Losers Shift

On a murky Tuesday morning, a bunch of more than 30 odd people stood in a queue outside a popular
multiplex to buy tickets for the movie- Singham Returns. Most of these people, I comically assumed,
did not look very happy to be there. Before even buying the tickets, they all seemed to regret their
decision. They looked like they had come to a realization that life was a mundane state of semiconsciousness, full of unending coincidental events that cease to surprise you after a point of time. Of
course they werent happy! What the hell were they doing standing in a film-ticket queue on a busy
weekday morning? Some of these people had bunked their inconsequential morning lectures, some of
them had not showed up at work, some of them had been recently fired, and some had recently retired. All
these people were a bunch of losers who didnt know what to do with their time. Yesterday, I was one of
them.
After three long hours of Singham Returns- which turned out to be a dangerous political ordeal
masquerading as a nonsensical action film- I felt like I had swallowed a huge gulp of the wrong medicine.
I needed damage control and it came to me in the form of another film, a documentary calledKatiyabaaz- a far superior film that was attended by only four wise souls. I was one of them.
The city of Kanpur is like that hideous mess of wires behind your desktop computer that you never
venture to even glance at, fearing that it might have grown bigger with time. KESCO- the Kanpur Electric
Supply Company- does something similar. In their greed to make profits they start indulging in loadshedding- more the load-shedding, lesser the investment, more the profit. Now the small businesses and
hence the common people start suffering. An intervention is in order. Enter- Katiyabaaz, men who walk
around the town, armed with ladders, ready to risk their lives to steal electricity for you. It is them who
ensure that the gears of the city keep rolling; it is them who (unfortunately) also make people realize that
they do not have to pay the electricity bills to reap its benefits. As more and more people get fed up of the
load-shedding and employ the Katiyabaazs services, KESCO runs into losses- more the losses, lesser the
investment, more the load-shedding.

nonpayment
of bills

Kesco
incurs
losses

people
steal
electricity

increase
in loadshedding

As the city collapses into this irreversible cycle of failure, a solution is introduced by Kesco. But this
solution will only solve Kescos problem. Here is where the movie begins. The company is taken over by
a new head who starts penalising the people of the city for stealing electricity. These fines run upto 35 to
40 thousand rupees. Moreover the fines are exclusive of the bill amount that has been piling up for

months. Raids are undertaken to ensure that those who have not paid the fine and the total amount of the
due bills will be devoid of electricity until they do so. Peopledo not have that kind of money, not if they
want to keep functioning with the lifestyle they have set for themselves. They have become clueless and
desperate. Perfect time for a politician to enter the story and cash in on peoples tragedy. And that is
exactly what happens.
Katiyabaaz is a real story. It is about all those losers who fall prey to the system that has formed
organically. You do not sit and entangle your earphones, wires entangle themselves as you walk around
with them inside your pocket. Similarly, this film has no villains. To create a situation as helpless as this
one would require extreme intelligence and cunning. But when we see these characters closely, they are
people like us, trying to solve a problem in their own self-righteous way and hence end up making it
bigger. The problem feeds on wrong solutions.
No the film is not a great film. It has been shot with a minimalistic setup. The video quality is far from
what we are used to watching on the big screen. The movie is slow and takes its time to tell the story,
unlike its trailer, which not unlike many others, was misguiding. The music is mostly underplayed and
never surmounts to its ultimate capability. So no, the film is not a great film. But it is an important film.
The movie was shot completely on DSLRs, with a petty budget and hardly any production value. These
features are synonymous with those of independent cinema and also student films. That the movie found
its way to the big screen is an inspiration to many. Cameras are not as expensive they were anymore.
Though the quality might look compromised, but the digital platform is allowing more people to tell their
stories. But do these stories have an audience yet? Not yet. But at least the dish has made its way to the
buffet. With the taste it has to it, it wont stay away from consumption for long.
The film does not have a happy ending. The new politician takes over and suddenly, after the elections,
everything is back to where it was. During the after-party of the celebration, once again the bulbs are
stolen off their power. Does it make you sad then, the film? Is it one of those documentaries that makes
you jerk tears while it goes on a tiresome journey to present montages of hopeless people who are on the
verge of suicide? No. And that is where the film is a winner. Throughout the span of the film, we are
introduced to and made familiar with the strength of the citizens of Kanpur. These people are fighters. No
matter how bad the situation goes, they go all the way when it comes to finding a solution, arranging a
jugaad. Loha our hero, still lives in poverty. But there is a reason why we call him a hero. Because he
never stops trying. He walks again and he walks on. And he is not the only one. He is one of them. You
are one of them.

-Ketan Pedgaonkar