I, Poppy. Politically fuelled ideas pop in director Vivek Chaudhary’s documentary, which offers a searing, real and poignant portrait of the plight of poppy farmers in Rajasthan. It is set in the times of a Narendra Modi government that boasts about the ‘Make in India’ project while importing poppy-based medicine, leaving the farmers in peril of losing their licenses. Meanwhile, narcotics officials loot poppy farmers, threatening to cancel their licences unless the agriculturists bribe them. The film recently won Best Documentary at the Critics’ Choice Awards, organised by The Film Critics Guild in collaboration with WPP Motion Entertainment.
I, Poppy is a brave film that tackles many themes, including the predicament of the farmers, the relevance of BR Ambedkar’s ideologies in today’s times, and the challenges that come with leading a revolution when political dissent faces strong opposition from the government. Speaking about the initial spark for the film, director Vivek says, “I am from Barmer, Rajasthan, where we do not have opium cultivation, but we have much opium consumption as a part of our culture. It made me curious about the source of the material, which leads to addiction. Then, I did some primary research into the topic and discovered that opium cultivation is legal in Rajasthan for morphine production. Even those in rural centres do not know about this, so we felt the need to document it.”
The film follows a revolutionary opium farmer cum teacher named Mangilal and his reluctant mother, Vardibai. The teacher leads the protests against the government on behalf of the farmers in his community, but his mother tells him to stop the revolution for the sake of his family’s solidity. The woman and her son have the only licensed poppy field in their area, as the government is hellbent on eradicating opium production and is prioritising its import instead. This also leads to the exploitation of farmers by corrupt narcotics officials. Speaking about the film’s themes, Vivek adds, “The extortion of the farmers turns what they do into a form of slave labour. It was heartbreaking to find out, especially in times when so much of our messaging is about ‘Make in India’ and all that. People in urban centres do not realise this. When you go out of your cocoon even for an hour, you will start to see a version of India that is serving the so-called ‘Naya Bharat.’”
Speaking of which, I, Poppy shows the truth about an India at a time when one can be branded an anti-national for depicting truth in a film, even as the right wing laps up propaganda. Vivek says that the film has been receiving much appreciation from politically aware audiences at recent festivals in India and abroad. Interestingly, at the same time, people watch and appreciate the whitewashing of government policies, such as demonetisation, into masterstrokes in films such as Dhurandhar. This contradiction reminds you of the ‘Two Indias’ speech from standup comedian Vir Das. Elaborating on this, Vivek explains, “There is this version of India that the mainstream celebrates. There is so much state machinery, capital, and attention to it that that version is basically ruling over the other India, which is softer, operates in smaller circles, hush hush, almost.” This contradiction makes it difficult for even a nuanced filmmaker such as Vivek to distinguish which version of India appreciates his film. “Many audiences in international festival circuits are far removed from the harsh realities of living in this country, even though they are people of Indian origin. They do not talk to me about anything concerning the film and rather say things like, ‘India is becoming so much better now and rising up the ranks in terms of development.’”
Admitting that the aforementioned may or may not allude to right-wing tendencies, Vivek adds that there are also those who leave the film midway through the screening, signifying their dislike for its anti-right ideologies. Speaking of which, Vivek does not mince words while describing his experience watching Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar. “I wanted to watch the first part on Netflix and was even willing to set aside the propaganda for a while. However, it was excruciating to get through. It is plain lazy filmmaking, trying to appeal to your basest instincts of like violence and revenge. And I am just not interested in the artistic nature of those things either.”
However, even as it faces criticism for its politics, the Dhurandhar franchise continues to break all records at the box office. Vivek wants to take his film to those audiences who appreciate such ideologies. “However, those opportunities do not exist in the distribution landscape in India generally for documentaries or independent fiction,” he laments. He adds, “A film such as I, Poppy can get through to even a slightly more right wing audience, because its politics is not all that in-your-face. You can locate yourself within the family somehow as an audience member.”
One of the striking images of the film places its revolutionary protagonist in front of Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi’s portraits. Ambedkar is known for his fight for the farmers, most notably against an oppressive tax system in Maharashtra, whereas Gandhi once famously stated, “India’s future lies in its villages.” However, I, Poppy is set in a time when political parties tend to use such iconic leaders of India for mere tokenism. There have long been accusations against the BJP of replacing Ambedkar’s portraits with Narendra Modi’s portraits. However, Vivek reveals that both of them are still tokenistic parts of the party’s broader agenda of catering to the marginalised as well. “The present dispensation is trying to reduce them to these pictures and rid them of their important ideas and principles. For them, Gandhi is all about cleanliness, but he stood for coexistence, religious tolerance, and so forth. However, the BJP is stuck in the way that it also wants to get the Dalit into the Hindu fold. So it also has to pander to the Ambedkar image and try and get them in the fold somehow. So I think they are in a double bind where they would love to reject both Gandhi and Ambedkar for different reasons. But I think they are not able to do so because these are figures that thankfully loom large over this population. That said, it is clever what the BJP has done—you cannot do away with them, but you can defang them and make them mean less significant.”
Another interesting facet of the film is the intergenerational conflict that exists between the father, his mother, and his two sons. The mother laments about how he is wasting all the money she spent on his education with 'a pointless revolution,' even as he keeps fighting for the farmers’ cause with endless optimism. Meanwhile, the children are caught somewhere in between, wanting to support their father and yet relating to the arguments of their grandmother. Calling it a deliberate choice to make the film fully non-judgemental, Vivek explains, “When you tell a realistic story, you have to look at things dispassionately to ensure that it covers all the different angles. When we shot the film over four years and as many opium seasons, Mustaqeem Khan (cinematographer) and I found our allegiances shifting between different people in the community. In a way, nobody is saying the wrong thing in I, Poppy. Everybody is coming from their own view of how the world operates, and this is absolutely understandable.”
Vivek says that he can relate the film’s generational conflict to his personal life as well. “There are parts of me that want to do nothing else but fight systems. There are also parts of me that want a little bit of comfort. I do not want to be so aggressive against the system that it comes back to bite me. Then there are my parents who love me and understand me, but they also sometimes fear for me. So in a lot of ways, I could see my family in the film.”
Despite tackling these broader themes, the film is ultimately about the farmers and their fight against an oppressive system. It reminds you of many similar fights in India in recent times, especially the longstanding revolution in Punjab. While many major celebrities in India supported the farmers back then, some big names, including film personalities and cricketers, stood by the government. Ultimately, the government yielded to the Punjab farmers’ requests, and this has widely been regarded as a tactical decision considering the imminent elections in the state.
When most of the battles against the system are lost causes, except rarities such as the one in Punjab, it is hard to answer the question of whether a path of revolution is right or whether pragmatism is more prudent. Describing how I, Poppy goes about answering this challenging question, Vivek says, “I see this film as a deeply hopeful film where people fight systems, knowing full well that they may not win. Then again, sometimes, it is not about winning. Sometimes, it is about being on the side that truly speaks to you. I eschewed a hedonistic route in the film because I did not want it to give any false hope.”