expressive
style of fiction. Also, I realized that the relationship
between the three men was changing dramatically
against the changing seasonal backdrop in Tal.
Hence, I had to shoot with them over seasons to
record their lives. Finally, I also predicted
that due to regular repairs Rawat will give away
the charge of the Gharat to Satya for a monthly
payment. Satya, with a new member arriving in
his family would try to take the situation to
his advantage. On the other hand, as other young
boys, Harish would leave his family in search
of work in the city frustrating Rawat’s
dream. Satya informed that he had a baby girl.
Rawat was visibly upset about the running of the
Gharat. Events transpired quickly, as one fine
afternoon Satya and Rawat spoke about their new
deal. Harish come to see me only once during my
stay. Rawat told me that he was worried, as he
had started bunking school regularly.
January, 2005
Due to lack of resources, I knew that this would
be the last schedule. Nothing new happened this
time around, except the fact that the coldness
of winter had crept into the relationship between
Satya and Rawat. Harish too didn't show up. He
dropped in one fine day just for a few hours and
out of intuition I recorded my first and last
interview with him.
March,2005
With almost 80 hours of footage at my disposal,
we started editing. It was like writing the script
for a fiction film after finishing 90% of the
shoot! Also, since the shoot was an ongoing process
we could only flesh out scenes not knowing what
was stored in the future of our ‘characters’.
May, 2005
As I was making the first cut, I got a call from
Rishikesh. Harish’s brother was enquiring
if Harish had come to Mumbai as Harish was last
seen leaving the village with his friend. Although
such a disappearance of young men had become a
normal phenomenon in the village, his family was
heart broken to have lost their kid to the lure
of the city life. Personally, it was the most
painful moment in the making of the film. I was
so emotionally attached to Harish because his
silence reflected deep rooted boredom. His school
was defunct; he could not relate what he was studying
in school with the reality around him. The lack
of food at home was pressurizing. As the promises
from the Gharat were distant, he had to work to
make both ends meet. In Harish’s story lies
the story of distress migration because of faulty
‘centralized’ polices of our country.
 Hence,
3 Men and a Bulb is about Harish and a story about
what happens when a rural economic system with
a lot of promise is cracked up by administrative
inconsistencies and individual enmity? What happens
when 3 men who could have run the gharat and earned
a comfortable livelihood, are moved by the inner
voice telling them to leave and find a better
source of income, a better life. 3 Men and a Bulb
is a story about earning a good living, and a
story about all the larger forces at work that
don’t allow one to do so.
The Present
I am yet to take back the film to Tal village
as the film took almost a year to edit. I don’t
know what has transpired in the lives of Rawat,
Satya and Harish. But I know I will go back to
experience the warmth and affection of people
who opened up their lives for me. A few initial
response of friends who saw the film was - ‘but
nothing happens in the film!’ Yes, I agree.
But I think the film records and reflects life
as it happens. And in it lies the essence of documentaries.
Note: At the recent IDPA awards
3 men and a Bulb was awarded the Best
Documentary prize for ‘its sensitive construction
of a discourse on displacement and infrastructure
imbalances, done with meditative aplomb at an
extraordinarily restrained pace.’ The film
was in the competition at Mumbai Documentary Festival
and will be having its world premiere in the competition
section at Munich Documentary Festival in May
2006.
Pankaj Rishi Kumar is an alumnus of the
FTII, Pune. He has worked as Assistant Editor
on Bandit Queen besides editing several
Documentaries and TV serials. He has also directed
the multiple award winning films Kumar Talkies,
Pathar Chujaeri (The Play Is On) and the
Vote which have been to various Film Festivals
round the world. At present, Pankaj is making
a Documentary on women boxers in India.
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