we have made it to the Indian Panorama. congratulate me soon. cheers…

A very good friend of mine has worked in the most interior parts of Maharasthra and was a part of the padyatra last year. He has seen things up close. I recommended this movie to him, more to see his reaction than anything else.

Unfortunately, right now he’s in Afghanistan on an assignment and won’t have access to Summer 2007 till his next trip to India. I was wondering if there is a CD, I could borrow from you and send it across to him.

I know commercial success would have been gratifying, but kind and heartfelt words from people whose lives the movie touches is irreplaceable.

been a while i visited here. its exciting you people are still talking about S7. Recently, about 500 farmers saw the film in Allahabad, UP. Young and Old and some women as well. An organisation named SANCHETNA had organised the show for them. I could not have missed an opportunity to get the first hand view of how they would react to the film. I reached around interval. The theatre was probably showing one of its last films before making way for a plex. It was real bad condition - smell, rats, seats that threatened to sink. I am sure poor farmers were not thinking what i was about the state of the theatre. There was pin drop silence in the theatre-just some bit of excitement during the tamasha song. Women had tears during Shankya’s speech, some older men too. when the show got over and the media converged onto these people, i could hear some rebellious comments like “hum soodkhor se mukti paana chahte hain” etc. 3-4 of them somehow realised that i dont look normal, they asked what had i got to do with the film. They hugged me hard and told me “bhaiya ye filam nahin hai …. aandolan hai”.

Last few days have been extremely harsh on us, we have lost a lot of money on S7 but those words have travelled back with me and i have a glint of smile as i recall the incidence and write this mail.

My driver’s words (who is from Samastipur, Bihar) echo “Sahab Bilkul aise hi hota hai”. We told the story of someone in Vidarbha - it is true for every poor farmer everywhere in India.

I have been referring to your site before selecting the movies to watch. Thanks for the great work.

About this movie, well, I would definitely agree with you about the fact that the issue needs to be publicized and thoughts must be provoked. Because of that reason alone, I might agree with your rating of “watch for sure”.
But I would rather say that the movie has its heart in right place, put the execution lacked.. There were several things in the story line that were there just to make a point, but did not link to one another very fluently. I can almost sense there was so much earnestness in telling the farmer suicide story that the thought that should have been given to etch it out completely was compromised.

Well… cinema for me is all about story telling, and hence the rant.. but I do commend the courage of the makers.