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By Sharmistha Choudhury Ashikul Islam, 11, used to beg on the streets and labour in a leather factory. Now rehabilitated in a home for destitute children in West Bengal, Islam's first film, Ami (I Am), was screened at the Kids for Kids International Film Festival in Athens in June. The young filmmaker wants to make a statement against poverty and life on the streets through his films
Ashikul Islam is barely 11 and has already had an eventful life. Islam's father died before he was born. He begged on the streets for a living, worked in a leather factory and a roadside stall. He recently directed a 20-minute documentary film, Ami (I Am), and represented India at the Kids for Kids International Film Festival in Athens (from June 18-21).  “ Ami was not just the only entry from India but the sole entry from Asia," says Swapan Mukherjee, the Director of Centre for Communication and Development (CCD), who accompanied Islam to Athens. It was Islam's first trip, not just outside the country, but also outside the state of West Bengal. CCD runs a home for destitute children in the North 24 Paraganas and Islam has been staying here since 2000.
"I have never even been on a train," said Islam before embarking on his first voyage. The other boys in the CCD home described how even the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was very excited about Islam's Athens visit. "The Chief Minister gave him so many sets of clothes to wear at the festival," remarked one. Islam's film gives an insight into the brilliantly-hued world of children's dreams and fantasies. It films children at the CCD home doing what they like best -- scampering up trees, turning somersaults, painting, and asking questions only a child can. Says Islam, "My friends and I often wonder about so many things. Like, why a duck can float in water but we cannot? Or how fireflies give light?...I strung all our questions together into this film." When Manav Jalan of Gaurang Films (best-known for the film Safed Haathi, which was awarded the President's Gold Medal for the Best Children's film in 1978) visited the home in 2003, he was struck by what he saw. Here was a bunch of 40 children from the streets -- some abandoned by family and some orphans -- brimming with hope. Their past misery was a part of them but it could not rob them of their verve and desire to dream. Jalan, along with associate Nidhi Mehrotra, organised a photography and filmmaking workshop for the children. The children had already participated in a similar workshop with Palestinian filmmaker Hicham Kayed, when the latter came to the city for the Kolkata Film Festival in 2003. At Jalan's workshop, the children were asked what they would like to communicate to other children if they met them. Islam said, "I would like to talk about all our questions that grown-ups find too funny to answer, but which are a wonder to us." Egged on by Jalan and Mehrotra, Islam and his friends then sat down to paint their thoughts on paper. A few workshops later, Islam was ready with the script of the film he would direct. His mate, Saiful Mandal, 11, was ready with the camera. Was filmmaking tough? "Nidhi Aunty helped us learn," says Islam. "Once the script was ready, I just had to get my friends to do what I wanted them to. I made them climb trees, cook, make faces..." he says with pride. Four years ago, Islam was rescued from a leather manufacturing unit and brought to the CCD home. He was born in Bhangar, in South 24 Paraganas. His widowed mother begged on the streets. Islam was barely four when his mother also died. The boy briefly lived with his grandmother and started begging. But she soon abandoned him. Islam's older brother Afradul (then 12), who worked in a local leather belt manufacturing unit, took him under his wing. That is to say, he got Islam to help him spread adhesive on leather strips that he would later hammer together into belts. But Islam (barely five) was so young that he often spread the adhesive on the wrong side of the strips and messed up his brother's work. Soon, he was back on the streets; and this time around, life was tougher. The pavements had too many beggars who resisted the child entrant. Islam took to doing odd jobs at a tea stall in exchange for two meals a day. After some time, he managed to find work in a sweet shop where he wangled a shelter along with food. His next stop was at a leather bag manufacturing unit from where he came to CCD. For Islam, coming to the CCD home was like being born again -- into a childhood where backbreaking labour didn't occupy all one's waking hours, where one could study, play and dream. Says the child: "I want to make more films like this when I grow up. Films that will talk about children and their rights. When I went to Kolkata to get my passport, I saw so many families living on the streets, children on the pavements. My friends at home are rickshaw-pullers at this age. This is not the way it should be. I want to speak out against all this through my films." All this, of course, with a lot of help from 'cameraboy' Saiful Mandal. After the filmmaking experience, Mandal is very keen on photography. "I want to teach photography to children." For more see It’s lights, camera and action for Kolkata’s street kids Women's Feature Service, June 2004
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