Return ticket to Chambal
Dacoits remotely close to the character of Gabbar and Sambha do not share the same equation in the real jungle. Nor are there any dancers to entertain the gang. And there are no horses either. Life in a real jungle is very different from what we see on the silver screen, discloses Seema Parihar, a dacoit turned actor who was in the capital to promote Beehad: The Ravines, a film based on her ex-husband and one of the most wanted dacoits Nirbhay Gujjar’s life. Talking at the promotional event Seema says life is not how it’s shown in Bollywood films.
“It was not easy to live the life we had. We were always ready to move, stay hidden in the jungle for days at a stretch. There used to be days when we had nothing to eat. One could die of fever because one couldn’t reach a doctor. And often, I would keep awake the whole night. We had no choice and could not even think of going back to normal life. You can’t leave the forest. Moles will follow you if you make the mistake of stepping out of your periphery. It was not a comfortable life by any chance. And we are going to showcase all this in Beehad, in which I am playing a small role,” says Seema.
The fact that Bollywood has time and again zoomed in on the life of dacoits amuses Seema. “Bollywood fancies the life of a dacoit and that is why they kept coming back to the topic. And a tale of somebody else’s struggle always interests the masses, so we see our lives played out again and again in Bollywood,” she Seema.
“But what they show in a film is not reality,” she is quick to add. “They would show horses running in Chambal when there is no space to even walk. And the song and dance sequences are the biggest lie. There is a vast difference in real life and what they show on screen. It’s all a farce,” says Seema, who plans to make a movie close to reality in the future.
“Bullets, molls, cartridge belts are true to an extent. Ravines were our shelter. And the foul language they beep out often is a reality. But again, we lived like normal people with no mukhiya or sardar. Our life was limited to saving ourselves from the police and surviving the jungle,” she ends.
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